Reality Television Star, U.S. President,
Business Leader (1946–)
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Billionaire real
estate mogul and former reality television personality Donald Trump is the 45th
president of the United States.
Who Is Donald Trump?
Donald John Trump is the 45th and current President of the
United States who took office January 20, 2017. Previously, he was a real
estate mogul, and a former reality TV star. Born in Queens, New York,
in 1971 Trump became involved in large, profitable building projects in Manhattan.
In 1980, he opened the Grand Hyatt New York, which made him the city's
best-known developer. In 2004, Trump began starring in the hit NBC reality
series The Apprentice, which also spawned the offshoot The
Celebrity Apprentice. Trump turned his attention to politics, and in 2015
he announced his candidacy for president of the United States on the Republican
ticket. After winning a majority of the primaries and caucuses, Trump became
the official Republican candidate for president on July 19, 2016. That
November, Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States, after
defeating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Donald
Trump’s Birthday
Donald
Trump was born on June 14, 1946, in Queens, New York.
Net
Worth
According
to a September 2017 Forbes estimate,
Donald Trump’s net worth is $3.1 billion. Of that, $1.6 billion is in New York
real estate; $570 million is in golf clubs and resorts; $500 million is in
non-New York real estate; $290 million is in cash and personal assets; and $200
million is in brand businesses. That’s down from $3.7 billion in 2016,
according to Fortune,
mostly due to declining New York real estate values.
Over
the years, Trump’s net worth has been a subject of public debate. In 1990,
Trump asserted his own net worth in the neighborhood of $1.5 billion. However
the real estate market was in decline, reducing the value of and income from
Trump's empire; a Forbes magazine
investigation into his assets revealed that his existing debt likely brought
the number closer to $500 million. In any event, the Trump Organization
required a massive infusion of loans to keep it from collapsing, a situation
which raised questions as to whether the corporation could survive bankruptcy.
Some observers saw Trump's decline as symbolic of many of the business,
economic and social excesses that had arisen in the 1980s.
Donald
Trump eventually managed to climb back from a reported deficit of nearly $900
million, claiming to have reached a zenith of more than $2 billion. However,
independent sources again questioned his math, estimating his worth at
something closer to $500 million by 1997.
Over
the course of his 2016 presidential run, Trump’s net worth was questioned and
he courted controversy after repeatedly refusing to release his tax returns
while they were being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. He did not
release his tax returns before the November election — the first time a major
party candidate had not released such information to the public since Richard
Nixon in 1972.
Religion
Donald
Trump was raised Presbyterian by his mother, and he identifies as a mainline
Protestant.
Family
Parents
The
fourth of five children, Donald Trump’s parents were Frederick C. and Mary Anne
MacLeod Trump. Frederick Trump was a builder and real estate developer who
specialized in constructing and operating middle-income apartments in Queens,
Staten Island and Brooklyn. Mary MacLeod immigrated from Tong, Scotland, in
1929 at the age of 17. She married Fred Trump in 1936, and the couple settled
in Jamaica, Queens, a neighborhood that was, at the time, filled with Western
European immigrants. In the 1950s the Trumps’ wealth increased with the postwar
real estate boom, and Mary became a New York socialite and philanthropist. Fred
died in 1999, and Mary passed away the following year.
Wives and Kids
Donald
J. Trump has had three wives and is currently married to Slovenian model Melania
Knauss (now Trump), over 23 years his junior. In January 2005,
the couple married in a highly-publicized and lavish wedding. Among the many
celebrity guests at the wedding were Hillary Clinton and former President Bill
Clinton. Melania gave birth to their son, Barron William Trump, in March 2006.
In
1977, Trump married his first wife Ivana
Zelnickova Winklmayr, a New York fashion model who had been an
alternate on the 1972 Czech Olympic Ski Team. After the 1977 birth of the
couple's first of three children, Donald
John Trump Jr., Ivana Trump was named vice president in charge of
design in the Trump Organization and played a major role in supervising the
renovation of the Commodore and the Plaza Hotel. The couple had two more
children together — Ivanka
Trump (born in 1981) and Eric Trump (born in 1984) — and went
through a highly publicized divorce which was finalized in 1992.
In
1993 Trump married his second wife, Marla Maples, an actress with whom he had
been involved for some time and already had a daughter, Tiffany Trump (born in
1993). Trump would ultimately file for a highly publicized divorce from Maples
in 1997, which became final in June 1999. A prenuptial agreement allotted $2
million to Maples.
Trump's
sons — Donald Jr. and Eric— work as executive vice presidents for The Trump
Organization, and took over the family business while their father serves as
president. Trump's daughter Ivanka was also an executive vice president of The
Trump Organization, but left the business and her own fashion label to join her
father's administration and become an unpaid assistant to the president. Her
husband, Jared
Kushner, is also a senior adviser to President Trump.
Childhood
& Education
Donald
was an energetic, assertive child. His parents sent him to the New York
Military Academy at age 13, hoping the discipline of the school would channel
his energy in a positive manner. Trump did well at the academy, both socially
and academically, rising to become a star athlete and student leader by the
time he graduated in 1964.
He
then entered Fordham University and two years later transferred to the Wharton
School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in
1968 with a degree in economics. During his years at college, Trump worked at
his father’s real estate business during the summer. He also secured education
deferments for the Vietnam War draft and ultimately a 1-Y medical deferment
after he graduated.
