El mandato de Donald Trump como el 45.º presidente de los Estados Unidos comenzó con su toma de posesión el 20 de enero de 2017 y terminó el 20 de enero de 2021. Trump, un republicano de la ciudad de Nueva York , asumió el cargo tras su victoria en el Colegio Electoral sobre la candidata demócrata Hillary Clinton en las elecciones presidenciales de 2016 , en las que perdió el voto popular ante Clinton por casi tres millones de votos. Tras su toma de posesión, se convirtió en el primer presidente en la historia de Estados Unidos sin cargos públicos previos ni antecedentes militares . Trump hizo una cantidad sin precedentes de declaraciones falsas o engañosas durante su campaña y presidencia. Su presidencia terminó tras su derrota en las elecciones presidenciales de 2020 ante el exvicepresidente demócrata Joe Biden , después de un mandato en el cargo.
Trump no tuvo éxito en sus esfuerzos por derogar la Ley de Atención Médica Asequible , pero rescindió el mandato individual . Buscó recortes sustanciales del gasto en los principales programas de bienestar, incluidos Medicare y Medicaid . Trump firmó la Ley de Reducción de Impuestos y Empleos de 2017 y una derogación parcial de la Ley Dodd-Frank . Designó a Neil Gorsuch , Brett Kavanaugh y Amy Coney Barrett para la Corte Suprema . Trump revocó numerosas regulaciones ambientales , se retiró del Acuerdo de París sobre el cambio climático y firmó la Ley Great American Outdoors , pero luego emitió una Orden Ejecutiva que socavó su impacto. Firmó la Ley del Primer Paso . Promulgó aranceles , lo que desencadenó aranceles de represalia de China , Canadá, México y la Unión Europea. Se retiró de las negociaciones de la Asociación Transpacífica y firmó el Acuerdo Estados Unidos-México-Canadá , un sucesor del Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte con cambios modestos. El déficit federal aumentó significativamente bajo el gobierno de Trump debido al aumento del gasto y los recortes de impuestos.
Trump implementó una controvertida política de separación familiar para los migrantes detenidos en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México, a partir de 2018. Su demanda de financiación federal para un muro fronterizo resultó en el cierre gubernamental más largo de la historia de Estados Unidos . Desplegó fuerzas policiales federales en respuesta a los disturbios raciales en 2020. La política exterior de " Estados Unidos primero " de Trump se caracterizó por acciones unilaterales, sin tener en cuenta las normas tradicionales y los aliados. Su administración implementó una importante venta de armas a Arabia Saudita ; negó la entrada a Estados Unidos a ciudadanos de varios países de mayoría musulmana ; reconoció a Jerusalén como la capital de Israel ; y negoció los Acuerdos de Abraham , una serie de acuerdos de normalización entre Israel y varios estados árabes . Trump retiró las tropas estadounidenses del norte de Siria, lo que permitió a Turquía ocupar el área . Su administración hizo un trato condicional con los talibanes para retirar las tropas estadounidenses de Afganistán en 2021. Trump se reunió con el líder de Corea del Norte, Kim Jong Un , tres veces. Retiró a Estados Unidos del acuerdo nuclear con Irán y posteriormente intensificó las tensiones en el Golfo Pérsico al ordenar el asesinato del general Qasem Soleimani .
La investigación del fiscal especial Robert Mueller (2017-2019) concluyó que Rusia interfirió para favorecer la candidatura de Trump y que si bien la evidencia prevaleciente "no estableció que los miembros de la campaña de Trump conspiraran o coordinaran con el gobierno ruso", se produjeron posibles obstrucciones a la justicia durante el curso de esa investigación. Trump intentó presionar a Ucrania para que anunciara investigaciones sobre su rival político Joe Biden, lo que desencadenó su primer impeachment por parte de la Cámara de Representantes el 18 de diciembre de 2019, pero fue absuelto por el Senado el 5 de febrero de 2020. Trump reaccionó lentamente a la pandemia de COVID-19 , ignoró o contradijo muchas recomendaciones de los funcionarios de salud en sus mensajes y promovió información errónea sobre tratamientos no probados y la disponibilidad de pruebas.
