President-elect Donald Trump held a free-wheeling, hour-long press conference at Trump Tower Wednesday morning — the first formal press conference he\u2019s held since winning the presidency in November.
Though the motivation for the news conference was to outline how he will deal with his complex web of business interests once he\u2019s in the White House, much of the press conference ended up focusing on Russian election interference and on reports Tuesday that the intelligence community\u2019s classified report on Russian hacking had an addendum with unverified details of potentially compromising information that Russia has gathered on the president-elect, and that Mr. Trump was briefed on last week.
Here are some of the highlights:
Mr. Trump said he\u2019s not allowed to discuss information that was presented during his intelligence briefing — but confirmed that outside the briefing, he did in fact see the memo in question on compromising information, calling it a \u201cdisgrace.\u201d
President-elect Donald Trump slams reports that Russia has potentially compromising information about him.
\u201cI saw the information, I read the information outside of that meeting. It\u2019s all fake news — it\u2019s phony stuff, it didn\u2019t happen and it was gotten by opponents of ours,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a group of opponents who got together — sick people — and they put that crap together.\u201d
Asked whether he accepts the intelligence agencies\u2019 conclusion that Russia actively worked to influence the 2016 election, Mr. Trump said he believes Russia was responsible for the hacking — but stopped short of saying he believed they had an influence on the campaign.
\u201cAs far as hacking, I think it was Russian,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think we also get hacked by other countries and other people and I can say that when we lost 22 million names and everything else that was hacked recently, they didn\u2019t make a big deal out of that, that was something that was extraordinary.\u201d
Asked if he had a message for Putin about future hacking activities, Mr. Trump replied: \u201cHe shouldn\u2019t be doing it, he won\u2019t be doing it.\u201d
President-elect Donald Trump talks about his potential relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
\u201cRussia will have much greater respect for our country when I\u2019m leading it than when other people have led it,\u201d he said. \u201cYou will see that.\u201d
He said he considers Putin\u2019s praise of him to be \u201can asset, not a liability,\u201d though he doesn\u2019t yet know whether he and Putin will \u201cget along.\u201d
\u201cNow I don\u2019t know that I\u2019m going to get along with Vladimir Putin,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope I do, but \u2026 do you honestly believe that Hillary [Clinton] will be tougher on Putin than me?\u201d
Though Mr. Trump asserted that he would have been able to continue running his business from the White House if he wanted to, he said his two sons, Eric and Donald Jr., along with Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, would take over his businesses while he\u2019s president.
Donald Trump’s attorney explains how the president-elect is turning over his business to a trust run by his sons, but he won’t divest. Watch Trum…
\u201cI could actually run my business … and run government at the same time,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t like the way that looks but I\u2019d be able to if I wanted to.\u201d
The stacks of manila folders on the table next to Mr. Trump at the podium were, he said, \u201csome of the many documents I\u2019ve signed turning over complete and total control.\u201d
Mr. Trump introduced Sherri Dillon of Morgan Lewis, a lawyer who has been working on the plan for the Trump business empire.
Dillon said Mr. Trump\u2019s business holdings and investments will be put in a trust before Inauguration Day to be overseen by sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg. Mr. Trump also said that his two adult sons will run the company. Ivanka Trump, whose husband Jared Kushner is set to become a senior adviser to the Trump White House, will have \u201cno further management\u201d role in the company.
There will be \u201cno new foreign deals\u201d made during the duration of Mr. Trump\u2019s presidency, Dillon added, and domestic deals will be subject to \u201csevere restrictions.\u201d
To people who suggest Mr. Trump should sell his business, Dillon said that would only \u201cexacerbate\u201d the possibility for conflicts.
Additionally, in order to ensure that \u201cit is the American people who will profit\u201d going forward, Mr. Trump has directed that all profits from foreign government payments made to his hotels will be donated to the U. S. Treasury.\u201d
At the start of the press conference, Mr. Trump thanked news organizations that did not run stories on Russia\u2019s alleged compromising information about him.
After attacking CNN and BuzzFeed over Russian intel reports, President-elect Donald Trump gets into a heated exhange with a CNN reporter at his n…
\u201cI want to thank a lot of the news organizations, some of whom have not treated me well over the years, a couple in particular, and they came out so strongly against that fake news,\u201d he said. \u201cI have great respect for the news, I have great respect for freedom of the press and all of that, but I will tell you there were some news organizations \u2026 that were so professional, so incredibly professional.\u201d
Later on, he called BuzzFeed, which posted a document which it says is the dossier about the Russian information, \u201ca failing pile of garbage,\u201d and also criticized CNN for publicizing the reports on Tuesday.
CNN reporter Jim Acosta attempted to ask a follow-up question, but Mr. Trump repeatedly shut him down.
\u201cNo, not you, your organization is terrible. Quiet. Quiet,\u201d he said. As Acosta continued trying to ask a question, talking over another reporter, Mr. Trump continued: \u201cDon\u2019t be rude. Don\u2019t be rude. Don\u2019t. Be. Rude. I\u2019m not going to give you a question. You are fake news.\u201d
After the exchange, he called on CNN digital reporter Jeremy Diamond, CBS News\u2019 Arden Farhi noted.
Donald Trump ripped the intelligence community after a dossier was leaked regarding unverified, potentially compromising information held by the …
On a question about his proposed wall along the U. S.-Mexico border, Mr. Trump said Mexico will \u201creimburse\u201d the U. S. for the wall because he doesn\u2019t want to wait to build it until a deal can be made with Mexico.
\u201cI want to get the wall started,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to wait a year and a half until I make my deal with Mexico.\u201d
As for the form that reimbursement will take, Mr. Trump said it\u2019s more likely it will be through a \u201ctax\u201d than a \u201cpayment.\u201d
\u201cThey will reimburse us for the cost of the wall, whether it\u2019s a tax or whether it\u2019s a payment,\u201d he said. \u201cProbably less likely that it\u2019s a payment.\u201d
In response to a question from CBS News\u2019 Major Garrett, Mr. Trump said he plans to announce his pick to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia \u201cwithin two weeks\u201d of taking office.
During his first news conference as president-elect, Donald Trump talks about his plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
\u201cThat will be probably within two weeks of the 20th,\u201d he said. \u201cSo within about two weeks, probably the second week.\u201d
Asked to discuss his administration\u2019s plan for dealing with the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Trump declined to give any specifics but said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to get health care taken care of in this country.\u201d
He did say, however, that the ACA would be replaced \u201cessentially simultaneously\u201d with something \u201cfar less expensive and far better.\u201d As soon as his health and human services secretary nominee, Rep. Tom Price, is confirmed, Mr. Trump told reporters \u201cwe\u2019ll be submitting a plan\u201d to repeal and replace Obamacare.
\u201cObamacare is a complete and total disaster,\u201d he said, citing increased premiums and high deductibles. \u201c… Frankly, we could sit back — and it was a thought from a political standpoint — but it wouldn\u2019t be fair to the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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