President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday a private-sector investment of at least $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure that will create over 100,000 U.S. jobs.
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.
“This monumental undertaking is a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential under a new president,” Trump said in remarks at the Roosevelt Room at the White House.
The president was flanked by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who all praised the partnership under the new administration.
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.
Trump touched on several topics, from the future of TikTok to the several executive orders he signed on Monday and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Here are the top takeaways from Trump’s press conference.
1. Trump defends Jan. 6 pardons
One of Trump’s first executive actions as the 47th president of the nation was to grant pardons and commutations to all of the defendants convicted over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, sparking criticism from Democrats who denounced the move.
Trump remained unrepentant over the orders when questioned by the press who asked about those who were convicted of violence against police.
“Murderers today are not even charged. You have murderers that aren’t charged all over you,” Trump first said. “Take a look at what’s gone on in Philadelphia. Take a look at what’s gone off in LA, where people murder people and they don’t get charged.
“These people have already served years in prison. … It’s a disgusting prison. It’s been horrible. It’s inhumane. It’s been a terrible, terrible thing.”
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.
“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,” Trump bemoaned.
2. Trump sounds confident on reconciliation and relief aid
Before the Monday announcement in the Roosevelt Room, Trump huddled with congressional GOP leadership to game out a plan on whether to go forward with a one- or two-step reconciliation bill.
When asked about the meeting, Trump told reporters, “I think we have a good situation now” before pivoting to relief aid for California as it battles devastating wildfires.
“It’s been in some ways made simpler by Los Angeles because they’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,” Trump said.
Trump claimed he would “take care” of Los Angeles and then announced he would visit North Carolina on Friday as it recovers from last year’s hurricane season before heading to the Golden State and Nevada.
Later on, Trump railed against California’s water crises. “Los Angeles has massive amounts of water available to it. All they have to do is turn the valve,” he claimed.
3. Trump says he’s fine with Elon Musk buying TikTok
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.
Trump was asked about whether he was open to a key ally, the Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, buying the social media platform.
“I would be if he wanted to buy it,” the president said.
“I’ve met with owners of Tiktok, the big owners, it’s worthless if it doesn’t get a permit,” Trump continued. “With a permit it’s worth like, a trillion dollars. So what I’m thinking about saying to somebody is buy it and give half to the United States of America … and we’ll give you the permit.”
Trump has expressed affinity for TikTok after a higher share of younger voters swung his way during the 2024 election.
He told reporters he doesn’t currently have TikTok on his phone “but I think I might put it there.”
4. Trump open to sanctioning Vladimir Putin
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.
Trump was asked if, in the event Putin doesn’t come to the negotiating table, he would place additional sanctions on Russia. “Sounds likely,” he responded.
“The war should have never started if you had a competent president, which you didn’t,” Trump added.
Trump, however, seemed noncommittal about ending American funding to the beleaguered Urkaine when asked.
“Well, we’ll look into that. We’re talking to [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelensky. We’re going to be talking with President Putin very soon, and we’ll see how it all happens,” Trump said.
He then took a moment to call for European allies of NATO to increase funding to Ukraine. “I do feel the European Union should be paying a lot more than they’re paying,” Trump said. “I think they should lift their number not to 2% but to 5%.”
Trump also claimed he would be willing to meet with Zelensky and Putin anytime they were willing. “President Zelensky would like to have peace. He’s told me that very strongly he’d like to have peace, but it takes two to tango. We’ll see what happens,” said Trump.
5. Trump explains stripping John Bolton of Secret Service protection
One of Trump’s first decisions after becoming president was to strip his former national security adviser John Bolton of Secret Service protection.
“I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection previously provided by the United States Secret Service,” Bolton said in response to the action. “Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden’s national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to once again extend Secret Service protection to me in 202.”
Trump, however, claimed on Tuesday that “there was enough time” for Bolton to have the protection.
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“We’re not going to have security on people for the rest of their lives. Why should we?” Trump added. “I thought he was a very dumb person, but I used him well.”
The president went on to call Bolton a “stupid guy.” Bolton criticized Trump repeatedly after leaving office and in his 2020 memoir prompting Trump to attack him in social media posts.
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