Dec. 16
By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton
President-elect Donald Trump gave a wide-ranging news conference in Florida on Monday, addressing a host of hot-button issues like political pardons, drone sightings, vaccines, the southern border wall and more.
Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago estate, the hour-long press conference was Trump’s first since his electoral victory in November. It resembled many from his first term as he jumped from topic to topic, sometimes offering debunked data and making false claims.
Here are three of his most questionable claims in the interview as well as additional information to help sort fact from fiction:
The Debunked Autism and Vaccine Link Should Be Investigated by Robert F. Kennedy Jr
While Trump said he was a “big believer” in the polio vaccine, he doubled down on remarks made during an interview with Time magazine regarding concerns over the number of autism cases in children, saying his pick for head of the Department of Health and Human Services – Robert F. Kennedy Jr – would investigate a potential link between vaccines and autism. Studies have repeatedly shown that there is no link between vaccines and autism but a long debunked study which said there was a link continues to fuel skepticism.
“There’s something wrong,” he said during the press conference. “And we’re going to find out about it.”
Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine advocate, has said he does not want to take away access to vaccines but has questioned their safety. He has spread misinformation and touted debunked theories and conspiracy theories, at times suggesting AIDS is caused by heavy recreational drug use, that the 2022 COVID pandemic was planned by the federal government to undermine American liberties and that vaccines cause autism.
The Biden Administration Knows ‘What Is Happening’ With The Drones
Weighing in on the drone sightings in several states that have generated interest and concern, Trump accused the Biden administration of knowing “what is happening.”
“They know where it came from and where it went,” Trump said. “And for some reason, they don’t want to comment.”
He later said that the sightings in New Jersey had been over his Bedminster golf club, jokingly adding, “I think maybe I won’t spend the weekend in Bedminster. I decided to cancel my trip.”
Despite what Trump said, the federal government has commented on the drones.
Federal officials have said they don’t know who is operating the drones or what they are doing. The FBI, Homeland Security and state police are all investigating to determine whether it is a single drone being spotted several times or if there are several being flown in a coordinated effort.
The White House arranged a phone briefing with officials from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Pentagon over the weekend to discuss the ongoing situation. An official from Homeland Security found “no evidence to date of any foreign-based involvement” in sending the drones.
“At this point, we have not identified any basis for believing that these drones – that there’s any criminal activity involved, that there’s any national security threat, that there’s any particular public safety threat, or that there’s a malicious foreign actor involved in these drones,” another official said.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Wednesday that they are not U.S. military drones.
More than a dozen people have witnessed the mysterious drones flying over parts of New Jersey since mid-November. Since then, more have been sighted in New York, Virginia and Massachusetts.
The DOGE Plan to Cut $2 Trillion From the Annual Federal Budget Will Have ‘No Impact’ on Everyday Americans
Trump also doubled down on a campaign promise to cut federal spending, charging Department of Government Efficiency leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with cutting $2 trillion out of the $6.8 trillion annual federal budget. He added that the plan will have “no impact on people.”
Musk first proposed the amount last month after Trump didn’t offer one when creating the commission. He added that current 400 or so federal agencies should be reduced to 99 or less.
But despite Trump’s claim, an expert argues that it would be hard to make those cuts “without compromising some of the fundamental objectives of the government that are widely agreed upon.”
A New York Times analysis of the 2023 budget found that a third of federal spending went to Medicare and Social Security, both programs that Trump vowed not to touch. And 13% went to national defense, an area where Trump has shown a willingness to increase spending.
Another 10% went to paying interest on existing federal debts, according to the Times, which if cut could lead to a recession and higher interest rates, experts say.
According to the Times, the only area left would be the 40% that goes to cabinet agencies, veterans’ benefits and Medicaid and cutting $2 trillion there would result in huge cutbacks in services Americans rely on.