Tras su derrota en las elecciones presidenciales de 2020 ante Biden, Trump se negó a reconocer su derrota e inició una extensa campaña para anular los resultados , denunciando un fraude electoral generalizado . El 6 de enero de 2021, durante un mitin en la Elipse , Trump instó a sus partidarios a marchar hacia el Capitolio , donde el Congreso estaba contando los votos electorales para formalizar la victoria de Biden. Una turba de partidarios de Trump irrumpió en el Capitolio , suspendiendo el recuento y provocando la evacuación del vicepresidente Mike Pence y otros miembros del Congreso. El 13 de enero, la Cámara de Representantes votó a favor de acusar a Trump por segunda vez sin precedentes por incitación a la insurrección , pero luego fue absuelto nuevamente por el Senado el 13 de febrero, después de que ya había dejado el cargo.
El 16 de junio de 2015, Donald Trump anunció oficialmente su candidatura a la nominación republicana en las elecciones presidenciales de 2016. En mayo de 2016, Trump consiguió la nominación al ganar la mayoría de los delegados. Trump eligió al gobernador de Indiana, Mike Pence , como su compañero de fórmula y ambos fueron nominados oficialmente como candidatos republicanos en la Convención Nacional Republicana de 2016 .
Con el mandato del presidente demócrata Barack Obama limitado, los demócratas nominaron a la exsecretaria de Estado Hillary Clinton de Nueva York para presidenta y al senador Tim Kaine de Virginia para vicepresidente. El 9 de noviembre de 2016, Trump ganó las elecciones presidenciales con 304 votos electorales en comparación con los 227 de Clinton, aunque Clinton ganó una pluralidad del voto popular a nivel nacional, recibiendo casi 2,9 millones de votos más que Trump. Trump se convirtió así en la quinta persona en ganar la presidencia mientras perdía el voto popular . [1] En las elecciones concurrentes al Congreso , los republicanos mantuvieron sus mayorías tanto en la Cámara de Representantes como en el Senado , y el presidente de la Cámara de Representantes Paul Ryan y el líder de la mayoría del Senado Mitch McConnell permanecieron en sus puestos.
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El período de transición presidencial comenzó después de la victoria de Trump en las elecciones presidenciales estadounidenses de 2016 , aunque Trump había elegido a Bill Hagerty para comenzar a planificar la transición en agosto de 2016. Durante el período de transición, Trump anunció nominaciones para su gabinete y administración .
Trump asumió el cargo el 20 de enero de 2017, sucediendo a Barack Obama . Fue juramentado por el presidente de la Corte Suprema, John Roberts . [2] En su discurso inaugural de diecisiete minutos, Trump pintó un panorama sombrío de los Estados Unidos contemporáneos, prometiendo poner fin a la "masacre estadounidense" causada por el crimen urbano y diciendo que la "riqueza, la fuerza y la confianza de los Estados Unidos se han disipado" por los empleos perdidos en el extranjero. [3] Declaró que su estrategia sería " Estados Unidos primero ". [2] La protesta de un solo día más grande en la historia de los Estados Unidos, la Marcha de las Mujeres , tuvo lugar el día después de su toma de posesión y fue impulsada por la oposición a Trump y sus políticas y puntos de vista. [4]
La administración Trump se caracterizó por una rotación récord, en particular entre el personal de la Casa Blanca. A principios de 2018, el 43% de los puestos de alto nivel de la Casa Blanca habían sido renovados. [5] La administración tuvo una tasa de rotación más alta en los primeros dos años y medio que la de los cinco presidentes anteriores durante todo su mandato. [6]
En octubre de 2019, uno de cada 14 designados políticos de Trump eran ex lobistas; en menos de tres años de su presidencia, Trump había designado a más de cuatro veces más lobistas que su predecesor Barack Obama en el transcurso de sus primeros seis años en el cargo. [7]
El gabinete de Trump incluyó al senador estadounidense de Alabama Jeff Sessions como fiscal general , [8] al banquero Steve Mnuchin como secretario del Tesoro , [9] al general retirado del Cuerpo de Marines James Mattis como secretario de Defensa , [10] y al director ejecutivo de ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson, como secretario de Estado . [11] Trump también incorporó a políticos que se le habían opuesto durante la campaña presidencial, como el neurocirujano Ben Carson como secretario de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano , [12] y la gobernadora de Carolina del Sur, Nikki Haley, como embajadora ante las Naciones Unidas . [13]
