7 Takeaways From Trump’s First Post-Election Press Conference

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The president-elect said he thought that establishing peace between Russia and Ukraine would be a harder task than peace between Israel and Hamas.

President-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 16 hosted his first press conference after winning the 2024 presidential election, addressing a range of topics from the Russia-Ukraine war to his thoughts on the recent drone sightings in the Northeast.

Trump’s remarks covered plans to reevaluate childhood vaccines through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the chances of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointing Lara Trump to fill Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) seat next year, U.S. foreign policy, a potential pardon for indicted New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and the border wall.

Here are seven takeaways from the press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

Kennedy to Create Vaccine Report

Trump said he had dinner recently with his nominee to lead HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the heads of Pfizer and Eli Lilly, two major pharmaceutical companies. He said the group would “look at autism … [and] find out about it” because he’s concerned about the rising diagnosis rates. After the initial paper purporting to show a link between vaccines and autism was retracted, subsequent research has repeatedly found no links between vaccines and autism.

Asked whether Kennedy planned to revoke any vaccines, as the former Democrat has criticized early childhood vaccines in the past, linking some to increased rates of autism in children and adults, Trump said he did not want Kennedy to revoke any vaccines.

Instead, he’d “come back with a report as to what he thinks,” Trump said. The report would accomplish two tasks: introduce cost savings and initiate “very serious discussions,” such as limiting pesticides in vaccines.

“I think [Kennedy’s] going to be much less radical than you would think. I think he’s got a very open mind. We’re going to get drug costs down at levels that nobody has ever seen before.”

Trump said he was a big believer in the polio vaccine and does not like schools implementing vaccine mandates for children, comparing them to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

A paper published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that mandates for shots such as the childhood polio vaccine are necessary for adequate prevention and control of the disease.

Florida Senate Seat Consideration

When asked whether he expected DeSantis to appoint his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to fill Rubio’s soon-to-be-vacant Florida Senate seat, Trump said he “probably” didn’t expect the governor to select her, leaving himself out of the decision-making process.

“Ron is doing a good job. It is his choice—nothing to do with me,” Trump said. “Ron’s gonna have to make that decision, and he’ll make the right decision.”

DeSantis is reportedly considering several potential candidates for the seat, including his Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, and former Florida House Speaker José Oliva. He recently announced he was vetting and interviewing candidates, and that the formal confirmation process for Rubio as the potential next secretary of state will come after Trump’s inauguration.

Many of Trump’s supporters on social media, however, have been actively campaigning for DeSantis to appoint Lara Trump. Trump is also reportedly considering DeSantis to lead the Pentagon in the event that his current Defense Secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, fails his Senate confirmation process.

Drone Sightings

Amid a recent spate of drone sighting reports in the airspace over states including New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, Trump commented on the public response after multiple government agencies suggested on Saturday that reports could be explained by a combination of misidentified traditional aircraft sightings and those of private citizen drone operators.

“The government knows what is happening,” Trump said. “Look, our military knows where they took off from. If it’s a garage, they can go right into that garage.”

Regarding the aerial objects reports and any sighting in the sky, Trump said he believes the government “know[s] where it came from and where it went.”

“For some reason, they don’t want to comment. And I think they’d be better off saying what it is, ‘Our military knows, and our president knows,’” Trump said. “For some reason, they want to keep people in suspense.”

The president-elect said he couldn’t imagine that the reported objects were from a foreign enemy and urged the government to be honest with the public, noting the recent sightings over his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Xi, Netanyahu Discussions

When asked about his reaction to media reports that Xi Jinping, the leader of the Chinese Communist regime, is unlikely to attend his January inauguration, Trump said he did not know if Xi would be present, as the two “haven’t really spoken … about it,” and the invite was something “we barely discussed.”

“China and the United States can, together, solve all of the problems of the world, if you think about it. So it’s very important,” Trump said. “He’s an amazing person.”

Trump confirmed he had recently spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing their talks as a “very good conversation.”

“The real conversations will start on the 20th [of January] … I think we’re going to be in a good place in the Middle East.”

Trump repeated his warning that if the hostages were not sent home by his inauguration date, “all hell is going to break out, and very strong.”

Russia-Ukraine Peace Harder Than Middle East

Trump said he thought that establishing peace between Russia and Ukraine would be a harder task than peace between Israel and Hamas.

Trump said he would not have given Ukraine authorization to fire U.S.-made long-range missiles into Russian territory, adding that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has “gotta make a deal.”

“The Russia, Ukraine situation, I see that as more difficult,” he said. “I don’t think they should have allowed missiles to be shot 200 miles into Russia.”

Trump said the missile authorization reportedly granted by President Joe Biden prompted Russia to bring in soldiers from North Korea to fight Ukraine.

“Too many people [are] getting killed,” Trump said, blaming high inflation for Russia invading its southern neighbor.

New York City Mayor Pardon

Trump also commented on a potential pardon for New York Mayor Eric Adams, who was indicted in September on criminal charges resulting from a federal corruption investigation.

Trump said he did not know all the facts of Adams’s case but would certainly look at a potential pardon for the mayor.

“I think that he was treated pretty unfairly,” Trump said. The allegations against Adams include accepting discounted international flights from companies like Turkish Airlines, which Trump compared to reporters taking airline upgrades themselves.

“It seems, you know, like being upgraded in an airplane many years ago—I know probably everybody here has been upgraded. They see you’re all stars, they say, ‘I want to upgrade that person from NBC,’ and that would mean you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison,” Trump said.

Adams’s indictment alleged that the mayor provided foreign nationals with “favorable treatment in exchange for illicit benefits he received.”

Adams pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In September, Trump said he considered Adams honest, and the mayor later said he would try to work with Trump during his second administration.

Border Wall Restraining Order

After the Daily Wire published an investigative report about the Biden administration rushing to sell unused portions of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump called the move “really terrible.”

“We spent a tremendous amount of money on building the wall. The wall was designed specifically by the Border Patrol because it’s very hard to climb,” he said. “We have hundreds of miles that we put up … 571 miles of wall.

“They know we’re going to use it, and if we don’t have it, we’re going to have to rebuild it, and it’ll cost double what it cost years ago, and that’s hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Trump said he spoke with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, all Republicans, about trying to halt the sale of portions of the border wall before his January inauguration.