First Take: Amid explosive controversy, Trump goes on offense
In the face of exploding controversy, Donald Trump went on offense.
In his first news conference as president-elect, on the morning after reports of unsubstantiated allegations that Russia held compromising personal information about him, Trump breezed and bulldozed his way through a barrage of questions. He dismissed the most explosive allegations as "crap," accused U.S. intelligence officials of leaking them in a tactic reminiscent of Nazi Germany, and unveiled the limited steps he was taking to avoid conflicts of interest between the Trump White House and the Trump business empire.
Has any president or president-elect ever held a news conference quite like it before?
In the explosive nature of the topics covered, the range of crucial issues discussed, and the series of quick actions promised, Trump surely set a dizzying standard. But he also may have set a record in terms of questions not answered and controversies not settled — from the managing of his family's financial interests to his future relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump's first news conference since winning the White House was less a landing site than a launching pad for questions and controversies that will persist for weeks and months and perhaps even the tenure of his presidency.
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For the first time, Trump said publicly that he accepted the conclusion by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia was behind hacking Democratic emails and leaking them to devastating effect against his opponent, Hillary Clinton. But he continued a war of words against the U.S. intelligence agencies he will soon lead, and he declined an opening to blast Putin in particularly strong terms.
"He shouldn't be doing it," he said, and suggested they could still be friendly partners: "If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability."
Indeed, Trump didn't directly respond when a reporter asked whether he was going to consider rolling back the punitive steps President Obama ordered against Russia in response. Instead, he mocked South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a onetime rival for the Republican presidential nomination, who is proposing tougher sanctions be taken.
But there's more.
In the space of an hour, Trump also:
• Announced he would turn over control of his businesses to a trust controlled by sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. But he won't divest his interests in the vast empire, and he noted that the federal conflict-of-interest statute that applies to his Cabinet nominees and others doesn't cover him. In passing, he mentioned that "over the weekend" he had been offered a $2 billion deal in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, but had turned it down.
• Promised to enact a new health care proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act on the same week or the same day or even the same hour that Obama's signature legislation is repealed. Congressional Republicans call that quick timetable unrealistic.
• Said he would nominate a Supreme Court justice to replace the late Antonin Scalia during his first two weeks in office.
• Insisted that he would fulfill his campaign promise to build a wall along the southern border and get Mexico to pay for it, though he acknowledged that is more likely to happen by imposing a tax than convincing the Mexican government to write a check.
• Dismissed any imperative to release his tax returns, as presidents have done for the past four decades. While citing as a reason the fact that his returns are being audited by the IRS, he added, "The only ones who care about my tax returns are reporters," not voters.
• Announced he had asked David Shulkin to lead the Veterans Affairs Department, one of the final Cabinet posts to be filled. Shulkin is now the VA undersecretary for health.
In the face of a controversy that could have unnerved any pol, Trump projected confidence and certainty, though in part by not addressing some of the questions he was asked. Standing in front of 10 American flags, he called on 13 reporters and shouted down a 14th — Jim Acosta, of CNN. "Not you," Trump said. "Your organization's terrible."
(CNN first broke the story of the intelligence report Tuesday, though it didn't publish salacious and unsubstantiated personal details then published by Buzzfeed.)
The signals about how he'll deal with the news media were mixed, to say the least. He denounced CNN and Buzzfeed but also praised other organizations that had chosen not to publish the allegations. "I've just gone up a notch as to what I think of you, OK?" he said. He even complimented The New York Times, a newspaper he repeatedly has described as "failing" in a series of derisive tweets.
Then, after an hour, Trump declared the news conference over and headed for the elevators. His next news conference probably won't be held in the lobby of Trump Tower.
The next one is likely be in the East Room.
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