Trump
vs. Clinton: The 2016 Presidential Campaign
Trump
began his political career by seeking the nomination for the Reform Party for
the 2000 presidential race and withdrew; he again publicly announced he would
be running for
president in the 2012 election. However it wasn’t until the 2016 election that
Trump became the official Republican nominee for president and, defying polls
and media projections, won the majority of electoral college votes in a
stunning victory on November 8, 2016. Despite losing the popular vote to
Hillary Clinton by almost 2.9 million votes, Trump's electoral win —306 votes
to Clinton's 232 votes — clinched his election as the 45th president of the
United States.
After
one of the most contentious presidential races in U.S. history, Trump's rise to
the office of president was considered a resounding rejection of establishment
politics by blue-collar and working class Americans. In his victory speech,
Trump said: “I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for
all Americans." About his supporters, he said: "As I’ve said from the
beginning, ours was not a campaign, but rather an incredible and great movement
made up of millions of hard-working men and women who love their country and
want a better, brighter future for themselves and for their families.”
GOP Presidential Nomination
On
July 21, 2016, Trump accepted the presidential nomination at the Republican
National Convention in Cleveland. In a speech lasting one hour and 15 minutes,
one of the longest in recent history, Trump outlined the issues he would tackle
as president, including violence in America, the economy, immigration, trade,
terrorism, and the appointment of Supreme Court Justices.
On
immigration, he said: “We are going to build a great border wall to stop
illegal immigration, to stop the gangs and the violence, and to stop the drugs
from pouring into our communities.” He also promised supporters that he would
renegotiate trade deals, reduce taxes and government regulations, repeal the
Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, defend Second Amendment gun
rights, and “rebuild our depleted military,” asking the countries the U.S. is
protecting "to pay their fair share."
'Access Hollywood' Controversy
On
October 7, 2016, just two days before the second presidential debate between
Trump and Clinton, the Republican presidential nominee was embroiled in another
scandal when The Washington Post released a 2005
recording in which he lewdly described kissing and groping
women, and trying to have sex with
then-married television personality Nancy O’Dell. The three-minute
recording captured Trump speaking to Billy Bush, co-anchor of Access
Hollywood, as they prepared to meet soap opera
actress Arianne Zucker for a segment of the show. "I’ve gotta use some Tic
Tacs, just in case I start kissing her,” Trump said in the recording which was
caught on a microphone that had not been turned off. “You know I’m
automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a
magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do
it. You can do anything."
He
also said that because of his celebrity status he could grab women by their
genitals. In response, Trump released a statement saying: “This was locker room
banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said
far worse to me on the golf course — not even close. I apologize if anyone was
offended.”
Trump
later posted a videotaped apology on Facebook in which he said: “I’ve never
said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not. I’ve said
and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a
decade-old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t
reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.”
The
backlash was immediate with some top Republicans, including Senators John McCain, Kelly Ayotte, Mike Crapo,
Shelley Moore Capito and Martha Roby, withdrawing their support for Trump.
House Speaker Paul Ryan reportedly
told fellow GOP lawmakers that he would not campaign with or defend the
presidential candidate. Some GOP critics also called for Trump to withdraw from
the race, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Trump
remained defiant, tweeting that he would stay in the race.
Around
the same time as the video leak, numerous women began
speaking publicly about their past experiences with Trump, alleging he had
either sexually assaulted or harassed them based on their looks.
Russian Hacking
Throughout
the election, Trump vehemently denied allegations he had a relationship with
Russian President Vladimir Putin and
was tied to the hacking of the DNC emails. In January 2017, a U.S. intelligence
report prepared by the CIA, FBI and NSA concluded that Putin had ordered a
campaign to influence the U.S. election. “Russia’s goals were to undermine
public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and
harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the
Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect
Trump," the report said.
Prior
to the release of the report, President-elect Trump had cast doubt on Russian
interference and the intelligence community’s assessment. Trump received an
intelligence briefing on the matter, and in his first press conference as
president-elect on January 11, he acknowledged Russia’s interference. However,
in subsequent comments he again refused to condemn Russia for such activity,
notably saying on multiple occasions that he believed Putin's denials.
In
March 2018, the Trump administration formally acknowledged the charges by
issuing sanctions on 19 Russians for interference in the 2016 presidential
election and alleged cyberattacks. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin delivered
the announcement, with the president remaining silent on the matter.
In
July, days before President Trump was to meet with Putin in Finland, Deputy
Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced additional charges against 12
Russian intelligence officers accused of hacking the DNC and the Clinton
campaign.
Inauguration
On
January 20, 2017, Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States
by Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts. Trump took
the oath of office placing his hand on the Bible that was used at Abraham Lincoln's
inauguration and his own family Bible, which was presented to him by his mother
in 1955 when he graduated from Sunday school at his family's Presbyterian
church.
In
his inaugural speech on January 20th, Trump sent a populist message that he
would put the American people above politics. “What truly matters is not which
party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the
people,” he said. “January 20, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people
became the rulers of this nation again.”
He
went on to paint a
bleak picture of an America that had failed many of its citizens, describing
families trapped in poverty, an ineffective education system, and crime, drugs
and gangs. “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now,"
he said.
The
day after Trump's inauguration, millions of protesters demonstrated across the
United States and around the world. The Women's March on Washington drew over
half a million people to protest President Trump's stance on a variety issues
ranging from immigration to environmental protection. Activists and celebrities
including Gloria Steinem, Angela Davis, Madonna, Cher, Ashley Judd, Scarlett Johansson, America Ferrera, Alicia Keys and Janelle Monáe participated.
