mug shot

WASHINGTON — President Trump took command of a White House press briefing on Tuesday to tell reporters directly why he believes his first year back in office has been a success — though his showcase at times included false claims and a lack of clarity on his foreign policy agenda.

“I don’t like to do this, to be honest with you, but I do it because we got to get the word out,” Trump told reporters during a nearly two-hour appearance in which he took roughly 20 questions from reporters.

In his remarks, the president repeated claims that the 2020 election was “rigged,” reiterated his annoyance at not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ending “eight wars,” and dismissed concerns about the economy as he claimed the country is “doing so well” because of his tariffs.

Trump called Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado a “good woman” for giving him her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, calling his political foes “sick people,” and said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was “incompetent” for how she handled last year’s wildfire recovery efforts.

The president alleged that under Bass’ leadership, the city’s delay in issuing local building permits will take “years” when it should have taken “two or three days.”

“You had the incompetent mayor of Los Angeles who decided to go to Africa during the fire,” he said. “The place went crazy. Well, they still haven’t gotten their permits.”

At one point, Trump was asked about California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is widely expected to be eyeing a run for president in 2028, and who is in Davos, Switzerland, this week to talk about the California economy at the World Economic Forum.

“I don’t know that he is going to be the nominee,” Trump told reporters. “I just hate how California is being run. We actually have people leaving, it’s never happened before, but I hate the way it’s being run. He and I had a very good relationship, really close to the word exceptional, but now we seem not to.”

Trump kicked off the press briefing by sifting through dozens of mug shots of undocumented immigrants whom his administration has arrested and targeted for deportation. He boasted that many of the individuals were “murderers, they’re drug lords, drug dealers” in keeping with his campaign promise that he would be targeting the “worst of the worst.” But since he retook office, his administration has also cracked down on legal immigration, and at times, detained U.S. citizens.

As he talked about immigration, Trump lamented the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis — but partly because the president said her parents, particularly her father, were “tremendous Trump fans.”

“A lot of people, they say, ‘Oh, he loves you,’” Trump said. “I hope he still feel the same way.”

While Trump tried to focus on the success of his domestic policies, much of his appearance was dominated by his stance on foreign policy. The president, who was scheduled to leave for Davos on Tuesday evening, has repeatedly threatened to acquire Greenland and impose tariffs on European countries that send troops to help Denmark defend its Arctic territory.

Asked how far he would be willing to go to acquire Greenland, Trump said: “You’ll find out.” He was later asked if he was willing to risk breaking up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for the territory, to which the president responded: “I think that we will work something out where NATO’s going to be very happy and where we’re going to be very happy.”

Trump was also asked about Greenlanders who have said they do not want to be part of the United States and have expressed dismay about Trump’s desires to seize the island.

“I haven’t spoken to them,” Trump said. “When I speak to them, I’m sure they’ll be thrilled.”

At the press briefing, the president insisted that “Norway controls the Nobel Prize,” an assertion he made over the weekend in a text message sent to Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Store. In the text message, Trump wrote that he no longer felt an “obligation to think purely of Peace” when it comes to acquiring Greenland because he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Norway has repeatedly said the award is given by the independent Nobel Committee, not the government, Store said in a statement.

Trump told reporters to not “let anyone tell you that Norway doesn’t control the shots.”

“I should’ve gotten the Nobel Prize,” Trump said.

Machado, last year’s Nobel Peace laureate, gave Trump her award during a White House visit last week. Trump appeared to have taken kindly to the gesture, telling reporters that he has “such respect for María, doing what she did.

“She said, ‘I don’t deserve the Nobel Prize. He does,’” Trump said. “How nice, right? Good woman.”

The president said he wanted to discuss the wide range of topics personally with reporters because he felt that he was not getting enough credit for the job he had done in the last year.

“A lot of people are listening to the fake news a little bit. I think we’ve done a much better job than we have been able to promote,” Trump said. “We have taken a mess and made it really good. It’s going to get even better.”

Times staff writer Gavin Quinton in Washington contributed to this report.