Trump joins White House press briefing as ‘special guest’

President Donald Trump joined Tuesday’s White House press briefing to mark the first anniversary of the start of his second term.

The rare appearance comes as the president faces extraordinary pushback from America’s European allies over his planned tariffs on Greenland, tensions he’ll confront in person this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Trump blasts UN as he touts his Board of Peace

“I wish we didn’t need a Board of Peace,” Trump said. “You know, with all the wars I settled, the United Nations never helped me in one war.”

Trump’s Board of Peace was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan. But the Trump administration’s ambitions have ballooned into a more sprawling concept, with Trump extending invitations to dozens of nations and hinting it will soon broker global conflicts, like a pseudo-U.N. Security Council.

Trump grumbles anew about Norway and not winning Nobel Prize

“It’s a joke,” Trump fumed about the prize to reporters. “They’ve lost such prestige.”

Trump, in a message to European officials made public this week, linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize, telling Norway’s prime minister that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace.”

Trump also waved aside comments from Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who issued a statement on Monday noting that the Norwegian government holds no sway over who receives the Peace Prize.

“And don’t let anyone tell you that Norway doesn’t control the shots. OK?” Trump said. “It’s in Norway.”

An hour in, Trump still zigzagging through accomplishments

Trump has spent a full hour at the briefing room podium with no signs of stopping.

First, he brandished photographs of people allegedly arrested in Minnesota. Later, he began rattling off his administration’s “wins” from a prepared packet. Throughout, it’s been a speech full of variety and plenty of tangents.

The president shared a laundry list of accomplishments, including executive orders he has signed and his administration’s move to increase law enforcement in the nation’s capital.

He’s been especially focused on immigration and deporting alleged criminals. Foreign policy talk has been scarce so far, even as tensions with Europe have escalated over his aggression toward Greenland.

Justice Department subpoenas Walz and others in immigration enforcement obstruction probe

Federal prosecutors served six grand jury subpoenas Tuesday to Minnesota officials as part of an investigation into whether they obstructed or impeded federal law enforcement during a sweeping immigration operation in Minneapolis-St. Paul area, a person familiar with the matter said.

The subpoenas, which seek records, were sent to the offices of Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, and officials in Ramsey and Hennepin counties, the person said.

The person was not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The subpoenas are related to an investigation into whether Minnesota officials obstructed federal immigration enforcement through public statements they made, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday. They said that it was focused on the potential violation of a conspiracy statute.

Trump says the Hells Angels motorcycle gang voted for him

The president claimed that the immigrants his administration has removed from the U.S. make the Hells Angels “look like the sweetest people on Earth,” only to then pause for an aside during Tuesday’s news briefing and compliment the infamous motorcycle gang.

“I like the Hells Angels,” Trump said. “They voted for me. They protected me, actually.”

A former leader of the Hells Angels, Chuck Zito, did join with Trump at a Manhattan courthouse last year. The president likes to discuss his general love of bikers. But it was unclear whether the outlaw motorcycle gang had ever been contracted to provide security for Trump.

The Hells Angels infamously provided security at a 1969 concert at the Altamont Speedway in California, an event that broke out in violence and led to multiple deaths.

Trump says millions have been cut from federal payroll

“We slashed tremendous numbers from federal payroll,” Trump said during the press briefing, adding that millions of federal workers were terminated by the Trump administration.

Scott Kupor, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, said last September that there would be roughly 300,000 fewer federal workers on the payroll nationwide by the end of 2025. The government employs roughly 2.5 million workers, including military members.

Trump said the fired workers are “getting much better jobs and much higher pay.”

From the start of Trump’s second term one year ago, the Department of Government Efficiency, led by his then-adviser Elon Musk, instigated purges of federal agencies with the expressed mission of rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.

Trump projects empathy for immigrants who haven’t committed serious crimes

Trump used the podium to draw a line on deportations — saying his administration is focused on criminals, not others living in the U.S. illegally.

“We have a lot of heart for people, they came in illegally, but they’re good people, and they’re working now in farms, and they’re working in luncheonettes and hotels,” the president said. “We’re looking to get the criminals out right now, the criminals.”

His comments come as immigration agents in Minnesota have been accused of searching and detaining multiple people who don’t fit that description.

Over the weekend, in one such incident, a U.S. citizen without a criminal record was detained at gunpoint without a warrant, his family told the AP. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security described the operation as a “targeted operation” seeking two convicted sex offenders.