PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) 鈥� In a at his Mar-a-Lago club, President-elect said Monday he would consider pardoning embattled , declared the country was 鈥渘ot going to lose" the polio vaccine and weighed in on the flurry of drone sightings over New Jersey.
Holding court with reporters for the first time since he won the election and secured a second term, Trump also called on the Biden administration to stop selling off unused portions of southern border wall, threatening legal action.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more on building the same wall we already have,鈥� he railed. 鈥淚t鈥檚 almost a criminal act.鈥�
Trump's performance Monday underscored how he has already forced his return to the center of the national political conversation, weeks before he is set to return to the Oval Office. The session was notably less combative than some of the more heated exchanges he held with reporters during the campaign. Trump, looking relaxed at the lectern, joked with those he recognized and talked about how much easier the transition has been than after his first election.
鈥淭he first time everybody was fighting me,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his time everyone wants to be my friend.鈥�
After spending most of the last few weeks behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago, Trump used the session to test-drive policy ideas, attack his enemies and issue warnings of what is to come.
That included the threat of a lawsuit against famed Iowa pollster Ann Selzer, whose final survey before the election badly underestimated Trump's support in the state, which he won.
鈥淚n my opinion it was fraud and election interference," Trump claimed of the survey. Selzer, who could not be reached for comment, announced that she would retire her polling operation last month but said she had decided to before the election.
over the weekend that had it agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump's presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit he had filed over anchor George Stephanopoulos鈥� inaccurate on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping a writer.
Continuing his threats of legal action, Trump railed Monday against the Biden administration over the border wall sales, saying he has spoken to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other Texas officials about a potential restraining order.
Congress last year required the Biden administration to dispose of the unused border wall pieces. The measure, included in the massive National Defense Authorization Act, allows for the sale or donation of the items to states on the southern border, providing they are used to refurbish existing barriers, not install new ones. Congress also directed the Pentagon to account for storage costs for the border wall material while it has gone unused.
鈥淚鈥檓 asking today, Joe Biden, to please stop selling the wall,鈥� Trump said.
While Trump described the handover between Biden and his incoming team as 鈥渁 friendly transition,鈥� he also took issue with efforts to allow some members of the federal workforce to continue working from home. While the White House rejected the assertion that the federal government was providing workers waivers to work from home for the next five years, the Social Security Administration recently reached a union deal allowing some to work from home two to five days per week.
Trump said that if government workers don鈥檛 come back into the office under him, they will be dismissed.
Trump also weighed in on Adams, who is facing . Asked whether he would consider pardoning Adams, Trump said, 鈥淵eah I would."
鈥淚 think that he was treated pretty unfairly,鈥� Trump said, while at the same time acknowledging he doesn't "know the facts.鈥�
Adams has been accused of accepting flight upgrades and other luxury travel perks valued at $100,000 along with illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals looking to buy his influence. He has . Multiple members of his administration have also come under investigation.
Adams office did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.
Trump was pressed repeatedly on the future of vaccines, amid concerns over his decision to choose the advocate, , to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which regulates the shots.
Trump again declined to dismiss the long-debunked theory that vaccines cause autism and said Kennedy would be examining that already well-studied question.
But he also assured the public that one of the most successful vaccines would not be barred by his administration.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to lose the polio vaccine,鈥� he said, calling himself 鈥渁 big believer in it.鈥�
鈥淭hat鈥檚 not going to happen," he said.
Outgoing Republican leader , who had , had seeking Senate confirmation should 鈥渟teer clear鈥� of efforts to discredit the polio vaccine, calling them not just uninformed, but 鈥渄angerous.鈥�
Trump also weighed in on over parts of New Jersey and the eastern U.S. that have sparked speculation and concern over where they are coming from.
Taking a conspiratorial tone, Trump insisted, without offering evidence, that, 鈥渢he government knows what is happening."
鈥淥ur military knows and our president knows and for some reason they want to keep people in suspense,鈥� he said, refusing to say whether he had been briefed on the sightings.
Trump has spent the weeks since his victory building out his incoming administration and speaking with what he said were well over 100 word leaders.
But he again played coy on whether that list included Russian President Vladimir Putin.
鈥淚鈥檓 not going to comment on the Putin question," he said.
When it comes to escalating tensions in the Middle East, Trump said he would consider pulling U.S. troops out of Syria after the country's ousted leader, , was overthrown by rebels.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that I want to have our soldiers killed,鈥� Trump said of the 900 men and women who were placed there to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group.
In addition to meetings with foreign leaders, Trump also talked about a recent dinner with Apple CEO Tim Cook as well as the heads of major pharmaceutical companies, which Kennedy joined. The outreach, he said, made this transition feel markedly different from 2016, when his win shocked the Washington establishment.
Trump was joined at the appearance by SoftBank Group CEO , who announced that .
It was a win for Trump, who has used the weeks since the election to promote his policies, negotiate with foreign leaders and try to strike deals.
In a post on his Truth Social site last week, Trump had said that anyone making a $1 billion investment in the United States 鈥渨ill receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental approvals.鈥�
鈥淕ET READY TO ROCK!!!鈥� he wrote.
Trump has repeatedly boasted that he has done more in his short transition period than his predecessor did in all four years.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a whole light over the entire world," he said Monday. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a light shining over the world."
___ Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Darlene Superville and Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.
Colleen Long And Jill Colvin, The Associated Press