The president tweeted in response:
First
100 Days
The
first 100 days of Trump’s presidency lasted from January 20, 2017 until April
29, 2017. In the first days of his presidency, President Trump issued a number
of back-to-back executive orders to make good on some of his campaign promises,
as well as several orders aimed at rolling back policies and regulations that
were put into place during the Obama administration. Several of Trump’s key
policies that got rolling during Trump’s first 100 days in office include his
supreme court nomination; steps toward building a wall on the Mexico border; a
travel ban for several predominantly Muslim countries; the first moves to
dismantle the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare); and the U.S. withdrawal
from the Paris Climate Agreement.
In
addition, Trump signed orders to implement a federal hiring freeze, withdraw
from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and reinstate the Mexico City policy that
bans federal funding of nongovernmental organizations abroad that promote or
perform abortions. He signed an order to scale back financial regulation under
the Dodd-Frank Act, created by the Obama administration and passed by Congress
after the financial crisis of 2008. And he called for a lifetime
foreign-lobbying ban for members of his administration and a five-year ban for
all other lobbying.
On
March 16, 2017, the president released his proposed budget. The budget outlined
his plans for increased spending for the military, veterans affairs and
national security, including building a wall on the border with Mexico. It also
made drastic cuts to many government agencies including the Environmental
Protection Agency and the State Department, as well as the elimination of the
National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities,
funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Community
Development Block Grant program which supports Meals on Wheels.
Trump’s
Supreme Court Nominations
On
January 31, 2017, President Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to the
Supreme Court. The 49-year-old conservative judge was appointed by President George W. Bush to the
United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver. Judge Gorsuch
was educated at Columbia, Harvard and Oxford and clerked for Supreme Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy. The
nomination came after Merrick Garland, President
Obama's nominee to replace the late Antonin Scalia, was denied
a confirmation hearing by Senate Republicans.
As
Gorsuch's legal philosophy was considered to be similar to Scalia's, the choice
drew strong praise from the conservative side of the aisle. "Millions of
voters said this was the single most important issue for them when they voted
for me for president," President Trump said. "I am a man of my word.
Today I am keeping another promise to the American people by nominating Neil
Gorsuch to the Supreme Court."
After
Gorsuch gave three days of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in
March, the Senate convened on April 6 to advance his nomination. Democrats
mostly held firm to deny the 60 votes necessary to proceed, resulting in the
first successful partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee. But
Republicans quickly countered with another historic move, invoking the
"nuclear option" to lower the threshold for advancing Supreme Court
nominations from 60 votes to a simple majority of 50. On April 7, Gorsuch was
confirmed by the Senate to become the 113th justice of the Supreme Court.
The
following year, President Trump had another opportunity to continue the
rightward push of the Supreme Court with the retirement of Justice Kennedy. On
July 9, 2018, he nominated Brett Kavanaugh, another
textualist and orginalist in the mold of Scalia. Democrats vowed to fight the
nomination, though their options remained limited as the minority party.
The
Wall with Mexico
Trump
issued an executive order to build a wall at the United States’ border with
Mexico. In his first televised interview as president, President Trump said the
initial construction of the wall would be funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars, but
that Mexico would reimburse the U.S. “100 percent” in a plan to be negotiated
and might include a suggested import tax on Mexican goods.
In
response to the new administration's stance on a border wall, Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto cancelled
a planned visit to meet with President Trump. "Mexico does not believe in
walls," the Mexican president said in a video statement. "I've said
time again; Mexico will not pay for any wall." Trump and Peña Nieto spoke
on the phone after their in-person meeting was cancelled, and "agreed at
this point not to speak publicly about this controversial issue,"
according to a statement from the Mexican government.
After
funding for the wall failed to materialize, from either Mexico or Congress,
Trump in April 2018 announced that he would reinforce security along the
U.S. border with Mexico by using American troops because of the "horrible,
unsafe laws" that left the country vulnerable. The following day, the
president signed a proclamation that directed National Guard troops to the
U.S.-Mexico border.
The
Department of Homeland Security said that the deployment would be in
coordination with governors, that the troops would "support federal law
enforcement personnel, including [Customs and Border Protection]," and
that federal immigration authorities would "direct enforcement
efforts." The exact number of troops and duration of deployment had yet to
be determined.
Border
Separation Policy
As
part of attempts to seal the U.S. border with Mexico, the Trump administration
in 2018 began following through on a "zero-tolerance" policy to
prosecute anybody found to have crossed the border illegally. As children were
legally not allowed to be detained with their parents, this meant that they
were to be held separately as family cases wound through immigration
courts.
A
furor ensued after reports surfaced that nearly 2,000 children had been
separated from their parents over a six-week period that ended in May 2018,
compounded by photos of toddlers crying in cages. President Trump initially
deflected blame for the situation, insisting it resulted from the efforts of
predecessors and political opponents. "The Democrats are forcing the
breakup of families at the Border with their horrible and cruel legislative
agenda," he tweeted.
The
president ultimately caved to pressure from the bad PR, and on June 20 he
signed an executive order that directed the Department of Homeland
Security to keep families together. "I didn’t like the sight or the
feeling of families being separated," he said, adding that it remained
important to have "zero tolerance for people that enter our country
illegally" and for Congress to find a permanent solution to the problem.
In the meantime, the DHS essentially revived the "catch-and-release"
system that the zero-tolerance policy was meant to eradicate, while dealing
with the logistics of reuniting families.
President
Trump’s Controversial Travel Ban
President
Trump signed one of his most controversial executive orders on January 27,
2017, at the Pentagon, calling for "extreme vetting" to "keep
radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America." The
president's executive order was put into effect immediately, and refugees and
immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries traveling to the U.S. were
detained at U.S. airports. The order called for a ban on immigrants from Iraq,
Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen for at least 90 days, temporarily
suspended the entry of refugees for 120 days and barred Syrian refugees
indefinitely. In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network,
President Trump also said he would give priority to Christian refugees trying
to gain entry into the United States.
