Contests will decide control of Senate and how far Biden can reach on issues such as pandemic, healthcare, taxation and environment
Campaigning continued in Georgia on Saturday in two Senate runoff elections which will define much of Joe Biden’s first term in office.
Related: Biden wants to fill federal court seats – but he needs to win the Senate first
Continue reading...John M Patarini says in letter to New York Times he is ‘disgusted with the president’s actions’ after Trump pardons
The mass shooting in Baghdad for which Donald Trump pardoned four American mercenaries was “a massacre along the lines of My Lai in Vietnam”, the lead FBI investigator in the case said, pronouncing himself “disgusted with the president’s actions”.
Related: 'Our blood is cheaper than water': anger in Iraq over Trump pardons
Continue reading...Republicans join Democrats to push through bill against Trump’s strong objections
Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in the US Senate on Friday took the atypical rebellious step of overriding his veto for the first time in his presidency.
The Senate pushed through a bill on defense spending against Trump’s strong objections – just 20 days before he leaves office.
Continue reading...Biden calls for quicker distribution of Covid vaccines, while Trump points out he predicted vaccine’s arrival
In a New Year’s Eve message, Donald Trump reflected on his accomplishments in office, calling them “historic victories”, while his incoming successor, Joe Biden, struck an upbeat tone in looking ahead to 2021.
After weeks of fighting to remain in office, Trump said in a video posted on Twitter: “We have to be remembered for what’s been done.”
Continue reading...Amid four years of corruption, caging children and trashing democracy there were some light-hearted moments – no really
Donald Trump’s presidency will soon come to an end, and his time in the White House will almost certainly be best remembered for the chaos and controversy caused by his oft-criticized choices on everything from immigration to the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Attempts by Donald Trump and Democrats for bigger coronavirus relief checks fade in the Senate
Donald Trump’s demand for $2,000 relief checks to Americans struggling financially with the pandemic was all but dead after Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that a proposal from Democrats had “no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate”.
Declaring that he would not be “bullied” by Democrats into quickly approving the measure, McConnell effectively denied a final request for legislative action by the president in the waning days of his administration.
Continue reading...Democrats and Republicans are deploying their big guns for the state’s runoff elections that will decide who controls the Senate
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will travel to Georgia to campaign for next week’s high-stakes Senate runoff elections, it was announced on Wednesday, as Donald Trump called on the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, to resign.
Continue reading...Television cameras tend to bring out the performer in the president, no matter how inappropriate the context
As we look back at the Trump presidency, it often feels like America has endured four years of reality TV – with its leader as a main contestant.
Related: Infinity culture war: what now for Trump's Hollywood supporters?
Continue reading...Donald Trump suffered fresh humiliation on Monday when more than 100 Republicans joined Democrats in the House of Representatives to override his veto of a $741bn defence bill. If, as expected, the Senate follows suit this week, it will be Congress’s first such rebuke of his presidency, which has only three weeks left to run. The National Defense Authorization Act, which funds service members’ pay, overseas military operations and other needs, has been passed by Congress every year since 1967. Trump exercised his veto last week, returning the bill with objections including its proposal to change the names of 10 military bases honouring Confederate leaders.
Continue reading...The 77-year-old Republican former House speaker says Trump will ‘remain a dominant figure for a fairly long period of time’
Some blame Donald Trump. Others blame social media. And those with longer memories blame Newt Gingrich for carving up America into blue states and red states racked by mutual fear, suspicion and alienation.
As speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999, the Republican arguably did more anyone else to sow the seeds of division in Washington. “Newt Gingrich turned partisan battles into bloodsport, wrecked Congress, and paved the way for Trump’s rise,” reflected the Atlantic magazine in 2018.
Continue reading...If, as expected, the Senate follows suit later this week, it will be Congress’s first such rebuke of his presidency
Donald Trump suffered fresh humiliation on Monday when more than a hundred Republicans joined Democrats in the House of Representatives to override his veto of a $741bn defence bill.