Días después de las elecciones presidenciales, Trump eligió al presidente del RNC, Reince Priebus, como su jefe de gabinete . [14] Trump eligió a Sessions para el puesto de fiscal general. [15]
En febrero de 2017, Trump anunció formalmente la estructura de su gabinete, elevando al Director de Inteligencia Nacional y al Director de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia al nivel de gabinete. El Presidente del Consejo de Asesores Económicos , que Obama había agregado al gabinete en 2009, fue removido del gabinete. El gabinete de Trump estaba compuesto por 24 miembros, más que Obama (23) o George W. Bush (21). [16]
El 13 de febrero de 2017, Trump despidió a Michael Flynn del puesto de asesor de seguridad nacional con el argumento de que había mentido al vicepresidente Pence sobre sus comunicaciones con el embajador ruso Sergey Kislyak ; Flynn luego se declaró culpable de mentirle al Buró Federal de Investigaciones (FBI) sobre sus contactos con Rusia. [17] Flynn fue despedido en medio de la controversia en curso sobre la interferencia rusa en las elecciones de 2016 y las acusaciones de que el equipo electoral de Trump coludió con agentes rusos.
En julio de 2017, John F. Kelly , quien se había desempeñado como secretario de Seguridad Nacional , reemplazó a Priebus como jefe de gabinete. [18] En septiembre de 2017, Tom Price renunció como secretario de HHS en medio de críticas por su uso de aviones chárter privados para viajes personales. [19] Kirstjen Nielsen sucedió a Kelly como secretaria en diciembre de 2017. [20] El secretario de Estado Rex Tillerson fue despedido a través de un tuit en marzo de 2018; Trump nombró a Mike Pompeo para reemplazar a Tillerson y a Gina Haspel para suceder a Pompeo como directora de la CIA. [21] A raíz de una serie de escándalos, Scott Pruitt renunció como administrador de la Agencia de Protección Ambiental (EPA) en julio de 2018. [22] El secretario de Defensa, Jim Mattis , informó a Trump de su renuncia luego del abrupto anuncio de Trump el 19 de diciembre de 2018 de que las 2000 tropas estadounidenses restantes en Siria serían retiradas, en contra de las recomendaciones de sus asesores militares y civiles. [23]
Trump despidió a numerosos inspectores generales de agencias, incluidos aquellos que investigaban a la administración Trump y a colaboradores cercanos de Trump. En 2020, despidió a cinco inspectores generales en dos meses. El Washington Post escribió: "Por primera vez desde que se creó el sistema tras el escándalo de Watergate, los inspectores generales se encuentran bajo ataque sistemático por parte del presidente, poniendo en riesgo la supervisión independiente del gasto y las operaciones federales". [24]
El 9 de mayo de 2017, Trump despidió al director del FBI, James Comey , diciendo que había aceptado las recomendaciones del fiscal general Sessions y del fiscal general adjunto Rod Rosenstein de despedir a Comey. La recomendación de Sessions se basó en la de Rosenstein, mientras que Rosenstein escribió que Comey debería ser despedido por su manejo de la conclusión de la investigación del FBI sobre la controversia del correo electrónico de Hillary Clinton . [25] El 10 de mayo, Trump se reunió con el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores ruso , Serguéi Lavrov, y el embajador ruso , Serguéi Kislyak . Basándose en las notas de la Casa Blanca de la reunión , Trump les dijo a los rusos: "Acabo de despedir al jefe del FBI. Estaba loco, un verdadero loco ... Enfrenté una gran presión debido a Rusia. Eso se ha ido". [26] El 11 de mayo, Trump dijo en una entrevista en video: "... independientemente de la recomendación, iba a despedir a Comey ... de hecho, cuando decidí hacerlo, me dije a mí mismo, dije, ya saben, esta cosa de Rusia con Trump y Rusia es una historia inventada". [27] El 18 de mayo, Rosenstein dijo a los miembros del Senado de los EE. UU. que recomendó el despido de Comey sabiendo que Trump ya había decidido despedirlo. [28] Después del despido de Comey, los eventos se compararon con los de la " Masacre del sábado por la noche " durante la administración de Richard Nixon y hubo un debate sobre si Trump había provocado una crisis constitucional , ya que había despedido al hombre que lideraba una investigación sobre los asociados de Trump. [29] Las declaraciones de Trump plantearon preocupaciones de posible obstrucción de la justicia. [30] En el memorando de Comey sobre una reunión de febrero de 2017 con Trump , Comey dijo que Trump intentó persuadirlo de abortar la investigación sobre Flynn. [31]