After
facing multiple legal hurdles, President Trump signed a revised executive order
on March 6, 2017, calling for a 90-day ban on travelers from six
predominantly Muslim countries including Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia and
Yemen. Iraq, which was included in the original executive order, was removed
from the list. Travelers from the six listed countries, who hold green cards or
have valid visas as of the signing of the order, will not be affected.
Religious minorities would not get special preference, as was outlined in the
original order, and an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees was reduced to 120
days.
On
March 15, just hours before the revised ban was going to be put into effect,
Derrick Watson, a federal judge in Hawaii, issued a temporary nationwide
restraining order in a ruling that stated the executive order did not prove
that a ban would protect the country from terrorism and that it was “issued
with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion, in spite of its stated,
religiously neutral purpose.” At a rally in Nashville, President Trump
responded to the ruling, saying: "This is, in the opinion of many, an
unprecedented judicial overreach.”
Judge
Theodore D. Chuang of Maryland also blocked the ban the following day, and in
subsequent months, the ban was impeded in decisions handed down by the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, and the Ninth
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals once again.
However,
on June 26, 2017, Trump won a partial victory when the Supreme Court announced
it was allowing the controversial ban to go into effect for foreign nationals
who lacked a "bona fide relationship with any person or entity in the
United States." The court agreed to hear oral arguments for the case in
October, but with the 90-to-120-day timeline in place for the administration to
conduct its reviews, it was believed the case would be rendered moot by that
point.
On
September 24, 2017, Trump issued a new presidential proclamation, which
permanently bans travel to the United States for most citizens from seven
countries. Most were on the original list, including Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen,
Somalia, while the new order included Chad, North Korea and some citizens of
Venezuela (certain government officials and their families). The tweak did
little to pacify critics, who argued that the order was still heavily biased
toward Islam. “The fact that Trump has added North Korea — with few visitors to
the U.S. — and a few government officials from Venezuela doesn’t obfuscate the
real fact that the administration’s order is still a Muslim ban,” said Anthony
D. Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
On
October 10, the Supreme Court cancelled a planned hearing on an appeal of the
original travel ban. On October 17, the day before the order was to take
effect, Judge Watson of Hawaii issued a nationwide order freezing the Trump
administration’s new travel ban, writing that the order was a “poor fit for the
issues regarding the sharing of ‘public-safety and terrorism-related
information that the president identifies.”
On
December 4, 2017, the Supreme Court allowed the third version of the Trump
administration’s travel ban to go into effect despite the ongoing legal
challenges. The court’s orders urged appeals courts to determine as
quickly as possible whether the ban was lawful.
Under
the ruling, the administration could fully enforce its new restrictions on
travel from eight nations, six of them predominantly Muslim. Citizens of Iran,
Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea, along with some groups of
people from Venezuela, would be unable to unable to emigrate to the United
States permanently, with many barred from also working, studying or vacationing
in the country.
On
June 26, 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the president's travel ban by a 5-4
vote. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that Trump
had the executive authority to make national security judgments in the realm of
immigration, regardless of his previous statements about Islam. In a sharply
worded dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said
that the outcome was equivalent to that of Korematsu v. United States, which
permitted the detention of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
Gun
Control
The
Valentine's Day 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in
Parkland, Florida, which left a total of 17 students and faculty dead, sparked
a strong response from President Trump. He ordered the Justice Department to
issue regulations banning bump stocks, and suggested he was willing to consider
a range of measures, from strengthening background checks to raising the
minimum age for buying rifles. He also backed an NRA-fueled proposal for
arming teachers, which drew backlash from many in the profession.
The
president remained invested in the issue even as the usual cycle of outrage
began diminishing: In a televised February 28 meeting with lawmakers, he called
for gun control legislation that would expand background checks to gun shows
and internet transactions, secure schools and restrict sales for some young
adults. At one point he called out Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey for
being "afraid of the NRA," and at another he suggested
that authorities should seize guns from mentally ill or other potentially
dangerous people without first going to court. "I like taking the guns
early," he said. "Take the guns first, go through due process
second."
His
stances seemingly stunned the Republican lawmakers at the meeting, as well as
the NRA, which previously considered the president as a strong supporter.
However, within a few days, Trump was walking back his proposal to raise the
age limit and mainly pushing for arming select teachers.
Tensions
with North Korea
In
early August 2017, intelligence experts confirmed that North Korea successfully
produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that fits inside its missiles, putting
it one step closer to becoming a nuclear power. Around the same time, the North
Korean state news agency said they were "examining the operational
plan" to strike areas around the U.S. territory of Guam with medium-to-long-range
strategic ballistic missiles. U.S. experts estimated North Korea’s nuclear
warheads at 60 and that the country could soon have an intercontinental
ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States. Trump responded that
North Korea would be met with “fire and fury” if the threats continued and that
the U.S. military was “locked and loaded.”
On
August 15, Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he’d
"watch a little more the foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees,"
which Trump tweeted was “a very wise and well reasoned decision.” However on
August 20, North Korea warned that the U.S. was risking an "uncontrollable
phase of a nuclear war" by following through with military drills with
South Korea.
On
August 28, North Korea launched a missile over Japan. The following day, Trump
said “all options were on the table.”
