Here’s a small taste of everything you may have missed over the past 24 hours, from Trump’s un-press-edented conference, to this morning’s healthcare bombshell.

by Kaylen Ralph

illustration by Anna Meyer

For the first time since July, President-Elect Donald J. Trump gave a press conference Wednesday morning in Manhattan at Trump Tower, starting at approximately 11 a.m. EST. If you were unable to tune in, The New York Times has published the full transcript as prepared by the Federal News Service. What follows is an attempt to extract and contextualize the statements, revelations and plans revealed in a presentation that was simultaneously meandering and highly charged. Trump’s transition period has been defined by a breakneck speed. The issues he addressed in yesterday’s press conference provided a blueprint, of sorts, for setting, as constituents of Trump’s presidency, a personal agenda for monitoring the progression of actionable elements that seem to have have stuck from his campaign and will define his first 100 days.

The Trump administration has no plans to slow its hearings schedule roll.

In Vice-President-Elect Mike Pence’s opening remarks this morning, he crunched the Cabinet numbers, reminding the room that, “Nineteen of the 21 cabinet officials have been announced, nine committee hearings already scheduled, seven more soon to go on the books in the next several days.” Over the weekend, it was reported that the nonpartisan Office of Government Ethics was greatly concerned with the quick pace at which hearings were being scheduled and taking place. Because Trump did not initially tap the Office of Government Ethics for the vetting of his selects, several nominees are still missing their ethics documentation. Irregardless, on Tuesday as scheduled, attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee for questioning, and secretary of Homeland Security nominee John Kelly faced the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Yesterday, concurrent with Trump’s press conference, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, stood before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Although Mike Pompeo, Trump’s pick for CIA director, was originally scheduled for questioning from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday afternoon, that meeting was postponed until this morning. Keep up with the evolving Trump administration via our Pinterest Tracking board on the topic. And keep tabs on scheduled hearings via the Senate’s official website.

 

Speaking of Cabinet appointments, ”repeal and replace” is officially the name of the Affordable Health Care game. But Trump says he won’t introduce the replacement portion until his pick for secretary of health and human services is approved.

Trump said yesterday that the repealing and the replacing will happen, “essentially, simultaneously…will most likely be on the same day or the same week, but probably, the same day, could be the same hour.” If this timeline sounds vague, that’s because it is. The new Republican-controlled Senate has already been hot to trot in its attempt to repeal. Just this morning (around 1:30 a.m.) they succeeded in passing a budget blueprint that sets the stage for a healthcare “gutting,” almost certainly by means of a type of legislation known as a reconciliation bill, which is notably immune to filibuster. This particular brand of legislative process, introduced in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, has been enacted only 20 times since its creation, yet it has defined the short but arduous history known as Congress’ tug of war over the Affordable Care Act. It was used both in 2010 to help pass the Affordable Care Act, as well as last year in the (vetoed) attempt to repeal. Yesterday, Trump said he would wait until his pick for for secretary of health and human services, Representative Tom Price, Republican of Georgia, is approved, before revealing the “replace” portion of the plan. Price’s hearing before the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee is scheduled for next Wednesday, January 18. The budget blueprint passed by the Senate early this morning instructs the House and Senate to come up with repeal legislation by Jan. 27. All amendments to the blueprint budget plan proffered by Senate Democrats were struck down. We don’t yet know all what the new plan might entail, but we do know what it won’t — Medicare, Medicaid, the children’s health program CHIP, the option to import prescription drugs from Canada, women’s health services, support for rural hospitals and more.

 

Trump decides that the New York Times isn’t so bad, after all. But really, anyone who wasn’t Buzzfeed or CNN was on Trump’s good side yesterday.

“So, I just want to compliment many of the people in the room. I have great respect for the news and great respect for freedom of the press and all of that. But I will tell you, there were some news organizations with all that was just said that were so professional — so incredibly professional, that I’ve just gone up a notch as to what I think of you. OK?” That’s how he opened the presser. Here’s why — on Tuesday, Buzzfeed’s news arm released an unverified report from an alleged former British intelligence official, detailing unverified details of Trump’s ties to Russia (some aspects of the document are simply inaccurate and unfounded, as Buzzfeed acknowledged when the post went live) and of potential threats to Trump’s reputation, both politically and personally, due to information included in the report. After Buzzfeed published the document, CNN followed up with context regarding the documents, but declined “to report on details of the memos, as (CNN) has not independently corroborated the specific allegations.”  CNN’s Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta was present at Trump’s press conference yesterday morning. Trump refused to accept any of his questions, despite Acosta’s persistent and vocal protest. The following is the transcript of their exchange:

 

Trump: As far as Buzzfeed, which is a failing pile of garbage, writing it, I think they’re going to suffer the consequences. They already are. And as far as CNN going out of their way to build it up — and by the way, we just found out I was coming down.

Acosta: Since you’re attacking us, can you give us a question? Mr. President-elect —

Trump: Go ahead.

Acosta: Mr. President-elect, since you are attacking our news organization…

Trump: Not you.

Acosta: Can you give us a chance?

Trump: Your organization is terrible.

Acosta: You are attacking our news organization, can you give us a chance to ask a question, sir? Sir, can you…

Trump: Quiet.

