Trump lashes out at ‘rigged election’ moments after sharing Christmas video with Melania
The president golfed despite White House claims he was working ‘tirelessly’
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Donald Trump spent Christmas Eve on the golf course after congressional Republicans struck down a Democrat-backed attempt to increase the amount of aid handed to Americans as part of the latest Covid-19 relief package, which the president said on Tuesday did not go far enough.
It comes as Mr Trump was accused of leaving Americans “adrift” after he arrived in Florida for Christmas on Wednesday, leaving the coronavirus relief package unsigned and a military spending bill threatened by a veto in his wake.
The president and First Lady Melania Trump released a message to Americans on Christmas Eve, highlighting the work of first responders, teachers and scientists working on the coronavirus vaccine to end the “terrible pandemic.” Moments after sharing the video on Twitter, the president lashed out at Republicans for their inadequate response “over the fact that the Democrats stole the rigged presidential election.”
The president pardoned more disgraced personal aides on Wednesday, including his one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort and adviser Roger Stone, who were both sentenced for lying or not cooperating with the Robert Mueller investigation. Two others, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former adviser George Papadopoulos, have also been pardoned.
The president pardoned more disgraced personal aides on Wednesday, include Mr Trump’s one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort and adviser Roger Stone, who were both sentenced for lying or not cooperating with the investigation. Two others, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former adviser George Papadopoulos, have also been pardoned.
Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe called the pardons “remarkably disgusting," and claimed they were “undermining the system of justice that he is supposed to protect and defend.”
The New York Times spoke with Iraqi citizens about Mr Trump pardoning the Blackwater mercenaries. One man, who was shot in the leg during the massacre in Nisour Square, said the American justice system was “just theatre.”
The president’s fury at the election results continued, with Mr Trump vowing on Twitter to “NEVER FORGET” the Republicans who he claims “sit back and watch me fight against a viscous and crooked foe.” He personally named Sen. Mitch McConnell in the tweet.
He also lamented Twitter’s continued use of tags claiming his posts contain false or misleading information regarding the 2020 election. The president said that the company was “dangerous” and that fact checking was the way “communism starts.” He attributed the company’s policy to “cancel culture.”
- US sees record breaking Covid hospitalisations on Christmas Eve
- House Republicans turn down Trump-Democrat bid to increase Covid checks
- Trump trolls White House press corps with 7:30 am start on a day he has no public duties
- New round of Trump clemency benefits Manafort, other allies
- Trump ‘rotten to the core’ - angry reactions to latest presidential pardons, now at 26
- Congress expected to override Trump veto on military policy and spending bill
Pelosi condemns Republicans for blocking increased Covid aid
Democrats blame Trump’s ‘own people’ amid Covid stimulus fall-out
Here’s how many Democrats will feel about Donald Trump’s threats against the Covid relief bill passed by Congress, with senator Amy Klobuchar saying yesterday that the president’s “own people” were to blame for the $600 direct payments he went on to criticise.
"I want to see more direct payments and I’m glad the Speaker of the House is bringing it up tomorrow [Thursday], but president Trump’s own people, in the room where it happens, or on the zoom where it happens, they were negotiating.
But, after Republicans refused a Democrat-led request to increase payments to match Mr Trump’s demands on Thursday, the House is now due to return to vote on the same plans in a separate bill, Ms Pelosi announced.
‘Believe it or not, Democrats agree with the president’
Speaking on Thursday, House majority leader Steny Hoyer said Democrats - for once - agreed with Donald Trump about the need for more Covid stimulus.
“Believe it or not, Democrats agree with the president,” said Mr Hoyer to reporters after Republicans in the House blocked an attempt to increase Covid payments for Americans from $600 to $2,000.
That request has come from Mr Trump as well as Democrats in recent days - and in doing so, throwing lawmakers into disarray, with the president still needing to sign the Covid stimulus package agreed last week.
Tensions between Iran and the US rise, after Trump threat
Relations between Iran and the US have worsened as Donald Trump’s presidency nears its end, writes Borzou Daragahi.