At the United Nations General Assembly on September 19, Trump pejoratively
called Kim Jong-un “Rocketman” and said he would “totally destroy” North Korea
if it threatened the United States or its allies, hours after the group voted
to enact additional sanctions against the country.
Two
days later, Trump widened American economic sanctions; three days later North
Korea threatened to shoot down American airplanes even if they were not in its
airspace, calling Trump’s comments “a declaration of war.” A week later,
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said
the U.S. and North Korea were in “direct communication” and looking for a
non-militarized path forward.
On
October 20, CIA Director Mike Pompeo warned
that North Korea was in the "final step" of being able to strike
mainland America with nuclear warheads and the U.S. should react accordingly.
However some foreign policy experts were concerned that war between the U.S.
and North Korea was increasingly possible.
Historic
Summit with Kim Jong-un
Following
the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, during which North Korea
made a show of unity with the host country, its officials also relayed interest
in opening up communications with Washington. President Trump leaped at the
opportunity, announcing that he was willing to sit down with Kim.
On
June 12, 2018, Trump and Kim met at the secluded Capella resort in Singapore,
marking the first such encounter between a sitting U.S. president and North
Korean leader. The two held private talks with their interpreters, before
expanding the meeting to include such top staffers as Pompeo (now U.S.
secretary of state), National Security Adviser John Bolton and White House
Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Afterward,
in a televised ceremony, the leaders signed a joint statement in which Trump
"committed to provide security guarantees" to North Korea and Kim
"reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." Although their talks marked an
early step in a diplomatic process that some predicted could take years to
complete, the president said he believed denuclearization on the peninsula
would begin "very quickly."
"We're
very proud of what took place today," Trump said. "I think our whole
relationship with North Korea and the Korean Peninsula is going to be a very
much different situation than it has in the past."
Meeting
with Vladimir Putin
Two
weeks after the meeting with Kim, the White House announced that Trump would
hold his first formal discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin
in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018.
The
two men met on the heels of Trump's heavily scrutinized summit with NATO
leaders, and shortly after the Justice Department announced the indictment of
12 Russian operatives for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Prompted to address the issue of election hacking in a joint news conference
for the two leaders, President Trump refused to point a finger at his
counterpart. "I think we've all been foolish. I think we're all to
blame," he said, adding that "President Putin was extremely
strong and powerful in his denial today."
The
comments drew a harsh response stateside, with several notable Republicans
joining their Democratic colleagues to question why the president was siding
with Putin over his intelligence agencies. Senator McCain called it
"one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in
memory," and even Trump ally Newt Gingrich weighed
in with strong words, tweeting, "It is the most serious mistake of his
presidency and must be corrected — immediately."
Trump
sought to quiet the furor after returning to the White House, insisting that he
had misspoken when saying he didn't see why Russia should be blamed and
reminding that he has "on numerous occasions noted our intelligence
findings that Russians attempted to interfere in our elections," though he
again suggested that other parties could be responsible.
Around
that time, it was revealed that Trump had instructed Bolton, his national
security adviser, to invite Putin to the White House that fall, news that
caught Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats off guard. Bolton soon
disclosed that he would postpone the invitation until the conclusion of the
special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S.
presidential election.
Additionally,
it was learned that the soccer ball gifted to President Trump from Putin, to
commemorate the recently completed World Cup, was embedded with a transmitter
chip. It turned out that the chip was a standard feature for the product,
designed to provide access to player videos and other content for people
using their mobile devices near the ball.
Hardline
Stance on Iran
In
May 2018, over the objections of European allies, President Trump announced
that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal enacted by his
predecessor and reimposing sanctions on the Middle Eastern country.
The
announcement initially drew a tepid response from Iran, but
President Hassan Rouhani had stronger words on the issue while addressing
diplomats in July, noting that "war with Iran is the mother of all
wars" and warning his American counterpart to "not play with the
lion's tail, because you will regret it eternally."
That
seemingly enraged Trump, who fired off an all-caps tweet addressed to Rouhani:
"Never, ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer
consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered
before," he wrote. "We are no longer a country that will stand for
your demented words of violence & death. Be cautious!"
Health
Care Under President Trump
One
of President Trump’s first executive orders in office was calling on federal
agencies to "waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay" aspects
of the Affordable Care Act to minimize financial burden on states, insurers and
individuals.
On
March 7, 2017, House Republicans, led by Speaker Paul Ryan, introduced the
American Health Care Act, a plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act
(ACA). However, the controversial bill ultimately didn't have enough Republican
votes and was withdrawn a few weeks later, representing a major
legislative setback for Speaker Ryan and President Trump.
After
intense negotiations among party factions, a new Republican health care plan
was brought to a vote in the House of Representatives on May 4, 2017, and
passed by a slim margin of 217 to 213. That passed the buck to the Senate.
Almost immediately after a draft was unveiled on June 22, conservative senators
such as Ted Cruz declared they could not support the bill's failure to
significantly lower premiums, while moderates like Susan Collins voiced
concerns over its steep cuts to Medicaid. On June 27, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell elected
to delay his planned vote for the bill. When the third, so-called “skinny
repeal,” bill finally went to a vote on in the Senate July 28, it failed by
three votes.
In
September, a new bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act was put forth by
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
However on September 26, Senate republicans announced they would not move
forward with the current plan, as they were short of the required votes. “We
are disappointed in certain so-called Republicans,” Trump responded.
On
October 12, 2017 Trump signed an executive order in a move that could dismantle
the ACA without Congress’s approval, expanding health insurance products —
mostly less comprehensive plans through associations of small employers and
more short-term medical coverage. He also announced that he would get rid of
health insurance subsidies. Known as cost-sharing reduction payments, which
lower the cost of deductibles for low-income Americans, they were expected to
cost $9 billion in 2018 and $100 billion over the next decade.
