13 highlights from President Trump’s wild press conference

1. He didn’t have a problem with Mike Flynn’s conversation with Russia

Trump was asked on multiple occasions about Flynn’s departure as national security adviser and repeatedly said it wasn’t what Flynn may or may not have said to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that made him lose his job. Instead, it was the fact that he wasn’t fully truthful with Vice President Mike Pence when the two spoke about the conversations.

“He didn’t tell the vice president … the facts. And then he didn’t remember and that just wasn’t acceptable to me,” Trump said.

2. Trump didn’t tell Flynn to discuss sanctions, but he would have

Democrats and critics of the administration have raised concerns that Flynn speaking with Kislyak before taking office would be a violation of the Logan Act if he mentioned a possible weakening of the sanctions under the Trump administration. Trump said that’s what he would have told Flynn to do if he was aware of the phone call.

“Mike was doing his job. He was calling countries and his counterparts, so it certainly would have been OK with me if he did it,” Trump said. “I didn’t direct him, but I would have directed him because that’s his job.”

3. Trump denied connections between himself, and his campaign and Russia

As he did in his final press conference before becoming president, Trump denied ever having any financial dealings with the Russian government or being in contact with Russian intelligence during the campaign. Trump added that he’s not aware of anyone within his campaign having contact with Russian intelligence officials during their attempt to hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

“Russia is fake news. This is fake news put out by the media,” Trump said. “The real news is the fact that people, probably from the Obama administration because they’re there.”

4. The leaks from intelligence agencies are real, but the news is fake

Trump said he’s called the Justice Department to get an investigation started on the leaks from his White House and the intelligence community. He confirmed that the details reported in the press from his call with the leaders of Mexico and Australia was accurate but still called the actual reports “fake news.”

“The reporting is fake,” Trump said.

5. Trump’s media critique

The Trump administration refers to the press as the opposition party, and that attitude was on full display Thursday at the White House. Trump criticized individual reporters and their questions, critiqued shows on cable news networks and ripped the “failing New York Times” and the Washington Post for publishing information that was leaked by federal officials.

“The media is trying to attack our administration because they know that we are following through on pledges that we have made and they’re not happy about it, for whatever reason,” Trump said.

6. New travel ban coming

Trump plans to issue a new immigration order that will address the concerns of federal judges who blocked his ban on refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim nations that was issued last month. He said the new order would carve out a space for green card holders who are allowed to legally reside in the United States, which was a sticking point in the initial roll out.

He also said he didn’t think there was anything wrong with the initial rollout of the immigration order, only that the decision of the judges was bad.

“We are issuing a new executive action next week that will comprehensively protect our country,” Trump said.

7. Trump goes back to hitting his old punching bag, Hillary Clinton

Trump took time to tout his election win again during the press conference and returned to much of his campaign rhetoric, including ripping Clinton for the Democratic Party’s work on her behalf that was exposed in leaked emails. He added that he wants to improve relations with Russia and do it better than Clinton did, who made the U.S. look silly during President Barack Obama’s first term.

“Hillary Clinton did a reset, remember, with the stupid plastic button that made us all look like a bunch of jerks?” Trump said. “[Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov] looked at her like, ‘what the hell is she doing with that cheap plastic button?'”

“Hillary Clinton, that was a reset, remember it said ‘reset?'” he said. “Now if I do that, ooh, I’m a bad guy.”

8. Trump paraphrases Obama to defend the state of the country

In 2009, Obama would not let the country forget just how bad of a situation he inherited from President George W. Bush. On Thursday, Trump turned the tables and used similar rhetoric against Obama.

“I inherited a mess. Jobs are pouring out of the country, you see what’s going on with all of the companies leaving our country,” Trump said. “Low pay, low wages, mass instability overseas no matter where you look — the Middle East, North Korea.”

9. He brushed off Obamacare protests

Trump said liberal protests at the town halls of Republican lawmakers aren’t representative of the districts they serve and therefore the congressmen and women are justified in ducking those protesters. Many of them are asking the lawmakers not to repeal Obamacare.

“They are not the Republican people that our representatives are representing,” Trump said.

10. Trump wants to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus

Trump said he’s willing to meet with black lawmakers to help form his policy to help urban areas, and asked a black reporter if she would be willing to set up the meeting. The reporter, April Ryan, has close ties to the Congressional Black Caucus.

“Well I would. I tell you what: Do you want to set up the meeting? Do you want to set up the meeting? Are they friends of yours?” Trump asked.

He added, “Set up the meeting. Go set up the meeting. I would love to meet with the black caucus. I think it’s great, the Congressional Black Caucus, I think it’s great.”

11. He’s not going to tell us what he’s doing to respond to Russian provocation

Russia has deployed nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles and sent a spy ship within 30 miles of the U.S. coast in recent days, but Trump doesn’t plan on telling the public how he’ll respond to these incidents.

“I’m not going to tell you anything about what I’m going to do,” he told reporters on Thursday.

He added, “The greatest thing I could do is shoot that ship that’s 30 miles out right out of the water. Everybody in this country would be ‘oh, that’s so great.’ That’s not great. That’s not great. I would love to be able to get along with Russia.”

12. He ripped a reporter for asking him what he plans to do about anti-Semitic incidents

When a reporter asked him what he plans to do to address anti-Semitic incidents in the United States, Trump scolded the reporter who asked him the question. When another reporter followed up later on with the same question, Trump suggested Democrats were committing anti-Semitic acts in order to blame them on Trump supporters.

“I am the least anti-Semitic person you have ever seen in your entire life,” Trump said

13. Oh, and Alexander Acosta is the nominee to be his new labor secretary.

This was the actual reason the press conference was called — Trump announced Alexander Acosta, dean of Florida International University’s law school to be his pick for secretary of labor. Trump’s first pick, Andrew Puzder, withdrew his name from consideration on Wednesday after it became clear he would not be confirmed.

“Acosta … has had a tremendous career,” Trump said in an afternoon press conference. “He has been a member of the National Labor Relations board and he has been through Senate confirmation three times.”

Acosta wasn’t at the press conference.