CNN
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President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on U.S. expansionism, refusing to rule out using military force to add Greenland to the United States and regain control of the Panama Canal.
In a wide-ranging press conference at Mar-a-Lago, his second since winning the 2024 election, he also said he could use “economic power” to turn Canada into the 51st U.S. state. He also said.
“It would be much better for our national security if we removed the artificially drawn lines and looked at what they look like,” Trump said at his Florida mansion.
If President Trump succeeds in carrying out his imperialistic land grab, it would result in the first major change in the American map since the statehood of Hawaii in 1959, but it would be the first major change in America’s map in decades. It would be a dramatic break from the foreign policy approaches of presidents of both parties over the years. . And they come as Western leaders oppose Russia’s attempts to expand into former Soviet territory, including the war in Ukraine.
During his hour-long remarks, Trump also discussed a series of grievances, including the lawsuits filed against him, the Biden administration’s handling of the transition, and energy efficiency and environmental regulations that he doesn’t like.
Asked about his pledge to issue pardons for convictions related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, President Trump said, “We’re going to do a massive pardon,” including He did not answer questions about whether that would be included. The person who attacked the police.
He also threatened Hamas to release hostages kidnapped in Israel in the October 7, 2023 attack.
“If the hostages don’t come back…by the time I take office, hell will break out in the Middle East. And that’s not good for Hamas, and frankly it’s not good for anyone,” Trump said. . . “All hell is going to break out. I don’t need to say it anymore, but it is what it is.”
Military operations in Panama and Greenland
President Trump, who continues to push for U.S. territorial expansion, will not rule out military action to take control of Panama and Denmark’s autonomous territory of Greenland.
Asked directly if he would rule out the use of “military or economic coercion” to achieve his goal of acquiring these territories, the president-elect answered “no.”
“No, I can’t guarantee either of those things, but I can tell you this: We need them for our economic security,” he said.
President Trump has frequently raised the possibility of adding both to the United States in public and social media posts in recent weeks.
He said Denmark should relinquish control of Greenland or it would also face high tariffs. He also suggested that Greenlanders could vote for independence or joining the United States.
“I’m talking about protecting the free world,” Trump said.
He renewed his criticism of Panama’s management of the Panama Canal, saying it was “built for our military.”
The U.S.-built canal opened in 1914 and was administered by the United States until it was finally handed over to Panama in a 1977 agreement. The canal was operated jointly by both countries until 1999, when the Panamanian government retained full control.
The president-elect praised District Judge Eileen Cannon’s decision Tuesday to block public release of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report on the federal investigation into President Trump.
“He was removed from the case in disgrace. Why would he be allowed to write a false report? It would just be a false report. That’s great news,” Trump said. Asked about the decision by an A-Lago reporter, he spoke about Smith.
Mr. Cannon previously ruled that Mr. Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional and dismissed Mr. Smith’s classified documents lawsuit against Mr. Trump, a point Mr. Trump mentioned in his comments. It seems there is.
His order Tuesday allows Smith and the Justice Department to proceed with releasing the report until the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has time to consider an emergency motion by Trump’s co-defendants to block its release. I ended up not being able to do that.
President Trump once again dismissed the case against him as a “sham,” lambasted Smith and called him “crazy,” while calling Cannon, whom he appointed in his first term, “an excellent judge with great courage.” praised.
While criticizing Panama, President Trump also criticized the 1977 agreement, which was enacted during former President Jimmy Carter’s tenure.
President Trump is scheduled to attend the funeral of Carter, who died late last month at the age of 100, this week. And while the president-elect has long criticized Carter’s tenure, he issued a compassionate statement after the Georgia Democrat’s death.
Still, on Tuesday, President Trump said Carter brokered a bad deal with Panama.
“What happened with the Panama Canal was a disgrace. Jimmy Carter gave it to them for a dollar and they were supposed to treat us well. I thought it was terrible.” President Trump said.
President Trump has continued to threaten North American neighbors Mexico and Canada with steep tariffs if they do not crack down on illegal immigrants crossing the border into the United States.
But in a new development, he said he wants to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
“We’re going to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has beautiful tree rings. It covers a huge area called the Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate,” Trump said. said.
In a sign of how quickly Republicans are falling behind Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she would introduce a bill to change the name shortly after the president-elect made the remarks at a press conference. did.
Ahead of his return to the White House on January 20, President Trump continued to attack the Biden administration’s handling of the transition.
Trump said the Biden administration is “doing everything we can to make things even more difficult” and trying to “block the reforms that the American people and our people voted for.”
Trump noted that Biden signed an executive order on Monday banning future offshore oil and gas development in parts of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in a way that would be difficult for Trump to reverse.
“They say we’re going to have a smooth transition. All they’re doing is talking. It’s all talk. All they’re saying is, ‘We’re going to have a smooth transition.’ That’s all. And they can’t drill there again because they take over 625 million acres of land and essentially mark it off. Well, we’re going to start drilling right away,” he said.
His attack on the Biden administration’s role in the transition came after he posted on social media that Biden was making the transition “as difficult as possible.”
Fury against windmills, dripping showers and electric heaters
Perhaps Mr. Trump’s most consistent political position since he first ran for president has been his fierce opposition to windmills.
His recent comments came as part of a broader criticism of the environment and energy efficiency, in which he complained about dripping showers, low-flow dishwashers and electric heaters. (During his first term, he railed against toilet flushing, saying in 2019 that “people are flushing the toilet not once, but 10, 15 times.”)
He blamed windmills on Tuesday for a spike in whale deaths across the southern New England coastline in recent weeks. “It’s clear that windmills are driving whales crazy,” Trump said.
He said windmills were “littering our country with trash” and likened them to “dropping trash on a field.” He said they were “the most expensive energy in history” and only those who built them with subsidies wanted them.
“We’re going to pursue a policy of not building windmills,” Trump said.
President Trump, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that he would eliminate Facebook and Instagram’s fact checkers and replace them with user-generated “community notes” similar to Elon Musk’s X. Afterward, Mehta said he thought he had “come a long way.”
“I watched their press conference and I thought it was a very good press conference. To be honest, I think they’ve come a long way. Meta. Facebook. I think they’ve come a long way. I saw that too, and the guy was very impressive,” Trump said in response to a question from CNN’s Steve Contorno.
Mr. Contorno asked whether Mr. Trump thought Mr. Mehta’s decision was a direct response to threats the president-elect had made against Mr. Zuckerberg in the past.
“Maybe. Yeah, probably,” President Trump said.
President Trump began his press conference by announcing that Emirati billionaire Hussein Sajwani would invest at least $20 billion in data centers across the United States.
Trump credited his victory to investing, saying Sajwani was “so inspired by the election that he wouldn’t have invested without it.”
President Trump has previously vowed to speed up the permitting process for construction projects worth at least $1 billion in the United States.
Mr. Sajwani owns DAMAC Properties, a real estate development company based in Dubai. Mr. Sajwani, known as the “Donald of Dubai,” was one of the few international business investors who supported a strong relationship with President Trump in the immediate aftermath of the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
CNN’s Michael Williams, Kate Sullivan, Aaron Perish and Steve Contorno contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional information.
