White House

Greenland, oil and ‘all hell’ in the Middle East: Takeaways from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago press conference

From a new era of American imperialism to an enduring bitterness toward a criminal justice system he maintains unfairly targeted him, here are our top takeaways.

President-elect Donald Trump hosted a wide-ranging press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. | Evan Vucci/AP

By Irie Sentner

01/07/2025 03:13 PM EST

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Donald Trump ran on a series of big promises — and with Inauguration Day fast approaching, he’s attempting to preview on what he’ll try to turn into reality.

In a wide-ranging press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, the president-elect forecasted the MAGA vision he’ll work to make real when he reclaims the White House in less than two weeks. From a new era of American imperialism to an enduring bitterness toward a criminal justice system he maintains unfairly targeted him, here are our top takeaways.

‘Drill, baby, drill’

Trump slammed an action President Joe Biden took Monday that banned offshore drilling across 625 million acres of U.S. ocean, promising to “reverse it immediately” and instead “drill, baby, drill” — the official slogan of his platform’s energy policy. He said energy costs will be brought down “to a very low level,” which he said would decrease costs across the board.

In a statement, the White House said Biden had issued the drilling ban — which covers the entire East and West Coasts of the continental U.S.; the eastern Gulf of Mexico; and parts of Alaska — because the president “determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential.”

“It feels like the whole ocean,” Trump said, adding: “Nobody else does that. I’m going to have it revoked on Day One,” even if it requires going to the courts.

Trump acknowledged that it would be “hard” to bring down consumer prices, saying “someone else has screwed something up,” but promised to bring them down by slashing energy costs through deregulation.

“I think you’re going to see some pretty drastic price reductions,” Trump said.

A new age of American imperialism

Trump contemplates taking Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal

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Trump really wants the Panama Canal. And Greenland. And Canada.

Soon after his son Donald Trump Jr. and other representatives touched down in Greenland, Trump reemphasized his desire to bring the massive Arctic territory under U.S. control — which the Danish prime minister promptly shot down.

Trump also slammed the late former President Jimmy Carter — who will lie in state on Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol ahead of his funeral on Thursday — for selling the U.S.-built Panama Canal to Panama, and said the canal was currently “under discussion.”

Asked by a reporter if he could “assure the world” he would not use “military or economic coercion” in his efforts to bring the Panama Canal and Greenland under U.S. control, Trump quickly replied “no.”

“I’m not going to commit to that,” Trump said. “It might be that you’ll have to do something.”

And the president-elect again said he hoped to turn Canada — the second-largest country in the world by surface area — into an American state, arguing the U.S. is paying far too much to its northern ally and adding that he’d consider using “economic force” to bring the country under U.S. control. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shot back that “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”

Slamming the ‘injustice department’

Trump slams 'nut job' Jack Smith after judge temporarily blocks report

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Trump again bashed the Department of Justice, which he has contended for years is part of a “deep state” unfairly targeting him through “lawfare.” He called Jack Smith, the special counsel who had conducted two investigations into Trump, “a deranged individual” and a “nutjob” who will “execute everybody.”

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But Trump praised Florida federal Judge Aileen Cannon, who oversaw the Mar-A-Lago classified documents case and ultimately dismissed it, for temporarily blocking the publication of Smith’s final report — a decision that came down during the press conference.

“So, he wanted to do a report just before I took office, probably,” Trump said of Smith. “It’ll be like a fake report, just like the investigation was a fake investigation. … Why should he be allowed to write a fake report? That’s great news.”

‘All hell’ in the Middle East

Trump: 'All hell will break out' if there's no hostage deal before his return

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Trump promised that if the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas are not returned by the time he retakes the Oval Office, “all hell will break loose in the Middle East.”

“It will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone,” Trump said.

Asked to elaborate, Trump reiterated “all hell will break out. I don’t have to say anymore, but that’s what it is.”

Trump is a close ally of conservative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose 15-month military operation in Gaza in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre has razed the territory and displaced nearly 2 million people, according to the U.N. Netanyahu and Hamas are inching toward a ceasefire agreement, but it has been delayed over the names of hostages to be released, because Hamas says no one knows the condition of all the hostages.

Trump vs. windmills

Trump says he wants 'no windmills' built during his administration

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Trump ramped up his attacks on an old foe — windmills — saying he would “try and have a policy where no windmills are being built.”

The president-elect has long railed against wind turbines, which he said Tuesday are “littered all over our country” like “dropping garbage on a field.” He also again raised the false theory that windmills are “driving the whales crazy, obviously” — a claim the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has denied.

Musk’s meddling

Trump brushed aside criticism of his close ally Elon Musk, who has garnered backlash in recent weeks for endorsing a far-right German political party and saying the British prime minister should be jailed over the country’s response to child sexual exploitation.

“He likes people … that tended to be conservative,” Trump said. “I don’t know the people. I can say Elon is doing a good job. Very smart guy.”

The president-elect himself said he didn’t “know the people you’re talking about,” adding that Musk “said some negative things about a couple of people that are running for office, but that’s not so unusual.”

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