Thread by @jseldin

Happening now: @POTUS @JoeBiden conducts his 1st news conference as president of the #UnitedStates

"I got elected to solve problems" per @POTUS, saying #COVID19 & the economy were the top, immediate priorities

Says he's hoping he can now begin to focus on issues like immigration, gun control - "We're going to move on these one at time"

"I think my Republican colleagues are going to have to determine whether or not we want to work together or they're going to decide the way in which they want to proceed is...continue the politics of division" per @POTUS

"I've been hired to solve problems...not create divisions" per @POTUS

#Immigration "The idea that I'm going to say-which I would never do-if an unaccompanied child ends up at the border we're just going to let him starve to death & stay on the other side-no previous administration did that either except Trump" per @POTUS "I'm not going to do it"

"That's why I've asked the Vice President of the United States yesterday to be the lead person on dealing with, focusing on the fundamental reasons why people leave...in the first place" per @POTUS

Says US will work w/countries like #Honduras #Guatemala #ElSalvador

"A 9 year old, I'm going to send him on a thousand mile journey across the desert & up to the #UnitedStates bcs I know Joe Biden is a nice guy & he'll take care of him - what a desperate act to have to take. The circumstances must be horrible" per @POTUS

NEW: #Afghanistan "It's going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline" per @POTUS "...in terms of tactical reasons to get those troops out"

"We've been meeting w/our allies, those other @NATO allies that have troops in #Afghanistan as well, & if we leave, we're going to do so in a safe & orderly way" per @POTUS

"It is not my intention to stay there for a long time"

"The question is how & under what circumstances do we meet that agreement that was made by President Trump to leave under a deal that looks like it's not being able to be worked out to begin with" per @POTUS

#Afghanistan

"We are not staying a long time" in #Afghanistan, says @POTUS

"We will leave. The question is when we leave" #Afghanistan, per @POTUS

"I can't picture that being the case" he says, asked if US troops will be there in 2022

"I make no apologies for ending programs that did not exist before Trump became president that have an incredibly negative impact on the law, on int'l law as well as on human dignity" per @POTUS

#NorthKorea: @POTUS says @UN resolution 1718 "was violated by those particular missiles that were tested"

"There will be responses if the choose to escalate" he says "We will respond accordingly"

"I'm also prepared for some form of diplomacy" w/#NorthKorea, per @POTUS "But it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization"

"Yes" @POTUS says, asked in #NorthKorea is the top foreign policy issue that he is watching

#China - "I've known Xi Jinping for a long time...doesn't have a democratic, with a small "d" bone in his body" per @POTUS "But he's a smart, smart guy"

"He's one of the guys, like #Putin, who thinks that autocracy is the wave of the future, that democracy can't function..."

.@POTUS says he spoke w/#China's Xi for 2 hours when Xi called to congratulate him on winning the election

"I made it clear to him...that we're not looking for confrontation, although we know there will be steep, steep competition" per Biden

"We're going to deal w/#China effectively" @POTUS adds

"#China has an overall goal ... to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world, the most powerful country in the world" per @POTUS "That's not going to happen on my watch"

"Autocracy vs democracy...that's what's at stake" per @POTUS "We've got to prove democracy works"

#Immigration: "I can't guarantee that we're going to solve everything but I can guarantee we can make everything better" per @POTUS "We can make it better"