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Updated: December 16, 2024 @ 1:31 pm
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 16. President-elect Donald Trump described himself as a “big believer” in the polio vaccine on December 16.
President-elect Donald Trump delivers remarks and answers questions at his first news conference since being re-elected.
(CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump, in his first news conference since his victory, downplayed concerns that his administration would revoke the polio vaccine’s authorization, suggested he could pardon New York City Mayor Eric Adams and said he will press Ukraine and Russia to end their war.
The president-elect on Monday took a measured tone in the wide-ranging remarks from Mar-a-Lago, as he also accused the Biden administration of not being forthcoming about possible drone sightings, discussed his meetings with pharmaceutical and tech company executives, the future of the TikTok app and inviting world leaders to his upcoming inauguration.
Trump described himself as a “big believer” in the polio vaccine, telling reporters that Americans won’t lose it amid concerns his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could seek to revoke its approval.
“You’re not going to lose the polio vaccine. It’s not going to happen,” Trump told reporters.
His comments about the polio vaccine come as Kennedy heads to Capitol Hill to meet with senators ahead of what could be a contentious confirmation fight. CNN previously reported that a lawyer associated with Kennedy has petitioned the US Food and Drug Administration to revoke approval of the polio vaccine used in the United States.
Trump said that “everything should be looked at, but I’m a big believer in the polio vaccine.”
He said that autism rates are much higher now than decades earlier, and that his administration will “look into” why. He added that he wants Kennedy to “come back with a report as to what he thinks. We’re going to find out a lot.”
But he also described Kennedy — the former Democrat who left the party to launch an independent 2024 presidential bid before ultimately dropping out and endorsing Trump — as a “very rational guy.”
Here are other key lines from Trump’s news conference:
Trump said he doubted that “drone sightings” across the Northeast in recent weeks were acts of a foreign power, but criticized President Joe Biden’s administration for not revealing more details.
“Look, our military knows where they took off from. If it’s a garage, they can go right into that garage. They know where it came from and where it went. And for some reason they don’t want to comment. And I think they’d be better off saying what it is,” Trump said.
He added: “Something strange is going on — for some reason, they don’t want to tell the people — and they should.”
Federal agencies have faced intense pressure to give the public more details on unexplained sightings in the New York City metropolitan area and beyond that have been going on for weeks over residential neighborhoods, as well as restricted sites and critical infrastructure. Federal officials have said many of the sightings appear to be manned aircraft mistakenly identified as drones.
Trump suggested he might reverse course on the impending ban on the social media app TikTok in the United States.
“You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points and there are those that say that TikTok has something to do with it,” he told reporters. (Trump lost 18-29-year-old voters to Vice President Kamala Harris by 11 points, according to exit polls.)
Trump also credited interviews with podcasters like Joe Rogan for GOP gains with young voters, but said TikTok “had an impact so we’re taking a look at it.”
Trump’s nomination of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state is likely to open up a Senate seat in Florida. But while Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, has been publicly floated by prominent Republicans as a potential selection, the president-elect was careful not to pressure Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who will ultimately make the decision.
Trump said he doesn’t expect DeSantis to appoint Lara Trump, but added that he doesn’t know what the governor will do.
“Ron is doing a good job. That’s his choice. Nothing to do with me. Lara is unbelievable,” Trump said.
Trump said he would consider pardoning New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat whom he said was “treated pretty unfairly” when he was indicted on federal corruption charges earlier this year.
Adams was accused, in part, of illegally accepting free travel to foreign countries. Trump compared the accused illegal travel payments as similar to receiving an airfare rewards upgrade.
“I think that he was treated pretty unfairly. Now I haven’t seen the gravity of it all, but it seems, you know, like being upgraded in an airplane many years ago. I know probably everybody here has been upgraded,” he said.
Trump also suggested that the indictment of Adams, who has criticized Biden’s immigration policy, was politically motivated. Trump said he personally predicted Adams would be indicted “when he essentially went against what was happening with the migrants coming in, and, you know, he made some pretty strong statements, like, this is not sustainable.”
Adams has also claimed without evidence that his condemnations of Biden’s handling of the border prompted the probe, but the investigation into his fundraising practices began much earlier.
Adams has pleaded not guilty and has denied any wrongdoing.
CNN’s Aaron Pellish, Michael Williams, Antoinette Radford and Elise Hammond contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional information.
The-CNN-Wire
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