Takeaways from Trump’s first post-election news conference
president-elect Donald Trump held a wide-ranging press conference on Monday in which he said he would maintain access to the polio vaccine but was equivocal on other vaccines, vowed to look at reducing the cost of pharmaceuticals and expressed doubts that his daughter-in-law could be the family’s Florida could be its next senator.
Trump held out for more than an hour, the first time he took questions from reporters since winning the election. The event harks back to his long-running news conferences from his first term and stands in stark contrast to President Joe Biden, who does not often take questions from reporters.
Here’s a look at what he touched on:
Trump defended his choice for health secretary, a prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.but said he is personally a “strong supporter” of the polio vaccine and would maintain access to it.
“You’re not going to lose the polio vaccine,” he said. “That’s not going to happen.”
Over the weekend, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, said spoke out in defense of the polio vaccine after a recent report revealed that one of Kennedy’s advisers had filed a petition to revoke approval for the polio vaccine in 2022.
Kennedy has long pushed the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism, and Trump has questioned whether there is a connection, something he reiterated when noting the increasing cases of autism being diagnosed.
“Something is wrong and we’re going to figure it out,” he said.
There are no blood or biological tests for autism; instead, a doctor bases the diagnosis on a child’s behavior. Although the diagnosis of autism has been available for at least 80 years, the definition has gradually been expanded to include milder cases, which are more common. A study last year found that about a quarter of children with autism — about 110,000 in the U.S. — have the most severe version of the developmental disorder, leaving them speechless or with an IQ below 50, or both.
On Kennedy: “He will be much less radical than you might think,” he said. “I think he has a very open mind, otherwise I wouldn’t have put him there.”
Trump described a dinner he had with Kennedy this month; Dr. Mehmed Oza famed heart surgeon turned talk show host and lifestyle guru whom he tapped to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and top pharmaceutical executives in which they discussed drug prices.
Trump said he is “going to have a big conversation” about drug prices and “cut out the middleman” he accused of driving up costs.
“I don’t know who these middlemen are, but they are very wealthy,” Trump said.
The news conference was Trump’s most extensive public appearance since his victory six weeks ago — a rare absence from the public stage for the former reality star.
But it also underscored how Trump, even while still president-elect, has taken the spotlight from Biden, who still has a month left in his term. Biden has not held a press conference in months and has had a limited public schedule.
As Trump discussed some of the day’s top issues — including sightings of drones flying over the Northeast — Biden himself remained silent, leaving it to aides to try to calm the crowd.
Trump appeared skeptical that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would appoint his daughter-in-law as a Florida senator to fill the seat of Marco Rubio, who has been nominated for secretary of state.
When asked if he expected DeSantis to appoint Lara Trump to replace Rubio, Trump replied: “Probably not, but I don’t know.” Trump recently spoke with DeSantis at a memorial for law enforcement officers in Florida.
Trump’s allies have been too Pushing DeSantis to nominate Lara Trump, who is married to Trump’s son Eric, and served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee this year.
“Ron is doing well with his choice,” Trump said without elaborating.
He praised Lara Trump, including for her work at the RNC, where part of her duties included focusing on “election integrity,” a priority of Trump after he falsely claimed fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump indicated he would consider intervening in the possible ban on TikTok in the US The popular social media platform must cut ties with its China-based parent company or face a federal law ban in mid-January.
He gave no details, but Trump credited the platform with helping him win the election. His campaign saw it as a bridge to reach younger, less politically engaged voters, especially as clips circulated showing him with celebrities at UFC fights.
“We’ll look at TikTok,” he said. “You know, I have a warm place in my heart for TikTok.”
Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term, but changed his mind and promised to “save” TikTok. Once he takes office, his Justice Department would be tasked with enforcing the new federal law against TikTok.
Trump noted the differences between the first time he took office eight years ago and today, saying executives want to meet with him now.
He said they were “hostile” at the time.
“Everyone fought against me,” he said of his first term. “This semester everyone wants to be my friend. Don’t know. My personality changed or something.”
While he left office ostracized and angry in 2021, Trump has enjoyed a stunning turnaround that led to his election victory. Last week he was honored by being named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year and ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
Since being elected president, Trump has met with Silicon Valley billionaires, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. He revealed that he had also met with Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will meet with him this week, Trump said.
“We have a lot of great managers coming in – the top executives, the top bankers, they’re all calling,” he said. “It’s the exact opposite of the first one.”
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Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Zeke Miller and Amanda Seitz in Washington contributed to this report.