--- title: Donald Trump Press Conference: Read a Full Transcript description: President Trump discussed his relations with Russia, the first weeks of his Administration, his thoughts on the media and other topics. canonical: https://time.com/4674061/donald-trump-press-conference-russia-transcript/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-16T21:07:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:23:34.739Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read a Transcript of Trump's Combative Press Conference og:description: The full text. og:url: https://time.com/4674061/donald-trump-press-conference-russia-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a40382e63642517/6988baae0a4a22b4da9ccf59/donald-trump-press-conference.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read a Transcript of Trump's Combative Press Conference twitter:description: The full text. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a40382e63642517/6988baae0a4a22b4da9ccf59/donald-trump-press-conference.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read a Transcript of President Trump's Combative Press Conference by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 16, 2017 9:07 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference on Feb. 16, 2017, at the White House in Washington, DC. US President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference on Feb. 16, 2017, at the White House in Washington, DC.NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 16, 2017 9:07 PM UTC President Trump discussed his relations with Russia, the first weeks of his Administration, [his thoughts on the media](http://time.com/4673707/donald-trump-press-conference-news-media/) and a number of other topics in a wide-ranging press conference Thursday. Ostensibly billed as a chance to introduce his nominee for Labor Secretary, Trump mostly [talked about other subjects](http://time.com/4673624/donald-trump-press-conference-combative/) before taking questions from a number of reporters. Here’s a complete transcript of his remarks. --- > “” --- **Read More:** [_President Trump Said His Win Was the ‘Biggest Since Reagan.’ It Wasn’t_](http://time.com/4673993/donald-trump-campaign-electoral-college-win/) --- > “” --- **Read More:** [_The Facts Behind President Trump’s Statistic on Judges Who Ruled Against Him_](http://time.com/4673903/donald-trump-ninth-circuit-statistic-fact-check/) --- > “” --- **Read More:** [_President Trump Asked a Black Reporter to Set Up a Meeting With Black Lawmakers_](http://time.com/4673970/donald-trump-april-ryan-black-lawmakers/) --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4674061/donald-trump-press-conference-russia-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4674061/donald-trump-press-conference-russia-transcript/"},"headline":"Read a Transcript of President Trump's Combative Press Conference","datePublished":"2017-02-16T21:07:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:23:34.739Z","description":"President Trump discussed his relations with Russia, the first weeks of his Administration, his thoughts on the media and other topics.","url":"https://time.com/4674061/donald-trump-press-conference-russia-transcript/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","transcripts","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a40382e63642517/6988baae0a4a22b4da9ccf59/donald-trump-press-conference.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a40382e63642517/6988baae0a4a22b4da9ccf59/donald-trump-press-conference.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP","caption":"US President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference on Feb. 16, 2017, at the White House in Washington, DC.","creditText":"NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/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/4674061/donald-trump-press-conference-russia-transcript/","name":"Read a Transcript of President Trump's Combative Press Conference"}}]}] ```