- On the anniversary of his second inauguration, Donald Trump made a rare press briefing appearance, discussing immigration enforcement, economic gains, deregulation and other first-year accomplishments.
- He referenced the fatal shooting of Renee Good, criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom and declined to answer questions about Greenland.
- Trump also claimed diplomatic successes abroad, citing improved relations with Venezuela after Nicolás Maduro’s capture and saying U.S. pressure helped halt mass executions in Iran.
On the one-year anniversary of his second inauguration as U.S. president, Donald Trump made a rare in-person appearance during Tuesday’s White House press briefing.
The president took the first 10 minutes of the briefing to show printed photos of immigrants that ICE had recently detained in Minnesota. Then Trump pulled out a thick, printed report of his administration’s accomplishments in the last year.
The list of what he sees as his greatest accomplishments ranged from economic improvements to culture war victories and diplomatic wins abroad. GDP is on track to pass more than 5% growth, gasoline prices have dropped and real incomes have increased, Trump said.
The president also reported on his efforts to cut regulations. He originally promised to cut 10 regulations for each one added, but since his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, his administration has eliminated 129 regulations for every new one, he said.
“It can’t remain like that, but I hope it can. We have so much wasted regulation — stupid regulations," he said.
At the briefing, the president dodged all questions related to his intentions with Greenland.
Trump references the fatal shooting of Renee Good
At several points, Trump referenced the recent killing of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Jan. 7. The Department of Homeland Security says Good was shot as she attempted to run over a law enforcement officer, but her defenders say she was trying to get away.
“You know, when the woman was shot, I felt terribly about that,” Trump said. “And I understand both sides of it.”
At another point in his address, Trump referenced Good and ICE raids. ICE officers are “going to make mistakes sometimes,” he said. “ICE is going to be too rough with somebody or you know, they deal with rough people. They make a mistake sometimes. It can happen, and we feel terribly.”
Trump also referenced Good’s father, who he said was a Trump supporter. “Her parents and her father in particular was — hope he still is, but I don’t know — but was a tremendous Trump fan. He was all for Trump. He loved Trump," he said. “It’s so sad. It just happens. It’s terrible.”
Trump unsure California governor will be a presidential nominee in 2028
Although California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he will not make a decision until after the 2026 midterms as to whether he will launch a bid for president, his name has already been thrown in a number of early polls.
Trump referenced Newsom’s potential presidential bid.
“California is a disaster state with a governor that truly is doing a bad job. He’s killing that state. If he ever ran the country, this country would be Venezuela very quickly,” Trump said.
He continued, “I don’t know if he’s going to be the nominee. I had a very good relationship with Gavin Newsom when we were in office together,” but “somewhere, we just went astray.”
“I just hate the way California is being run. We actually have people leaving,” he said.
Trump references the impending Supreme Court tariff decision
After the Trump administration appealed lower court rulings that Trump lacks the executive power to enact tariffs, the Supreme Court is now deliberating that question.
In early November, they heard oral arguments for and against the tariffs, but the Supreme Court has not yet declared them constitutional or otherwise.
“I don’t know what the Supreme Court is going to do,” Trump said Tuesday. “To me it reads so plainly; it couldn’t read plainer ... They have a clause at the end — something to the effect of ‘or what is necessary.’”
He added that he and his team are “waiting for their case anxiously.”
The president says the U.S. is getting along ‘so well’ with Venezuela
On Jan. 3, elite Army Delta Force commandos captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in an operation that lasted 2½ hours. The couple has since been charged in a New York court with four federal charges.
On Tuesday, Trump spoke on what’s been going on in the country since Maduro’s capture.
“The oil companies are getting ready to make massive investments. They have more oil even than Saudi Arabia,” he said. The president has asked private oil companies to invest at least $100 billion into the country’s oil industry, but big investors have appeared wary.
The president also referenced his growing friendship with María Corina Machado, who was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize and has since passed the award on to Trump.
“An unbelievably nice woman also did a very incredible thing a few days ago,” Trump said of Machado. “Maybe we can get her involved in some way. I’d love to do that.”
He added, “Now we have a great relationship with Venezuela. ... We’re getting along fantastically with the leadership in Venezuela.”
Trump on his intervention in Iran
Protests against the ruling Islamic theocracy in Iran turned deadly after the country shut off internet access for its people. Sporadic reports showed the protests’ death toll mounting to the thousands, as Iran’s supreme leader promised swift, mass executions for protesters.
In Iran, “they were going to hang 837 people, and I let it be known that if that happens, it would be a very bad day for them,” Trump said Tuesday.
“And they decided not to do it. They decided not to hang the people. I can’t tell you what’s going to happen in the future, but supposedly they’ve taken that off the table.”
He continued, “So we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens with Iran. Is the military option off the table? I don’t know.”