The US president on Wednesday warned Iran that he would hold it accountable “if one American is killed” in rocket attacks near the country’'s embassy in Iraq, that the Trump administration and military officials have blamed on Tehran.
Iranian authorities, who have denied and condemned the attacks, went on to accuse Mr Trump of attempting to use Iran to distract Americans from his handling of the Coronavirus pandemic.
With weeks left in Trump’s presidency, confrontation between Iran and US spikes
‘If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible,’ warned the outgoing US president
A Trump tweet for every occasion
An old tweet by Donald Trump suggesting that Hilary Clinton should “lose with dignity” has resurfaced to haunt him as he continues to refuse to accept his election loss to Joe Biden.
"Vladimir Putin said today about Hillary and Dems: 'In my opinion, it is humiliating. One must be able to lose with dignity.' So true!” read the tweet from 2016.
There is, of course, always a tweet.
Trump’s 2016 tweet suggesting Clinton should accept defeat ‘with dignity’ comes back to haunt him
‘There’s always a tweet’ is now a common refrain on social media whenever any of the president’s posts from the past turns up to contradict his comments in the present
US hospitalisation reach record high on Christmas Eve
Wednesday marked the second consecutive day in which a record-breaking number of people are currently in hospital for Covid-19, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Heading into Christmas Eve, 119,463 people were in hospital for Covid-19 on Wednesday night, Alex Woodward writes.
Record-high 119,000 Americans hospitalised for coronavirus ahead of Christmas Eve
CDC projects as many as 419,000 deaths by mid-January as more than 3,000 deaths reported on Wednesday
Millions of Americans travelling over Christmas despite CDC warnings and climbing hospitalisations
More than 6 million people have passed through airport security checkpoints since last Friday.
Health officials fear the latest spike in holiday travel will mirror a post-Thanksgiving surge in infections and hospitalisations, which topped 119,000 on Wednesday, the largest-single day count in current hospitalisations since the onset of the pandemic.
6 million people have travelled through US airports before Christmas Eve
More than 1.1 million people screened at airports on day before Christmas Eve, breaking pandemic travel record as hospitalisations overwhelm health systems
Leading House Republican condemns foreign spending – that he approved
It’s not Christmas Eve without some egregiously bad-faith takes.
Kevin McCarthy, the GOP minority leader in the House, criticised Democrats for “suffering from selective hearing” as he claimed that lawmakers had “ignored” Trump’s call to “reexamine tax dollars wasted overseas while so many Americans are struggling at home.”
But the foreign aid spending in the omnibus budget bill was requested by Trump in the first place before it was overwhelmingly approved by Republicans in Congress.
The president threatened to veto the spending bill, which includes the Covid-19 relief package that lawmakers spent weeks fleshing out, which could jeopardise unemployment relief for millions of Americans when federal aid expires on 26 December.
The spending bill he called a “disgrace” this week contains the exact same amounts he requested as part of the government’s 2021 budget.
Trump hits the golf course with relief bill and government spending in limbo before Christmas
In a “Keep America Great” hat, the president has hit the links while keeping millions of Americans whose unemployment relief dries up in two days on edge.
With spending bill in limbo, unemployment relief expires on 26 December for 12 million Americans
Trump sped off to Mar-a-Lago without signing a critical government spending bill that includes a critical $900bn relief package for struggling Americans in a still-raging pandemic, creating a great deal of confusion for people relying on aid.
If it’s not approved, federal unemployment relief that has provided an additional $300 in weekly benefits to out-of-work Americans will expire on 26 December, along with a moratorium on evictions. Any measures to restart the aid program in the days that follow could create chaos in the system and delay payments. Benefits are set to expire for roughly 12 million people.
More than 20 million Americans are relying on some form of unemployment aid.
Unemployment remains high as Trump threatens jobless benefits expiring on 26 December
More than 20 million Americans out of work as president threatens to veto critical relief package
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