Takeaways From Trump's Mar-a-lago Press Conference

Less than two weeks before taking office, President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday took some of his most audacious claims and promises of the transition period and amped them up to new levels.

Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trump would not rule out using military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, citing national security interests. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally and a founding member of NATO. Washington relinquished control of the canal to Panama , another ally, in 1999.

Trump also criticized the late President Jimmy Carter just as his remains were being transported from the Carter Presidential Center in Georgia to Washington for three days of state funeral rites in the capital.

And he escalated his threats against Hamas, warning anew that, "All hell will break out in the Middle East" if the Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza are not returned before he takes office.

Some of the highlights from the press conference: