--- title: President Obama Speaks at Final Press Conference: Transcript description: President Barack Obama gave his final White House press conference on Wednesday afternoon. Read the full transcript of his remarks canonical: https://time.com/4638406/president-obama-final-press-conference-transcript/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-18T21:23:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:47:47.602Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read What President Obama Said at His Final Press Conference og:description: "At my core, I think we're going to be OK. We just have to fight for it" og:url: https://time.com/4638406/president-obama-final-press-conference-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6049205e5ead4d60/6988b5faab6d77419e6ac824/barack-obama-transcript-final-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: President Obama Holds Final News Conference At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read What President Obama Said at His Final Press Conference twitter:description: "At my core, I think we're going to be OK. We just have to fight for it" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6049205e5ead4d60/6988b5faab6d77419e6ac824/barack-obama-transcript-final-press-conference.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read What President Obama Said at His Final White House Press Conference  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 18, 2017 9:23 PM UTC  President Barack Obama holds the last news conference of his presidency in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Jan. 18, 2017 in Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama holds the last news conference of his presidency in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Jan. 18, 2017 in Washington, D.C.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 18, 2017 9:23 PM UTC President Obama gave his [final press conference](http://time.com/4638301/barack-obama-final-white-house-press-conference/) on Wednesday afternoon, addressing his post-White House plans and his advice for President-elect Donald Trump. “That’s probably the most useful advice, the most constructive advice that I’ve been able to give him—that if you find yourself isolated because the process breaks down or if you’re only hearing from people who agree with you on everything,” Obama said, “that’s when you start making mistakes.” Obama [explained his decision](http://time.com/4638194/president-obama-final-press-conference/?xid=homepage) to commute the sentence of [Chelsea Manning](http://time.com/4636935/president-obama-commute-chelsea-manning-prison-sentence/), who admitted to leaking secret government documents to WikiLeaks. He spoke about the U.S. relationship with Russia, and ended on a note of optimism about the country’s future. “I believe in this country. I believe in the American people. I believe that people are more good than bad. I believe tragic things happen. I think there’s evil in the world. But I think that at the end of the day, if we work hard and we’re true to those things in us that feel true and feel right, then the world gets a little better every time. That’s what this presidency has tried to be about,” he said. “So this is not just a matter of ‘No Drama Obama.’ This is what I really believe.” Read the transcript of his full remarks from the White House: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4638406/president-obama-final-press-conference-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4638406/president-obama-final-press-conference-transcript/"},"headline":"Read What President Obama Said at His Final White House Press Conference","datePublished":"2017-01-18T21:23:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:47:47.602Z","description":"\"At my core, I think we're going to be OK. 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