{"id":2393480,"date":"2025-01-21T20:29:01","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T01:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-talks-pardons-tiktok-five-takeaways-from-press-conference-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-01-21T20:30:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T01:30:03","slug":"trump-talks-pardons-tiktok-five-takeaways-from-press-conference-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-talks-pardons-tiktok-five-takeaways-from-press-conference-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump talks pardons, TikTok: Five takeaways from press conference &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-talks-pardons-tiktok-five-takeaways-from-press-conference-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2393480&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-republican-says-bidens-border-policies-put-us-in-danger-of-hamas-like-terrorist-attacks\/\" title=\"GOP Leader Warns Biden&#039;s Border Policies Risk Hamas-style Terrorist Attacks on US.\">recent press \u2062conference<\/a> \u200bat the White House, President Donald trump announced\u200c a notable \u200binvestment of at least $500 billion from the\u2064 private sector into <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">artificial intelligence infrastructure<\/a>, expected to generate\u2064 over 100,000 jobs in the U.S. this initiative\u2064 is linked to a partnership named &#8216;Stargate&#8217;, co-led by \u200cOpenAI, SoftBank,\u2064 and Oracle.<\/p>\n<p>During the event, Trump defended his decision to grant pardons to\u2063 defendants involved in the January 6 Capitol riot, rejecting criticisms from opposing parties. He also expressed optimism about effective political negotiations on\u2062 relief aid for \u2064wildfire-affected \u2064California and indicated support for the possibility of Elon Musk purchasing TikTok under certain conditions. Furthermore,\u2064 Trump hinted at a \u2063proactive stance towards\u200c imposing sanctions on Russian President\u2063 Vladimir Putin amid the ongoing russia-Ukraine \u2062conflict.<\/p>\n<p>The conference\u2063 showcased Trump&#8217;s \u2062approach to governance in his \u2062second term, distinct from former President Biden&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/vance-gets-in-front-of-press-to-prove-his-mettle-to-trump-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Vance gets in front of press to prove his mettle to Trump - Washington Examiner\">limited press interactions<\/a>, as he engaged openly with journalists on\u200c various pressing topics, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/yale-law-students-said-a-top-journal-was-racist-admissions-data-suggest-otherwise\/\" title=\"Yale Law Students Said a Top Journal Was Racist. Admissions Data Suggest Otherwise.\">including national security<\/a>, environmental issues, and social \u2064media policy.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump courts AI and defends pardons: Five takeaways from White House &lsquo;Stargate&rsquo; event<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1941492\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Donald Trump<\/a> announced on Tuesday a private-sector investment of at least $500 billion in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/artificial-intelligence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"artificial intelligence\">artificial intelligence<\/a> infrastructure that will create over 100,000 U.S. jobs.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Stargate is the jointly owned venture that OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle are heading as Trump seeks to announce wins quickly during the early days of his second administration.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This monumental undertaking is a resounding declaration of confidence in America&rsquo;s potential under a new president,&rdquo; Trump said in remarks at the Roosevelt Room at the White House. <\/p>\n<p>The president was flanked by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI&rsquo;s Sam Altman, and Oracle&rsquo;s Larry Ellison,&nbsp;who all praised the partnership under the new administration.<\/p>\n<p>Soon after the announcement, Trump took a slew of questions from the press for the second day in a row, a stark departure from former President Joe Biden, who routinely limited his unscripted interactions with the press.<\/p>\n<p>Trump touched on several topics, from the future of TikTok to the several executive orders he signed on Monday and the Russia-Ukraine war.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the top takeaways from Trump&rsquo;s press conference. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, speaks as President Donald Trump, left, Masayoshi Son, SoftBank Group CEO, third from left, and, Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle Corporation and chief technology officer, right, listen, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Trump defends Jan. 6 pardons <\/h2>\n<p>One of Trump&rsquo;s first executive actions as the 47th president of the nation was to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3293179\/trump-announces-mass-clemency-pardons-january-6-defendants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">grant pardons and commutations<\/a> to all of the defendants convicted over the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/january-6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jan. 6<\/a>&nbsp;Capitol riot, sparking criticism from Democrats who denounced the move. <\/p>\n<p>Trump remained unrepentant over the orders when questioned by the press who asked about those who were convicted of violence against police.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Murderers today are not even charged. You have murderers that aren&rsquo;t charged all over you,&rdquo; Trump first said. &ldquo;Take a look at what&rsquo;s gone on in Philadelphia. Take a look at what&rsquo;s gone off in LA, where people murder people and they don&rsquo;t get charged.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;These people have already served years in prison. &hellip; It&rsquo;s a disgusting prison. It&rsquo;s been horrible. It&rsquo;s inhumane. It&rsquo;s been a terrible, terrible thing.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump also took a moment to attack President Joe Biden who pardoned members of his family and members of the House Jan. 6 investigatory committee in the final hours of his presidency. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Why did he give a pardon to the J6 unselect committee when they burned and destroyed all documents which showed that they did what was wrong, not me,&rdquo; Trump bemoaned. