President-elect Donald Trump and President Barack Obama and their families are enjoying Christmas vacation in warm sunny locations.
Trump is at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach Florida, while Obama is enjoying his final vacation as president in Hawaii.
But while Obama is spending his afternoons golfing and his evenings dining out with his family, Trump is already working to make deals and is still announcing his choices for cabinet positions. Obama has also spent time working out at the gym and on Tuesday, he spent the afternoon on a family beach outing.
On Wednesday, Trump met with the CEOs of Boeing and Lockheed Martin to discuss ways to make their military aircraft programs cost less. Trump has specifically criticized Boeing’s Air Force One program for costing too much money as well as the astronomically over budget F-35 program from Lockheed Martin.
He also met with a dozen generals from the Pentagon for a security briefing and discussed military planes and contracting.
Trump later appeared before reporters to discuss his meetings.
“These are amazing people,” he told reporters, shaking their hands as they left the estate. One general gave the president-elect a challenge coin as he departed.
Trump explained that he wanted to bring the costs down on military aircraft.
“We’re just beginning, it’s a dance,” Trump said after his meeting with Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson. “It’s a little bit of a dance. But we’re going to get the costs down and we’re going to get it done beautifully.”
Obama spent Wednesday afternoon golfing with his pals Greg Orme, Bobby Titcomb, and Darrell Harrington at the Kapolei Golf Club.
The president allowed reporters to watch him putt in his final shot on the 18th hole, and tipped his at at the press after he sunk his ball in the hole.
He did not make comments to the press.
But Obama has not been entirely idle. After arriving in Hawaii, the White House announced his decision to remove hundreds of millions of acres of federally owned land from offshore oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic Ocean.
He also took time to phone German Chancellor Angela Merkel after the terrorist attack in Berlin killed 12 people at a Christmas market, while his National Security Council spokesman condemned the assassination of a Russian ambassador in Turkey by an extremist. Obama was briefed about the attack before his golfing outing that afternoon.
Trump immediately issued statements on Tuesday condemning the attacks as acts of “radical Islamic terrorism.”
He also briefly spoke the press about his reaction to the attacks on Wednesday.
“It’s an attack on humanity. That’s what it is. An attack on humanity and it’s got to be stopped,” he said, asserting that he was “100 percent correct” about the terrorist threat that faced the world.
The Trump transition team has also announced several other cabinet positions and nominees to his upcoming administration.
Trump’s interactions with the press have also improved. He met with several reporters in an off-the-record meeting at the club and spoke briefly to the press pool on two separate occasions. His team has also set up snacks and hot dogs for the press where they are stationed outside the club.
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