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Después de que los republicanos ganaran el control del Senado de los EE. UU. en 2014, solo el 28,6 por ciento de los nominados judiciales fueron confirmados, "el porcentaje más bajo de confirmaciones de 1977 a 2018". [32] Al final de la presidencia de Obama, 105 puestos de jueces estaban vacantes. [33] Los republicanos del Senado, liderados por el líder de la mayoría del Senado Mitch McConnell , priorizaron la confirmación de los designados judiciales de Trump, y lo hicieron rápidamente. [34] Para noviembre de 2018, Trump había nombrado a 29 jueces para los tribunales de apelaciones de EE. UU ., más que cualquier presidente moderno en los primeros dos años de un mandato presidencial. [35]
Trump finalmente nombró a 226 jueces federales del Artículo III y 260 jueces federales en total. [36] Sus designados, que generalmente estaban afiliados a la conservadora Sociedad Federalista , desplazaron el poder judicial hacia la derecha . [37] Un tercio de los designados por Trump tenían menos de 45 años cuando fueron nombrados, una edad mucho mayor que bajo presidentes anteriores. [37] Los nominados judiciales de Trump tenían menos probabilidades de ser mujeres o de minorías étnicas que los de la administración anterior. [38] [39] De los nombramientos judiciales de Trump para los tribunales de apelaciones de Estados Unidos (tribunales de circuito), dos tercios fueron hombres blancos, en comparación con el 31% de los nominados de Obama y el 63% de los nominados de George W. Bush. [37] [40]
Trump hizo tres nominaciones a la Corte Suprema : Neil Gorsuch , Brett Kavanaugh y Amy Coney Barrett :
Los propios empleados, subordinados y aliados de Trump frecuentemente caracterizaron a Trump como infantil. [47] Trump supuestamente evitó leer documentos informativos detallados, incluido el Informe diario del presidente , a favor de recibir informes orales. [48] [49] Los informadores de inteligencia supuestamente repitieron el nombre y el título del presidente para mantener su atención. [50] [51] También se sabía que adquiría información viendo hasta ocho horas de televisión cada día, sobre todo programas de Fox News como Fox & Friends y Hannity , cuyos puntos de conversación de transmisión Trump a veces repetía en declaraciones públicas, particularmente en tuits de madrugada. [52] [53] [54] Trump supuestamente expresó enojo si los análisis de inteligencia contradecían sus creencias o declaraciones públicas, y dos informadores afirmaron que habían recibido instrucciones de sus superiores de no proporcionar a Trump información que contradijera sus declaraciones públicas. [51]
Según se informa, Trump había fomentado el caos como técnica de gestión, lo que resultó en una baja moral y confusión política entre su personal. [55] [56] Trump demostró ser incapaz de comprometerse de manera efectiva durante el 115.º Congreso de los EE. UU ., lo que llevó a un estancamiento gubernamental significativo y pocos logros legislativos notables a pesar del control republicano de ambas cámaras del Congreso. [57] La historiadora presidencial Doris Kearns Goodwin encontró que Trump carecía de varios rasgos de un líder eficaz, entre ellos "humildad, reconocer errores, asumir la culpa y aprender de los errores, empatía, resiliencia, colaboración, conectar con la gente y controlar las emociones improductivas". [58]
En enero de 2018, Axios informó que el horario laboral de Trump era típicamente de 11:00 a. m. a 6:00 p. m. (un inicio más tardío y un final más temprano en comparación con el comienzo de su presidencia) y que estaba celebrando menos reuniones durante su horario laboral para adaptarse al deseo de Trump de tener más tiempo libre no estructurado (etiquetado como "tiempo ejecutivo"). [59] En 2019, Axios publicó el horario de Trump desde el 7 de noviembre de 2018 hasta el 1 de febrero de 2019, y calculó que alrededor del sesenta por ciento del tiempo entre las 8:00 a. m. y las 5:00 p. m. era "tiempo ejecutivo". [60]
