MW: After a five-month dry spell, a Trump press conference of sorts
Call it a news conference (one local Fox affiliate labeled it Donald Trump’s first major press conference since his election) or something shy of that (the Wall Street Journal more soberly dubbed it a question-and-answer session) or an impromptu media availability interrupted by occasional Don King chortling, the president-elect, criticized for not having held a news conference since July, did in fact welcome questions from reporters late Wednesday.
On Secretary of State John Kerry’s address on Israel: “I think his speech really speaks for itself,” Trump said, allowing that, while Mideast peace is a shared goal, he and the Obama White House hold differing views. “I think [the Kerry speech] set it back. ... We’re going to see what happens after Jan. 20, right? I think you’re going to be very impressed. I hope.”
On new U.S. jobs promised by the telecom company Sprint: The president-elect did not address head-on a question of whether the jobs touted late Wednesday were, in fact, brand-new or part of 50,000 positions previously heralded as being created in the U.S. by Japan’s SoftBank, majority owner of Sprint. The “head person” at Sprint S, +1.03% , Trump related, “said that because of me they’re doing 5,000 jobs in this country.”
