AMNA NAWAZ: Today, at his first news conference since winning the 2024 election, president-elect Donald Trump spoke about a number of his policy priorities and answered questions on a wide range of issues.

GEOFF BENNETT: Despite the potential U.S. ban of TikTok next month, Mr. Trump said he had what he called a warm spot in his heart for the popular social media app.

That's after winning a larger share of Gen Z voters than he expected in this year's election.

And that's as the Chinese-owned app asked the Supreme Court today to block that law that could result in a U.S. ban.

AMNA NAWAZ: When it came to foreign policy, Mr. Trump declined to say whether he'd spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the election.

But he did reiterate his goal to end the war in Ukraine as quickly as possible, adding that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should be prepared to make a deal.

GEOFF BENNETT: And he criticized the Biden administration's recent decision to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-supplied long-range missiles into Russia.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. President-Elect: I don't think they should have allowed missiles to be shot 200 miles into Russia.

I think that was a bad thing.

I don't think that should have been allowed, not when there's a possibility - - and certainly not just weeks before I take over.

Why would they do that without asking me what I thought?

I wouldn't have had them do that.

I think that was a big mistake they made.

GEOFF BENNETT: Mr. Trump also weighed in on a defamation lawsuit he settled with ABC News for $15 million.

The suit followed an ABC segment earlier this year in which George Stephanopoulos said Mr. Trump had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.

A New York jury found him liable for sexual abuse.

AMNA NAWAZ: The $15 million will be contributed to Trump's future presidential foundation and museum.

Mr. Trump was asked about the settlement and whether he plans to file similar suits against other news outlets or individuals.

DONALD TRUMP: I think you have to do it because they're very dishonest.

You need a fair press.

And the press is -- no, I see others.

I have a few others that I'm doing.

I'm going to - - as an example, we're bringing -- I'm doing this not because I want to.

I'm doing this because I feel I have an obligation.

AMNA NAWAZ: Following this all closely is New York Times reporter David Enrich, whose upcoming book "Murder the Truth" explores challenges to press freedoms.

David, welcome to the "News Hour."

Thanks for being with us.

DAVID ENRICH, Author, "Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful": Thanks for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So let's start with that ABC News settlement.

They're paying $15 million in that settlement, plus a million dollars for Mr. Trump's legal fees.

They also added an editor's note on the interview page Web site.

It reads thusly: "ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Representative Nancy Mace on ABC's 'This Week' on March 10 of 2024."

David, how strong a case did Mr. Trump have in this lawsuit?

And how usual is a lawsuit like this in the first place?

DAVID ENRICH: Well, lawsuits like this have become increasingly common.

And this is a tactic that Trump decades ago began pioneering.

And he has just been banging this drum more and more loudly ever since.

And it's a tactic that's caught on, especially in MAGA circles, but really, politicians, business leaders, companies, big organizations are increasingly using defamation threats and defamation lawsuits as kind of a cudgel to attack unfavorable news coverage.

And the reality in this case is that, according to everyone I have spoken to, Trump's case against ABC News seemed not great.

And there are very strong protections built into the First Amendment and how it's interpreted by the Supreme Court that give the media and others a lot of leeway when they are scrutinizing powerful individuals, no more so than the president-elect of the United States.

And it's basically meant to prevent exactly this type of lawsuit.

So I think ABC had a pretty good chance of prevailing in court if they had wanted to let it go that power.

AMNA NAWAZ: My understanding is, the bar for defamation in particular is high for public figures.

So what do we know about why ABC did decide to settle?

DAVID ENRICH: That is a very good $15 million question right now.

And it seems like -- based on the reporting we have done and just talking to people, it seems like they were just very reluctant to have a long legal battle with the president of the United States, which is understandable, right?

But it also sets the precedent, potentially, that it really could embolden other political leaders, including Trump himself, to really double down on this tactic.

So I think there are a lot of people in the First Amendment community and certainly in the media that were very surprised and quite troubled by this decision to essentially concede this to Trump so early on in what could have been a yearslong legal fight.

AMNA NAWAZ: You also heard there Mr. Trump saying today that he might go after other platforms, other individuals, including social media influencers in the same way, not just journalists, so suggesting a much broader use of these kinds of lawsuits.

What's the potential impact of that kind of statement?

DAVID ENRICH: Well, I think it potentially sends a really chilling message to anyone who wants to not only scrutinize or criticize the president, but really anyone else who is influenced by Trump.

I mean, already we have seen in the past couple of years a real explosion in the use of legal threats and lawsuits against not just journalists, but everyone.

And it's not just people on the right going after people on the left.

This is at times a bipartisan trend, where litigation is seen as a solution to shut people up.

And I think that's something that we are unfortunately probably going to see a lot more of in the years ahead.

And it's not something that is just the mainstream media that's going to be affected by, potentially.

And we have -- there's -- as Trump said today, there are -- it's possible he would go after people with huge followings on social media or on YouTube, things like that.

So I think it's potentially -- the ramifications of this are possibly quite broad.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, specific to news organizations, we should note that Mr. Trump has another pending lawsuit against CBS News' "60 Minutes."

He said today that he might think about suing The Des Moines Register as well.

Is there legal precedent that we should be thinking about or considering for how these kinds of cases might be handled?

DAVID ENRICH: Well, the most important legal precedent is a Supreme Court case from 60 years ago, New York Times v. Sullivan, which basically created a very high threshold for public figures like Trump to prevail in defamation cases.

The problem is that -- or maybe not the problem, but the fact of the matter is that, in recent years, Trump and many of his allies, including two Supreme Court justices, have expressed a willingness, if not a desire, to reconsider that 1964 decision.

And so that really -- there's the possibility here that not only will Trump and his allies start bringing more and more of these cases, but that some of the historical protections against these cases having a chilling effect are going to start being chipped away at by the -- by federal courts.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is David Enrich of The New York Times, author of the book "Murder the Truth."

David, thank you for your time.

Really good to talk to you.

DAVID ENRICH: Thanks for having me.

Thank you.