Birth Control
On
October 6, 2017, the Trump administration announced a rollback of the birth
control mandate put in place by the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act,
which required insurers to cover birth control at no cost without copayments as
a preventive service. For years, the mandate was threatened by lawsuits from
conservative and religious groups.
The
Trump administration said the new exemption applies to any employer that
objects to covering contraception services on the basis of “sincerely held
religious beliefs or moral convictions.” The change is in line with Trump’s
promises as a candidate to ensure that religious groups “are not bullied by the
federal government because of their religious beliefs.” Opponents of the measure
say that it could potentially affect hundreds of thousands of women, and that
access to the affordable contraception the mandate provided prevents unintended
pregnancies and saves women’s lives.
Trump’s
Tax Plan
On
April 26, 2017, just days away from his 100th day in office, President Trump
announced his tax plan in a one-page outline that would dramatically change tax
codes. The plan called for streamlining seven income tax brackets to three —
10, 25 and 35 percent. However, the initial outline did not specify which
income ranges would fall under those brackets. The plan also proposed to lower
the corporate tax rate from 35 to 15 percent, eliminate the alternative-minimum
tax and estate tax, and simplify the process for filing tax returns. The
proposal did not address how the tax cuts might reduce federal revenue and
increase debt.
On
December 2, 2017, Trump achieved the first major legislative victory of his
administration when the Senate passed a sweeping tax reform bill. Approved
along party lines by a 51-49 vote, the bill drew criticism for extensive
last-minute rewrites, with frustrated Democrats posting photos of pages filled
with crossed-out text and handwriting crammed into the margins.
Among
other measures, the Senate bill called for the slashing of the corporate
tax rate from 35 to 20 percent, doubling personal deductions and ending the
Obamacare mandate. It also included a controversial provision that allowed
for "unborn children" to be named as beneficiaries of college savings
accounts, which critics called an attempt to support the pro-life
movement. Despite estimates by the Congressional Budget Office that the
bill would cost $1.5 trillion over a decade, GOP senators insisted that charges
would be offset by a growing economy.
After
the bill's passage, President Trump tweeted: “Biggest Tax Bill and Tax Cuts in
history just passed in the Senate. Now these great Republicans will be going
for final passage. Thank you to House and Senate Republicans for your hard work
and commitment!” On December 20, the final tax bill formally passed both
chambers of Congress, needing only the president's signature to give him his
first major legislative victory.
Following
partisan battles over a spending bill in early 2018, which resulted in a brief
government shutdown and stopgap measures, President Trump threatened to torpedo
a $1.3 trillion spending bill with a last-minute veto. Reportedly angry that
the bill did not fully fund his long-promised Mexican border wall, he
nevertheless signed the bill into law on March 23, hours before another
government shutdown would have gone into effect.
Trade
War
On
March 1, 2018, after the conclusion of a Commerce Department investigation,
President Trump announced that he was imposing tariffs of 25 percent on steel
imports and 10 percent on aluminum. The following month, the administration
said it was adding a 25 percent tariff on more than 1,000 Chinese products to
penalize the country for its trade practices, though Trump ultimately granted
temporary exemptions to China, the European Union, Canada and Mexico as he
sought to renegotiate deals.
His
actions resulted in new agreements with South Korea and multiple South American
countries to restrain their metal exports, but talks with China, the E.U. and
the border countries stalled. In late May, the administration announced that it
was moving forward with all tariffs, including a tax on $34 billion worth of
Chinese goods that went into effect in July.
The
move drew a harsh response from the E.U., Canada and Mexico, which announced
retaliatory measures. With Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemning
Trump's "unacceptable actions" and French President Emmanuel Macron threatening
to isolate the U.S. from the Group of 7, the president faced a frosty reception
at the G-7 summit in Quebec in June. He ultimately left the summit early,
making headlines on the way out by announcing he would not sign a communique
between the seven nations and taking shots at Trudeau on Twitter. In July,
Trump again had harsh words for allies at the NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium,
including accusations that Germany was "captive" to Russia for its
dependence on Russian natural gas, and followed with criticism of U.K. Prime
Minister Theresa May for
her handling of Brexit.
Back
home, the president attempted to head off the political fallout of a potentially
costly trade war with the announcement that the administration would provide up
to $12 billion in emergency relief funds for U.S. farmers.
Transgender
Students
On
February 22, 2017 the Trump administration rolled back federal protection for
transgender students to use bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity,
allowing states and school districts to interpret federal anti-discrimination
law. On March 27, 2017 President Trump signed several measures under the
Congressional Review Act to reverse regulations related to education, land use
and a "blacklisting rule" requiring federal contractors to disclose
violations of federal labor, wage and workplace safety laws.
Recognition
of Jerusalem
On
December 6, 2017, President Trump announced that the U.S. was formally
recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and would move the American
embassy there from its current location in Tel Aviv. The declaration broke
decades of precedent, in which the U.S. refused to take sides in the conflict
between Israelis and Palestinians over territorial rights to the city.
Fulfilling
one of his campaign pledges, Trump referred to the move as "a long overdue
step to advance the peace process," noting it "would be folly to
assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or
better result." He also stressed that the move would not interfere with
any proposals for a two-state solution.
The
announcement was praised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but not
as warmly received by American allies France, Britain and Germany, which called
it disruptive to the peace process. Leaders of the predominantly Muslim
countries Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon all condemned the
move, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the U.S. could no longer
be considered a mediator in the region.
