President-elect Donald Trump staged a press conference Tuesday where he answered questions about hostages held by Hamas, President Joe Biden’s drilling ban, and pardons for Jan. 6 offenders.
Trump, speaking from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, talked about his plans for “the Golden age of America,” and discussed his thoughts on the war in Ukraine, coming shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly expressed trust in the American president-elect.
Trump discusses the stakes of hostages taken by Hamas
Trump invited his pick as Middle East envoy, Steven Witkoff, to update the press on the state of hostages taken by Hamas.
“We’ve had some really great progress, and I’m very hopeful that by the Inaugural, we’ll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president,” Witkoff said, adding, “I actually believe that it’s the president, his reputation, the things that he has said that are driving this negotiation.”
When asked if Hamas is waiting to release hostages until after Trump is in office, Trump responded, “If those hostages aren’t back by the time I’m back in office, all hell will break out in the Middle East, and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good frankly for anyone. All hell will break out.”
Trump continues to say he plans to reclaim control Panama Canal
Trump said he believes the Panama Canal is deteriorating structurally. “It’s leaking and not in good repair, and they (Panama) want us to give them $3 billion to fix it. And I said, ‘Why don’t you get the money from China?’ Because China’s basically taken it over. China’s at both ends of the Panama Canal,” Trump said.
The president-elect also drew attention to the “staggering” numbers of ships that pass through the Panama Canal. Trump claimed Jimmy Carter transferred the rights to control the Panama Canal to Panama for $1.
“They’ve overcharged our ships, they’ve overcharged our Navy, and then when they need repair money, they come to the United States. We put it up; we get nothing. Those days are over,” he said.
Trump wants new tariffs and to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the ‘Gulf of America’
“We’ll impose new tariffs so that the products in our stores will once again be stamped with those beautiful words, ‘Made in the U.S.A,’” Trump said.
Trump said he continues to believe tariffs are necessary, saying, “We are not treated well, as you know, by Canada. Canada is subsidized to the tune of about $200 billion a year, plus other things. They essentially don’t have a military, they have a very small military, they rely on our military. It’s all fine, but they’ve got to pay for that.”
“We’re going to be changing the name of ‘The Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘The Gulf of America,’ which has a beautiful ring,” he said. “What a beautiful name, and it’s appropriate. And Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people from pouring into our country. We’re going to stop them, and we’re going to put very serious tariffs on Mexico and Canada.”
Trump talks about Ukraine joining NATO
When asked about whether he believes Ukraine should be able to join NATO, Trump said the Biden administration was wrong to claim that Ukraine should be able to join the organization.
“My view is that they had a satisfactory deal, and that Biden broke it,” Trump said. “They had a satisfactory deal, but Biden said, ‘No, you have to be able to join NATO.’” He continued, “NATO is taking advantage of us.”
Trump said that he believes countries in NATO should pay 5% instead of the current 2% of their budgets on defense. He added that during one NATO meeting he’d attended during his first presidency, one prime minister, who he left nameless, stood up and asked if they didn’t pay their bills if the U.S. would still protect them from Russia.
Trump said, “If you don’t pay, you mean you’re delinquent?” When the prime minister said, “yes,” Trump said, “If you’re delinquent, we will not protect you.”
Will Trump pardon violent Jan. 6 offenders?
When asked if he will pardon those who participated in the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump said, “People who did bad things were not prosecuted, and people who didn’t even walk into the building are in jail right now. So we’ll be looking into the whole thing, but I will be making major pardons, yes.”
Trump was also asked about law enforcement officers who were affected by the event, and Trump spoke about Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by Capitol Police on Jan. 6. “Ashli Babbitt was shot for no reason whatsoever, in fact, they say she was trying to hold back the crowd,” Trump said. “I’ll tell you this, the person who was killed was Ashli Babbitt.”
He continued, “The other thing is, there were never charges of insurrection, but if there were, this would be the only insurrection in history where people went in as insurrectionists with not one gun, okay? And let me tell you, the people we’re talking about have a lot of guns in their homes for hunting, shooting and entertainment, but there wasn’t one gun that they found.”