ing barriers, not install new ones. Congress also directed the Pentagon to account for storage costs for the border wall material while it has gone unused.

“I’m asking today, Joe Biden, to please stop selling the wall,” Trump said.

The Department of Defense, however, said that further sales can’t be blocked because all the excess border wall material has already been distributed. Most was provided to other federal agencies and state governments, as required by defense legislation signed on Dec. 22. The rest was sold to GovPlanet, which buys and auctions off government surplus.

While Trump described the handover between President Joe Biden and his incoming team as “a friendly transition,” he also took issue with efforts to allow some members of the federal workforce to continue working from home. Trump said that if government workers don’t come back into the office under him, they will be dismissed.

Trump also weighed in on Adams, who is facing federal fraud and corruption charges. Asked whether he would consider pardoning Adams, Trump said, “Yeah I would.”

“I think that he was treated pretty unfairly,” Trump said, while at the same time acknowledging he doesn’t “know the facts.”

Adams has been accused of accepting flight upgrades and other luxury travel perks valued at $100,000 along with illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals looking to buy his influence. He has pleaded not guilty. Multiple members of his administration have also come under investigation.

Adams, who insists he did nothing wrong, told reporters Monday that his attorney was “going to look at every avenue to ensure I get justice.”

Trump was pressed repeatedly on the future of vaccines, amid concerns over his decision to choose anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which regulates the shots.

Trump again declined to dismiss the long-debunked theory that vaccines cause autism and said Kennedy would be examining that already well-studied question.

But he also assured the public that one of the most successful vaccines would not be barred by his administration.

“You’re not going to lose the polio vaccine,” he said, calling himself “a big believer in it.”

“That’s not going to happen,” he said.

Outgoing Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, had said Friday that Trump’s nominees seeking Senate confirmation should “steer clear” of efforts to discredit the polio vaccine, calling them not just uninformed, but “dangerous.”

Trump also weighed in on the mysterious drone sightings over parts of New Jersey and the eastern U.S. that have sparked speculation and concern over where they are coming from.

Taking a conspiratorial tone, Trump insisted, without offering evidence, that “the government knows what is happening.”

“Our military knows and our president knows and for some reason they want to keep people in suspense,” he said, refusing to say whether he had been briefed on the sightings.

Trump has spent the weeks since his victory building out his incoming administration and speaking with what he said were well over 100 world leaders.

But he again played coy on whether that list included Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I’m not going to comment on the Putin question,” he said.

When it comes to escalating tensions in the Middle East, Trump said he would consider pulling U.S. troops out of Syria after the country’s ousted leader, Bashar Assad, was overthrown by rebels.

“I don’t think that I want to have our soldiers killed,” Trump said of the 900 troops who were placed there to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group.

In addition to meetings with foreign leaders, Trump also talked about a recent dinner with Apple CEO Tim Cook and the heads of major pharmaceutical companies, which Kennedy joined. The outreach, he said, made this transition feel markedly different from 2016, when his win shocked the Washington establishment.

Trump was joined at the appearance by SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son, who announced that the Japanese company is planning to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years.

It was a win for Trump, who has used the weeks since the election to promote his policies, negotiate with foreign leaders and try to strike deals.

In a post on his Truth Social site last week, Trump had said that anyone making a $1 billion investment in the United States “will receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental approvals.”

“GET READY TO ROCK!!!” he wrote.

Trump has repeatedly boasted that he has done more in his short transition period than his predecessor did in all four years.

“There’s a whole light over the entire world,” he said Monday. “There’s a light shining over the world.”

Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Lolita Baldor, Darlene Superville and Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.