If, as expected, the Senate follows suit later this week, it will be Congress’s first such rebuke of his presidency, which has only three weeks left to run.
Continue reading...The coronavirus relief bill has finally been signed into law by Donald Trump. Here’s a look at what’s in the 5,000-page package
Donald Trump signed the new Covid-19 stimulus package into law on Sunday night, suddenly giving into pressure from Congress after calling the legislation a “disgrace” days earlier.
Related: Dow hits record high after Trump belatedly signs Covid relief bill
Continue reading...His rally speeches and manic Twitter feed conjured new slogans and insults or revived incendiary words
Donald Trump not only changed much about campaigning, governing and the ways of Washington, even the language of American politics has altered during the Republican’s tenure. Trump’s rollicking rally speeches and manic Twitter feed conjured new slogans and insults or revived incendiary words with long histories; his allies, opponents and chroniclers searched for new phrases to describe the indescribable. Here is a glossary of some of them from the past five years:
alternative facts
Continue reading...Move comes after Republicans voiced anger over the delay, which resulted in millions of Americans losing unemployment aid
Donald Trump has signed the Covid-19 relief and spending bill after days of delays, preventing a mid-pandemic government shutdown.
The announcement on Sunday night came after Republicans urged him to act following his refusal to sign the bill, a decision that meant millions of Americans lost unemployment aid.
Continue reading...11 million people will lose aid from expiration of unemployment programs as Trump heads to the golf course instead of signing bill
Millions of Americans battling the financial hardships of the coronavirus pandemic lost their unemployment benefits on Sunday as Donald Trump continued to refuse to sign a relief package agreed in Congress and headed instead to the golf course.
The president’s belligerence over the bipartisan Covid relief and spending bill, that would have extended the benefits and given direct cash payments to most American families, drew the ire of senior Republicans, who accused Trump of inflicting more misery on citizens.
Continue reading...The president indicated he may veto the 5,000-page bill that he calls a ‘disgrace’ which would extend benefits to Americans
As unemployment benefits were due to expire for millions of Americans on Saturday, Donald Trump, who spent Christmas playing golf in Florida, continued to block a $900bn pandemic relief bill that would extend them.
The package, which Congress passed with bipartisan support on Monday after months of negotiations, would keep unemployment benefits in place until March and expand state benefits by $300 a week – as well as extending an evictions moratorium, providing federal loans to small businesses and $600 direct payments to many Americans.
Continue reading...Former DoJ officials say they are worried Trump will lean on acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen for potentially risky favors
William Barr’s abrupt move to leave his post as attorney general this week has spurred fears among Department of Justice veterans that Donald Trump will put new pressures on Barr’s successor to do him big and potentially risky political and legal favors.
Former justice department officials say they are worried Trump will lean on Barr’s less experienced successor, the acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, to push policies which Trump has suggested he backs, including naming special counsels to investigate President-elect Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and using the DoJ to investigate Trump’s baseless charges of widespread election fraud.
Continue reading...As Donald Trump peddled baseless claims of vote fraud after 3 November, democracy found out who its friends were
In November, Donald Trump became the first president in American history to try to hold on to power that voters had given to someone else in the course of a national election.
Continue reading...Donald Trump went to his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday, after claiming to be “working tirelessly for the American people” with a schedule that included “many meetings and calls”. Back in Washington, a Democratic proposal to increase direct payments to Americans under the Covid relief bill, from $600 to $2,000, was blocked.
Related: Donald Trump's latest wave of pardons includes Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner
Continue reading...President also gives clemency to Roger Stone in second round of pardons since Tuesday
Donald Trump has pardoned another 26 people in his second big wave of clemency actions since Tuesday, marking yet another audacious application of presidential power to reward loyalists.
The US president pardoned his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his longtime adviser Roger Stone, and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.
Continue reading...