US President-elect holds first news conference since July

World Today

President-elect Donald Trump, accompanied by Vice President-elect Mike Pence, speaks during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In a highly-anticipated press conference, President-elect Donald Trump conceded that Russia might have interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. U.S. intelligence chiefs blame Moscow for the hacking of Democratic National Party emails that were released to the public via Wikileaks.

CGTN’s Jessica Stone reports from the news conference in New York.

Trump’s first news conference in six months came on the heels of explosive allegations — about Russian efforts to personally and financially compromise the U.S. president-elect.

Trump called the reports – “a disgrace” and he refused to allow some U.S. media who gave voice to those accusations — to ask any questions.

In recent weeks, U.S. intelligence agencies assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered Moscow to sway the U.S. presidential election toward Trump by hacking the nation’s political parties.

Trump acknowledged he thinks Russia was behind the hacking but said: “If Putin likes Donald Trump, that’s an asset not a liability. They can help us with ISIS. This administration created ISIS by leaving at the wrong time.”

Ahead of the news conference, staffers brought out stacks of papers and folders and placed them on a table. Trump, once a reality TV star, said many of the papers represented agreements he had signed to separate himself from his business conflicts.

Trump has controlling interests in at least 500 businesses in some two dozen nations spanning the globe.

He said he will now turn over the operation of the Trump Organization to a trust controlled by his sons, Eric and Don Jr., while his daughter, Ivanka will sever all ties with the company.

Trump’s attorney says no new foreign deals will be permitted, though domestic deals will still be on the table..

The Trumps will also appoint an ethics advisor to oversee the process. But this proposal is not divestment — a fact Trump’s attorney acknowledges.

“He should not be expected to destroy company he built,” Trump’s attorney Sheri Dillon said.

Upon taking office, Trump says he will name a new Supreme Court justice within the first two weeks of his administration, order a U.S. cyber security review and begin building a tax-payer funded wall on the southern border and find a way to make Mexico reimburse the cost.


Steve Pruitt talks about Donald Trump’s business ties

For more on Donald Trump’s business ties and the possible conflict of interests they could have during his presidency, CGTN’s Rachelle Akuffo spoke to Steve Pruitt, a managing partner at Watts Partners, and a former staff director for the Budget Committee at the U.S. House of Representatives.