Trump Hijacks Briefing to Tout First Year ‘Accomplishments’ While Railing Against US States and Cities

In a surprise appearance at a White House press briefing, President Donald Trump took the podium in the White House press room to mark the first anniversary of his second term, which began in January of last year. His remarks were a mix of his administration’s accomplishments and criticism against his allies in various U.S. states.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who does a briefing every day hinted earlier on social media that a “special guest” was going to be joining her during Tuesday’s briefing.

Trump entered the briefing holding a thick packet of materials that he said illustrated his administration’s achievements over the past 12 months, including a list the White House marketed as “365 wins in 365 days.” At one point he dropped or tossed portions of the documents onto the briefing room floor, a moment that drew attention from journalists.

A central portion of Trump’s remarks focused on the surge of federal agents and enforcement operations in Minnesota, where protests have erupted over the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an immigration agent and the broad deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection personnel.

He stated that he “felt bad” for Good, especially since according to him, her parents were big supporters of his. Trump added that he “understands both sides” of the situation, a stark contrast from previous rhetoric on the shooting from his administration, that purely defended the officer who shot Good.

“Our administration has delivered more in a year than many believed possible,” Trump said. He then pulled out another stack of papers, displaying mugshots of undocumented migrants living in Minnesota convicted of crimes, whom he described as “Minnesota worst of the worst.”

During the briefing, Trump labeled some Minnesota protesters as “paid agitators” and linked immigration-related crime in the state to broader national concerns. He echoed previous rhetoric about Somalis, calling Somalia the “worst country in the world” and recipients of $19 billion from the state of Minnesota, which he also called a “very corrupt state,” and that “the only thing they are good at is pirating ships.” Trump said he “feels” he won Minnesota, a staunch blue state, in every election but that their election system is “rigged.”

Trump also reflected on deploying the National Guard in Washington D.C. this year, claiming to have reduced crime and wants to send them to Chicago to do the same. He also claimed to have cut illegal border crossings by “99.999%,” and that in the last 8 months, not a single person crossed the border illegally.

A notable absence in his remarks is updates on his plans to annex Greenland as part of the United States, which has received condemnation from leaders across Europe.

However, he did repeat his claims about ending wars and fumed to reporters again about not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Earlier this week, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre made a message from Trump public, in which he claimed not to “feel an obligation to think purely of Peace” since Norway “decided not to give [him] the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS.”