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Trump sounds confident on reconciliation and relief aid<\/h2>\n<p>Before the Monday announcement in the Roosevelt Room, Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3295913\/trump-meeting-white-house-gop-leaders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"huddled\">huddled<\/a> with congressional GOP leadership to game out a plan on whether to go forward with a one- or two-step reconciliation bill.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about the meeting, Trump told reporters, &ldquo;I think we have a good situation now&rdquo; before pivoting to relief aid for California as it battles devastating wildfires.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been in some ways made simpler by Los Angeles because they&rsquo;re going to need a lot of money. And generally speaking, I think you find that a lot of Democrats are going to be asking for help,&rdquo; Trump said.<\/p>\n<p>Trump claimed he would &ldquo;take care&rdquo; of Los Angeles and then announced he would visit North Carolina on Friday as it recovers from last year&rsquo;s hurricane season before heading to the Golden State and Nevada.<\/p>\n<p>Later on, Trump railed against California&rsquo;s water crises. &ldquo;Los Angeles has massive amounts of water available to it. All they have to do is turn the valve,&rdquo; he claimed. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Trump says he&rsquo;s fine with Elon Musk buying TikTok <\/h2>\n<p>Another executive order Trump signed on Monday was a 75-day extension for TikTok to either divest from ByteDance or risk shutting down in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Trump was asked about whether he was open to a key ally, the Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, buying the social media platform. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I would be if he wanted to buy it,&rdquo; the president said. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve met with owners of Tiktok, the big owners, it&rsquo;s worthless if it doesn&rsquo;t get a permit,&rdquo; Trump continued. &ldquo;With a permit it&rsquo;s worth like, a trillion dollars. So what I&rsquo;m thinking about saying to somebody is buy it and give half to the United States of America &hellip; and we&rsquo;ll give you the permit.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Trump has expressed affinity for TikTok after a higher share of younger voters swung his way during the 2024 election. <\/p>\n<p>He told reporters he doesn&rsquo;t currently have TikTok on his phone &ldquo;but I think I might put it there.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Trump open to sanctioning Vladimir Putin <\/h2>\n<p>The president has long claimed that had he been in office the war between Russia and Ukraine would not have occurred. Now that he has returned to the White House, Trump appears willing to play hardball with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he seeks to negotiate an end to the conflict.<\/p>\n<p>Trump was asked if, in the event Putin doesn&rsquo;t come to the negotiating table, he would place additional sanctions on Russia. &ldquo;Sounds likely,&rdquo; he responded.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The war should have never started if you had a competent president, which you didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Trump added.<\/p>\n<p>Trump, however, seemed noncommittal about ending American funding to the beleaguered Urkaine when asked.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;ll look into that. We&rsquo;re talking to [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelensky. We&rsquo;re going to be talking with President Putin very soon, and we&rsquo;ll see how it all happens,&rdquo; Trump said.<\/p>\n<p>He then took a moment to call for European allies of NATO to increase funding to Ukraine. &ldquo;I do feel the European Union should be paying a lot more than they&rsquo;re paying,&rdquo; Trump said. &ldquo;I think they should lift their number not to 2% but to 5%.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Trump also claimed he would be willing to meet with Zelensky and Putin anytime they were willing. &ldquo;President Zelensky would like to have peace. He&rsquo;s told me that very strongly he&rsquo;d like to have peace, but it takes two to tango. We&rsquo;ll see what happens,&rdquo; said Trump.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Trump explains stripping John Bolton of Secret Service protection<\/h2>\n<p>One of Trump&rsquo;s first decisions after becoming president was to strip his former national security adviser John Bolton of Secret Service protection.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection previously provided by the United States Secret Service,&rdquo; Bolton said in response to the action. &ldquo;Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden&rsquo;s national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to once again extend Secret Service protection to me in 202.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection previously provided by the United States Secret Service.&nbsp; Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden&#8217;s&nbsp;national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to extend&hellip;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AmbJohnBolton\/status\/1881782987966017553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Trump, however, claimed on Tuesday that &ldquo;there was enough time&rdquo; for Bolton to have the protection.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to have security on people for the rest of their lives. Why should we?&rdquo; Trump added. &ldquo;I thought he was a very dumb person, but I used him well.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>The president went on to call Bolton a &ldquo;stupid guy.&rdquo; Bolton criticized Trump repeatedly after leaving office and in his 2020 memoir prompting Trump to attack him in social media posts.  <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1941492\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1941492\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump promotes AI investment and defends pardons at event<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2658,"featured_media":2393481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Trump-AI.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[12559,32818,6248,3634],"class_list":["post-2393480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-pardons","tag-press-conference","tag-tiktok","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Trump-AI.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2393480"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2393484,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393480\/revisions\/2393484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2393481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2393480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2393480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2393480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}