Acosta: Mr. President-elect, can you say…

Trump: He’s asking a question, don’t be rude. Don’t be rude.

Acosta: Can you give us a question since you’re attacking us? Can you give us a question?

Trump: Don’t be rude. No, I’m not going to give you a question. I’m not going to give you a question.

Acosta: Can you state…

Trump: You are fake news. Go ahead.

Acosta: Sir, can you state categorically that nobody — no, Mr. President-elect, that’s not appropriate.

 

The “fake news debate” continues to rage on. Buzzfeed’s decision to publish an unverified dossier detailing the findings of an ex-M16 agent’s intelligence on Trump’s relationship with Russia set off an internal debate amongst “the media,” and Trump effectively used yesterday’s press conference as a platform in order to deflect any questioning of his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin or his missing tax returns into an opportunity to rail against the media. He did not categorically deny that he, nor his campaign, were in contact with the Russian government during the course of the election. He did acquiesce to the possibility that Russia had an influence on the outcome of the election, and he promised the reveal of a forthcoming report from the “intelligence community” about the suspected hacking within 90 days.

 

Trump: You know, the only one that cares about my tax returns are the reporters, OK? They’re the only who ask.

Question: You don’t think the American public is concerned about it?

Trump: No I don’t think so. I won, when I became president. No, I don’t think they care at all. I don’t think they care at all.

 

And why should we care? The conflict of interest mandate doesn’t apply to Trump, he says. Enter Trump’s lawyer.

Approximately midway through the presser, Trump brought up his attorney to speak on his behalf regarding the handling of his business ventures moving forward. Before doing so, he made sure to let reporters know that he just turned down a $2 billion dollar deal with a colleague and friend in Dubai. But, “I didn’t have to turn it down, because as you know, I have a no-conflict situation because I’m president, which is — I didn’t know about that until about three months ago, but it’s a nice thing to have…I have a no conflict of interest provision as president. It was many, many years old, this is for presidents. Because they don’t want presidents getting — I understand they don’t want presidents getting tangled up in minutia; they want a president to run the country. So I could actually run my business, I could actually run my business and run government at the same time.” But he won’t do both, because of the optics. “I don’t like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if I wanted to. I would be the only one to be able to do that. You can’t do that in any other capacity. But as president, I could run the Trump organization, great, great company, and I could run the company — the country. I’d do a very good job, but I don’t want to do that.” Trump then announced that his two sons, Don and Eric, will be running his company for him. Then he brought up his lawyer, Sheri Dillon of the law firm Morgan Lewis. Dillon went on to explain that Trump has, “relinquished leadership and management of the Trump Organization to his sons Don and Eric and a longtime Trump executive, Allen Weisselberg.” She assured reporters that Trump will have no involvement in his namesake business moving forward, and that the “more than 30” pending deals Trump had previously been involved in had been terminated. “The trust agreement as directed by President Trump imposes severe restrictions on new deals,” Dillon said. “No new foreign deals will be made whatsoever during the duration of President Trump’s presidency. New domestic deals will be allowed, but they will go through a vigorous vetting process.” The jury is still out on whether that’s an appropriate move, historically or Constitutionally, but for now, it seems a new precedent has been set.

The U.S. is building a wall, not a fence. And Mexico’s isn’t the only border Trump’s set on securing.

After being elected, Trump promised that construction of his much lauded wall would be a top priority during his first 100 days in office. Since the election, thanks to highly publicized “deals” such as the one he purported to have struck with Carrier, an Indiana-based manufacturing unit of of United Technologies, Trump appeared to be refocusing his preoccupation with Mexico’s economic influence toward job creation, rather than strict immigration reform. “A lot of car companies are going to be moving in, we have other companies — big news is going to be announced over the next couple of weeks about companies that are getting building in the Midwest,” he said Wednesday morning. But he went on to make clear that while he still intends to use a high border tax as leverage over any U.S. company tempted to move their jobs elsewhere, the Mexican wall is still going up. Last week, Congress began moving forward with plans for constructing Trump’s promised wall, leading journalists (and the public) to wonder who, what, where, when, why and how….the wall would be paid for, especially considering that zero diplomatic dealings between Mexico and the U.S. have been revealed. With no reports circulating of Mexico opening its checkbook, it was assumed that the cost would, contrary to Trump’s campaign promise, be assumed by American taxpayers. Yesterday, Trump clarified that Mexico would indeed be paying for the wall, just not up front in full. As far as presenting a timeline, Trump announced he wants to solidify a plan within a year and a half, if not less. As for Mexico? Trump said yesterday they’ve been playing nice, but Mexico’s president has said he’s definitely not pulling out the country’s checkbook anytime soon.

Kaylen Ralph is The Riveter’s cofounder, editorial development director and brand director. She works as a personal stylist for Anthropologie. Follow her on Instagram @kaylenralph for books, fashion and a lot of content blending those two subjects. You can also find her on Twitter at @kaylenralph.

Anna Meyer is The Riveter’s Editorial Brand Assistant. She is a Minneapolis native currently pursuing journalism and English at the University of Kansas. You’re most likely to catch her either pulling espresso shots at her morning job as a barista or writing down ideas for stories in her notebook. Follow her on Instagram and stay updated with her work via her personal website.