‘You’ll find out’: Trump hints at Greenland takeover, touts his 2025 accomplishments

WASHINGTON— President Trump took command of the White House press briefing on Tuesday to tell reporters directly why he believes his first year back in office has been a success; but he has also occasionally made false claims and a lack of clarity on his foreign policy agenda.

“I don’t like doing this, to be honest, but I’m doing it because we need to get the word out to the public,” Trump told reporters during a nearly two-hour meeting in which he took about 20 questions from reporters.

In his speech, the president repeated allegations that the 2020 election was “rigged,” reiterated his dismay at not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ending “eight wars” and dismissed concerns about the economy, claiming the country was “doing very well” because of taxes.

Trump called Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado a “good woman” for awarding her the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, called his political enemies “sick people” and said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was “incompetent” in her efforts to recover from last year’s wildfire.

The president claimed that under Bass’ leadership the city’s delay in issuing local building permits would take “years” when it should have lasted “two or three days.”

“There was the incompetent mayor of Los Angeles who decided to go to Africa during the fire,” he said. “Things went crazy. Well, they still didn’t get their permit.”

At one point, Trump was asked about Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is expected to run for president in 2028 and is in Davos, Switzerland, this week to speak about the California economy at the World Economic Forum.

“I don’t know that he’s going to be the nominee,” Trump told reporters. “I hate the way California is run. We actually have people leaving, it’s never happened before, but I hate the way it’s run. We had a very good relationship with it, it was really close to the word extraordinary, but now it seems like it’s not.”

Trump began his press briefing by reviewing dozens of mug shots of undocumented immigrants his administration has arrested and targeted for deportation. He boasted that most of the individuals were “murderers, drug lords, drug dealers,” fulfilling his campaign promise to target “the worst of the worst.” However, since he took office again, his administration has also taken strict measures on legal immigration and, from time to time, Detained US citizens.

While talking about immigration, Trump lamented the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis; That’s partly because he said the president’s parents, especially his father, were “huge Trump fans.”

“A lot of people say, ‘Oh, he loves you,'” Trump said. “I hope he still feels the same way.”

While Trump tried to focus on the success of his domestic policies, his appearance determined much of his foreign policy stance. The president, who is scheduled to travel to Davos on Tuesday evening, has repeatedly threatened to buy Greenland and impose tariffs on European countries sending troops to help Denmark defend its Arctic territory.

When asked how far he was willing to go to get Greenland, Trump replied, “You’ll find out.” Asked later whether he would risk breaking up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for the region, the president replied: “I think we’re going to work on a place where NATO will be very happy and we’ll be very happy.”

Trump was also asked about the Greenlanders, who have said they do not want to be part of the United States and expressed concern about Trump’s desires to take over the island.

“I didn’t talk to them,” Trump said. “I’m sure they’ll be excited when I talk to them.”

At the press conference, the president insisted on his claim that “Norway controls the Nobel Prize” in a text message he sent to Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Store over the weekend. In the text message, Trump wrote that since he did not win the Nobel Peace Prize, he no longer felt “obliged to think only about Peace” about purchasing Greenland.

Norway has repeatedly said the prize was awarded by the independent Nobel Committee, not the government. Statement from the store.

“Don’t let anyone tell you Norway didn’t control the shots,” Trump told reporters.

“I should have received the Nobel Prize,” Trump said.

Machado, last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, presented his award to Trump during his visit to the White House last week. Trump appeared to take the gesture graciously, telling reporters “how much he respected María, she did what she did.”

“He said, ‘I don’t deserve the Nobel Prize, he does,'” Trump said. “Isn’t she lovely? She’s a good woman.”

The president said he wanted to discuss a wide range of issues personally with journalists because he felt he wasn’t adequately compensated for the work he did last year.

“A lot of people are listening to fake news a little bit. I think we’ve done a much better job than we’ve been able to promote,” Trump said. “We took a mess and made it really good. It’s only going to get better.”

Times staff writer Gavin Quinton in washington contributed to this report.