WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump’s initial press conference following his re-election showcased his knack for seizing media attention across numerous topics.

Held at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, Trump aimed to highlight a $100 billion investment he brokered with a significant Japanese tech company. However, by the conclusion of the hour-long session, he had ignited a media uproar with provocative remarks covering various issues, including the possible ban on the TikTok app, autism causation, and the mysterious drones spotted over New Jersey and other areas.

This press conference echoed the style of his first term, where the former Republican president regularly engaged with reporters during White House briefings to steer news stories with his replies.

Nevertheless, the tone on Monday seemed friendlier. Trump appeared comfortable next to SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son and Howard Lutnick, his selection for Commerce secretary and co-leader of his transition team. He commented that his transition in 2024 has been much smoother compared to the first one following his 2016 win against Hillary Clinton.

“Initially, everyone was against me,” Trump remarked. “This time, it seems like everyone wants to be my friend. I don’t know, maybe I’ve changed somehow.”

Trump frequently shifted topics during his address, responding to some questions while digressing into his own narratives. His lengthy remarks even overlapped with President Joe Biden’s scheduled speech regarding a new national monument in Newcastle, Maine, alongside Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

Here are some essential highlights from Trump’s post-election press conference:

Is TikTok Off the Hook?

During the conference, Trump raised new questions about how his administration would deal with a possible TikTok ban, expressing that he holds a “warm spot” for the social media platform.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, based in Beijing, faces a mid-January deadline to offload the app. If they fail, the platform, which is a favorite among young Americans, will be removed from app stores and the internet in the U.S.

This deadline was set by Congress earlier this year in a bipartisan bill, addressing security concerns about the app.

Trump suggested that TikTok positively influenced his standing with critical young voters during the 2024 election and indicated he would “consider” the impending ban, which is set to take effect a day before his inauguration.

“TikTok had an impact, and we’re reviewing it,” Trump shared regarding the app that is utilized by approximately 170 million Americans. “I have a bit of a soft spot for it. To be honest.”

Healthcare, Big Pharma, and Insights into Trump’s Health Plans

Trump elaborated extensively about how his administration intends to address pressing health issues, claiming he has “very brilliant people” working on them and that he has held discussions with influential figures from companies like Pfizer and Eli Lilly over dinner.

The president-elect also pledged to reduce drug costs by taking aim at intermediaries in the pharmaceutical sector whom he accused of exploiting ordinary citizens. Additionally, he voiced his support for the polio vaccine, even though his health secretary nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his associates have been critical of vaccines in general.

Trump remarked that he has noticed a significant growth in autism cases, stating that it has escalated from over one in 100,000 roughly three decades ago to “one in 100” today. “Something is definitely amiss,” he mentioned, “and we are going to investigate it.”

Kennedy, once a presidential candidate and now a supporter of Trump, has faced criticism for his anti-vaccine views and the dissemination of misleading information, including discredited claims linking vaccines to autism.

However, Trump expressed confidence on Monday that Kennedy would be “much less extreme than people might assume. He has a very open mind, or I wouldn’t have appointed him.”

Drone sightings near Trump’s Bedminster estate

Trump accused the Biden administration of concealing information regarding recent drone sightings from the public and announced the cancellation of his trip to his Bedminster golf course in New Jersey due to this issue.

“The government is aware of what’s going on,” Trump said in reference to the drone activity observed across multiple states, but he did not elaborate on whether he had received any briefings from officials about it.

“Our military certainly knows where those drones originated. They can track their paths, yet they choose not to comment,” Trump said, without providing further details.

He continued: “They’re flying really close to Bedminster. So, I decided I won’t be spending the weekend there after all.”

Reconstructing the border wall with Mexico

Trump revisited one of his key campaign issues, the construction of a border wall with Mexico. He accused the Biden administration of selling off sections of the unused wall and warned of potential legal actions to prevent this.

“We are going to invest hundreds of millions more into rebuilding a wall we already built,” Trump asserted. “This is almost a criminal act.”

“A considerable amount of money was spent constructing it, and we have hundreds of miles established,” he explained. Now, according to him, due to unspecified actions by the Biden administration, “We’re looking at spending hundreds of millions more, not to mention the time involved.”

Trump referenced a report from the conservative outlet Daily Wire that included videos of trucks transporting wall segments and comments from an anonymous border patrol official discussing the removal and sale of wall supplies from three locations in Arizona.

“Today, I implore you, Joe Biden, to stop selling off the wall,” Trump stated.

While the White House did not directly address Trump’s remarks, a Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to YSL News, contested Trump’s assertions.

This official explained that the removal of unused wall materials was carried out in compliance with a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024, which was signed into law by Biden last December, directing the Defense Department to devise a plan to “use, transfer, or donate” unused materials.

Terminating federal employees who do not return to work

Trump also declared that he would dismiss any federal workers who fail to return to their offices once his new administration takes office and indicated that he would legally contest a Biden-era policy that allows for remote work.

“If employees refuse to come back physically to their offices, they will be let go,” Trump promised.

He criticized what he termed “absurd” the five-year waiver granted by the Biden administration to certain employees, calling it “a benefit to a union” and confirming plans to challenge it in court.

The Social Security Administration, alongside over 40,000 employees from the American Federation of Government Employees union, reached an agreement earlier this month allowing most of these workers to continue working remotely two to five days a week.