--- title: Donald Trump: 5 Things We Learned From His News Conference description: President-elect Donald Trump held his first press conference since July, addressing reports of his ties to Russia and more canonical: https://time.com/4631688/donald-trump-news-conference-what-to-know/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-11T18:26:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:40:24.080Z article:section: Politics og:title: 5 Things We Learned From Donald Trump's News Conference og:description: The President-elect held his first press conference since July og:url: https://time.com/4631688/donald-trump-news-conference-what-to-know/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05008c4162f8b5c5/6988b525196cf4d7ee03e734/trump-presser-things-learned.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Press Conference In New York og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Things We Learned From Donald Trump's News Conference twitter:description: The President-elect held his first press conference since July twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05008c4162f8b5c5/6988b525196cf4d7ee03e734/trump-presser-things-learned.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Things We Learned From Donald Trump's News Conference > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 11, 2017 6:26 PM UTC  President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at Trump Tower on January 11, 2017 in New York City. President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at Trump Tower on January 11, 2017 in New York City.Spencer Platt—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 11, 2017 6:26 PM UTC [President-elect Donald Trump](http://time.com/4631551/donald-trump-press-conference-russia-ethics-transcript/) held his first [press conference](http://time.com/4631349/donald-trump-news-conference-russia/) since July on Wednesday, addressing reports of his ties to Russia, plans for his administration and potential conflicts of interest he will face in office. Here are 5 things we learned from the news conference. **Trump’s thoughts on the alleged Russian hacking during the 2016 election** Trump acknowledged that Russia was behind [hacking the 2016 presidential election](http://time.com/4600177/election-hack-russia-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/), although he said other countries might also hold responsibility. “As far as hacking, I think it was Russia,” he said. “But I think we also get hacked by other countries and other people.” **What Trump thinks about the recent reports of his ties to Russia** Trump denounced and denied an unsubstantiated intelligence document reporting that that said Russia had [compromising information](http://time.com/4631349/donald-trump-news-conference-russia/?xid=homepage) on him. He blamed the report on intelligence agencies and news outlets like BuzzFeed and CNN, calling their decision to [report on the claims](http://time.com/4631551/donald-trump-press-conference-russia-ethics-transcript/) “a sad and pathetic attempt to get clicks.” CNN reported on the document’s existence, but Buzzfeed leaked the document itself in its entirety. **How Trump plans to move forward with his business** The President-elect said he plans to [turn over his business to his sons](http://time.com/4631597/donald-trump-business-separation/?xid=homepage) and a longtime business executive, but will not sell it. According to a lawyer who worked with the Trump Organization, the company will not make foreign deals but will pursue domestic ones. **When he will nominate a new Supreme Court justice** Trump said he will nominate a [justice to the Supreme Court](http://time.com/4631607/donald-trump-supreme-court-justice-nominate-two-weeks/) within two weeks of his inauguration. The empty seat has been left vacant since Justice Antonin Scalia died in February. **An update on the status of Trump’s planned border wall with Mexico** Trump wants to get to work on building the [border wall with Mexico](http://time.com/4631631/donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-press-conference/) that he repeatedly promised during his campaign. He said Mexico will reimburse the U.S. for the wall. “I want to get the wall started,” he said. “I don’t want wait a year and half to make a deal with Mexico.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4631688/donald-trump-news-conference-what-to-know/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4631688/donald-trump-news-conference-what-to-know/"},"headline":"5 Things We Learned From Donald Trump's News Conference","datePublished":"2017-01-11T18:26:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:40:24.080Z","description":"The President-elect held his first press conference since July","url":"https://time.com/4631688/donald-trump-news-conference-what-to-know/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05008c4162f8b5c5/6988b525196cf4d7ee03e734/trump-presser-things-learned.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05008c4162f8b5c5/6988b525196cf4d7ee03e734/trump-presser-things-learned.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Press Conference In New York","caption":"President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Press Conference In New York","creditText":"Spencer Platt—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4631688/donald-trump-news-conference-what-to-know/","name":"5 Things We Learned From Donald Trump's News Conference"}}]}] ```