On
December 21, the U.N. General Assembly voted 128 to 9 to demand that the U.S.
rescind its formal recognition of Jerusalem. Britain, France, Germany and Japan
all voted for the resolution, though others, like Australia and Canada,
abstained from the symbolic vote.
After
dispatching Vice President Pence to help smooth things over with Arab leaders
in the Middle East, Trump sought to reestablish ties with American allies at
the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2018. He praised
U.K. Prime Minister May and enjoyed a friendly meeting with Netanyahu, though
he also took a shot at the Palestinian Authority for refusing to meet with
Pence.
Charlottesville
Rally and “Blame on Both Sides”
On
August 12, 2017 a group of white nationalists in Charlottesville, North
Carolina, gathered for a “Unite the Right” rally to protest the removal of a
statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. People in favor of removing the
statue felt that it was a symbol implicitly endorsing white supremacy, while
the protesters believed removing it was an attempt at erasing history. The
rally attracted Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis, including former KKK leader David
Duke, who told reporters that the protesters were “going to fulfill the
promises of Donald Trump” to “take our country back.” When counter-protesters
arrived, the demonstration turned violent with racial slurs, pushing and
brawling. Then a car, driven by a man who appeared to show marching earlier
that day alongside Neo-Nazis in a CNN photo plowed into
the crowd, killing a 32-year-old counter-protester and injuring at least 19
others.
In
comments that day, Trump did not specifically criticize the white nationalists
and blamed “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.” Two days later,
following criticism about his refusal to denounce hate groups, Trump delivered
a speech at the White House. “Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in
its name are criminals and thugs, including the K.K.K., neo-Nazis, white
supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold
dear as Americans,” he said. However, the same day, Kevin Plank, the head of
Under Armour, and Kenneth C. Frazier, the African-American head of Merck
Pharmaceuticals, announced they were resigning from the president’s American
Manufacturing Council in reaction to the events. President Trump tweeted: “Now
that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President’s Manufacturing Council,
he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” The next day, President
Trump reaffirmed his initial comments, telling reporters: “I think there is
blame on both sides.”
On
September 15, Trump re-defended his comments after meeting with republican Sen.
Tim Scott of South Carolina: "I think especially in light of the advent of
antifa, if you look at what's going on there, you know, you have some pretty
bad dudes on the other side also. And essentially that's what I said."
(Antifa is a protest movement that sometimes uses violent tactics to defend
against neo-Nazis and white supremacists.)
President
Trump on Energy and the Environment
Soon
after taking office, President Trump revived the controversial Keystone XL and
Dakota Access Pipelines that had been halted by President Obama following
protests from environmental and Native American groups. Trump owned shares of
Energy Transfer Partners, the company in charge of construction of the Dakota
Access Pipeline, but sold his stake in the company in December 2016. Energy
Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren also contributed to Trump’s presidential
campaign raising concerns over conflict of interest.
Energy Independence Order
On
March 28, 2017, the president, surrounded by American coal miners, signed the "Energy
Independence" executive order, calling for the Environmental Protection
Agency to roll back Obama's Clean Power Plan, curb climate and carbon emissions
regulations and to rescind a moratorium on coal mining on U.S. federal
lands.
Withdrawal from Paris Climate
Agreement
On
June 1, 2017, President Trump withdrew from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement,
which President Obama had joined along with the leaders of 195 other countries.
The accord requires all participating nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
in an effort to limit the rise of global temperatures over the ensuing century
and also to allocate resources for the research and development of alternative
energy sources. With President Trump’s decision, the United States joined Syria
and Nicaragua as the only three countries to reject the accord. However,
Nicaragua eventually joined the Paris Climate Agreement months later.
Trump’s
Business Ventures
Trump
followed his father into a career in real estate development, bringing his
grander ambitions to the family business, which includes: The Trump
Organization, Trump Tower, casinos in Atlantic
City, television franchises like The Apprentice and Miss
Universe, as well as business deals with the Javits Center, the
Grand Hyatt New York and other real estate ventures in New York City, Florida
and Los Angeles.
Walk of Fame Star
Awarded
a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007, Trump later saw the star
defaced by vandals following his polarizing run to the nation's highest office.
After one such incident in July 2018, the city of West Hollywood's
five-member city council approved a measure to remove the star, citing the
costs of its repair and the president's treatment of women as two of the
primary factors behind the proposal. The city council planned to send
a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the Los Angeles City Council and
the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to formally request the action, with the Chamber
of Commerce having the final say on whether or not to remove the star.
Lawsuits
Fair Housing Act Discrimination Trial
In
1973, the federal government filed a complaint against Trump, his father and
their company alleging that they had discriminated against tenants and
potential tenants based on their race, a violation of the Fair Housing Act,
which is part of the Civil Rights Act of
1968.
After
a lengthy legal battle, the case was settled in 1975. As part of the agreement,
the Trump company had to train employees about the Fair Housing Act and inform
the community about its fair housing practices. Trump wrote about the
resolution of the case in his 1987 memoir Art of the Deal: "In
the end, the government couldn’t prove its case, and we ended up taking a minor
settlement without admitting any guilt."
Trump University
In
2005, Trump launched his for-profit Trump University, offering classes in real
estate and acquiring and managing wealth. The venture had been under scrutiny
almost since its inception and at the time of his 2015 presidential bid, it
remained the subject of multiple law suits. In the cases, claimants accused
Trump of fraud, false advertising and breach of contract. Controversy about the
suits made headlines when Trump suggested that U.S. District Court Judge
Gonzalo Curiel could not be impartial in overseeing two class action cases
because of his Mexican heritage.
On
November 18, 2016, Trump, who had previously vowed to take the matter to trial,
settled three of the lawsuits for $25 million without admission of liability.
In a statement from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, he called the
settlement, “a stunning reversal by Donald Trump and a major victory for the
over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university.”
Later,
in a separate incident related to Trump University, it was reported that
Florida attorney general Pam Bondi decided not to join the existing New York
fraud lawsuit. This came just days after she had received a sizable campaign
donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which was founded in 1988 as a
private charity organization designed to make donations to nonprofit groups. In
November 2016, it was reported that Bondi's name was on Trump's list as a
possible U.S. Attorney General contender.
As
a result of the improper donation to Bondi's campaign, Trump was required to
pay the IRS a penalty and his foundation came under scrutiny about the use of
its funds for non-charitable activities. According to tax records, The Trump
Foundation itself was found to have received no charitable gifts from Donald
Trump since 2008, and that all donations since that time had come from outside
contributors.
Trump’s
Cabinet and Advisors
As
Trump prepared to take office in January 2016, he put vice-president elect
Pence in charge of his transition team. His children — Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric — and
son-in-law Jared Kushner were
named to his 16-member executive team. The president-elect named Reince
Priebus, the Republican Party Chairman, to be his chief of staff.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s
campaign CEO and executive chairman of Breitbart News, was named as his chief
strategist and senior counselor. In his first 100 days in office, President
Trump reorganized the National Security Council, bringing Steve Bannon on as a
regular committee member, which his critics called an unprecedented move. In
April 2017, the Trump administration removed Bannon from his permanent seat on
the National Security Council.
Less
than one month later, on February 13, 2017, Trump’s subsequent National
Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned.
Flynn's resignation came after it was revealed that he had misled Vice
President Pence about his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian
ambassador to the United States, prior to the inauguration.
According
to The Washington Post, Flynn “privately
discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the
United States during the month before President Trump took office, contrary to
public assertions by Trump officials.” In his letter of resignation, Flynn said
he had given Pence and others in the Trump administration “incomplete
information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador.”
President
Trump went on to appoint Army Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, a
well-respected military leader and veteran of the Persian Gulf war and the
second Iraq war, to replace Flynn as his national security adviser.
By
July, the president had replaced Priebus with John Kelly as his chief of staff,
and within a few weeks Bannon was also gone from the White House. In March
2018, following months of rumors of a rift between Trump and Tillerson, his
initial secretary of state, the president announced that he was appointing
Pompeo to take over the State Department.
Shortly
afterward, Trump announced that he was replacing McMaster with John Bolton, a
Fox News analyst and former ambassador to the United Nations under George
W. Bush. Bolton had made waves in recent years for his hard-line views on
terminating the Iraq nuclear deal and going to war with North Korea. At the end
of March, the president also dismissed Veterans Affairs Secretary David J.
Shulkin, naming White House physician Ronny L. Jackson as his replacement.
Trump
and Obama
“Birther” Controversy
Beginning
in early 2011, Trump expressed doubts about the validity of Obama’s birth
country to media outlets. To quell the staunch outcry from birtherists, Obama
eventually released his birth certificate in April 2011, verifying that he was
born in the United States. Regardless, Trump continued to be a vocal critic of
President Obama—not only regarding his place of birth, but also on a variety of
his policies.
In
2013, Trump tweeted that a Hawaiian State Health Director, who died of cardiac
arrhythmia following a plane crash, was somehow connected to a cover-up of
President Obama's birth certificate. In 2016, as he began to clinch his own
nomination as the GOP candidate for president, Trump toned down his stance,
telling CNN, “I have my own theory on Obama. Someday I will write a book.”
Later
that fall, feeling pressure from his campaign advisors to put the conspiracy
theory to rest as part of a strategy to appeal to minority voters, Trump issued
a statement: "President Barack Obama was born in the
United States, period.” At the same time, he also blamed his presidential
rival, Hillary Clinton, and her campaign for starting the birther controversy.
Wiretapping Allegations
On
March 4, 2017 without citing specific evidence, Trump released a series of
tweets accusing former president Obama of wiretapping the campaign headquarters
at Trump Tower before the election.
FBI
Director James Comey asked the
Justice Department to issue a statement refuting President Trump’s allegation,
while the White House called for a congressional investigation into Trump’s
claims.
On
March 16, 2017, bipartisan leaders from the Senate Intelligence Committee said
there was no evidence to support the president’s claim that Trump Tower had
been wiretapped. On March 20, 2017, Comey addressed the wiretapping
allegations, saying that he had “no information that supports those tweets and
we have looked carefully inside the FBI.” Comey also confirmed that the FBI was
investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016
presidential election, including links and coordination between individuals
associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government as well as
whether any crimes were committed.
Trump
and Former FBI Director James Comey
On
May 9, 2017, President Trump abruptly fired Comey, who was in the midst of
leading the investigation into whether any Trump advisers colluded with Russia
to influence the outcome of the presidential election. The president said he
based his decision on recommendations from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who asserted that Comey should be
dismissed over his handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a
private email server while she was secretary of state.
The
announcement sent shockwaves throughout the government, with critics comparing
Comey's dismissal to the 1973 "Saturday Night Massacre" when
President Nixon fired Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor investigating the
Watergate Scandal which eventually led to Nixon's resignation.
Democratic
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer told
reporters at a press conference that “every American will rightly suspect that
the decision to fire Director Comey was part of a cover-up.” In response to his
critics, the president took to Twitter to defend his decision:
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