La cantidad y la escala de las declaraciones de Trump en discursos públicos, comentarios y tuits identificados como falsos por académicos, verificadores de hechos y comentaristas se caracterizaron como sin precedentes para un presidente estadounidense, [64] [65] e incluso sin precedentes en la política estadounidense. [66] The New Yorker calificó las falsedades como una parte distintiva de su identidad política, [67] y también han sido descritas por la asesora política republicana Amanda Carpenter como una táctica de manipulación psicológica . [68] Su Casa Blanca había rechazado la idea de la verdad objetiva , [69] y su campaña y presidencia han sido descritas como " posverdad ", [70] así como hiperorwellianas . [ 71] La firma retórica de Trump incluía ignorar datos de instituciones federales que eran incompatibles con sus argumentos; citar rumores, evidencia anecdótica y afirmaciones cuestionables en medios partidistas; negar la realidad (incluidas sus propias declaraciones); y distraer cuando se exponían falsedades. [72]
Durante el primer año de la presidencia de Trump, el equipo de verificación de hechos del Washington Post escribió que Trump era "el político más cuestionado en cuanto a hechos" con el que se había "encontrado jamás ... el ritmo y el volumen de las declaraciones erróneas del presidente significa que no podemos seguirle el ritmo". [73] El Post descubrió que, como presidente, Trump hizo más de 30.000 afirmaciones falsas o engañosas, aumentando de un promedio de seis al día en su primer año como presidente a 39 afirmaciones al día en su último año. [74] Las afirmaciones falsas o engañosas más comunes de Trump se referían a la economía y el empleo, su propuesta de muro fronterizo y su legislación fiscal; [75] también había hecho declaraciones falsas sobre administraciones anteriores, [75] así como otros temas, incluidos el crimen, el terrorismo, la inmigración, Rusia y la investigación de Mueller, la investigación de Ucrania , la inmigración y la pandemia de COVID-19 . [61] Los altos funcionarios de la administración también habían dado regularmente declaraciones falsas, engañosas o torturadas a los medios de comunicación, [76] [77] lo que dificultaba que los medios de comunicación tomaran en serio las declaraciones oficiales. [76]
Poco antes de que Trump consiguiera la nominación republicana de 2016, The New York Times informó que "expertos legales de todo el espectro político dicen" que la retórica de Trump reflejaba "una cosmovisión constitucional que muestra desprecio por la Primera Enmienda , la separación de poderes y el estado de derecho ", y agregó que "muchos académicos legales conservadores y libertarios advierten que elegir al Sr. Trump es una receta para una crisis constitucional ". [78] Los politólogos advirtieron que la retórica y las acciones del candidato Trump imitaban las de otros políticos que finalmente se volvieron autoritarios una vez en el cargo. [79] Algunos académicos han concluido que durante el mandato de Trump como presidente y en gran parte debido a sus acciones y retórica, Estados Unidos ha experimentado un retroceso democrático . [80] [81] Muchos republicanos prominentes han expresado preocupaciones similares de que el desprecio percibido de Trump por el estado de derecho traicionó los principios conservadores. [82] [83] [84] [85]
Durante los primeros dos años de su presidencia, Trump buscó repetidamente influenciar al Departamento de Justicia para que investigara a Clinton, [86] [87] al Comité Nacional Demócrata , [88] y Comey. [89] Repitió persistentemente una variedad de acusaciones, al menos algunas de las cuales ya habían sido investigadas o desacreditadas. [90] [91] En la primavera de 2018, Trump le dijo al abogado de la Casa Blanca, Don McGahn, que quería ordenar al Departamento de Justicia que procesara a Clinton y Comey, pero McGahn le advirtió a Trump que tal acción constituiría abuso de poder e invitaría a un posible juicio político . [92] En mayo de 2018, Trump exigió que el Departamento de Justicia investigara "si el FBI/DOJ se infiltró o vigiló la Campaña de Trump con fines políticos", que el Departamento de Justicia remitió a su inspector general . [93] Aunque no es ilegal que un presidente ejerza influencia sobre el Departamento de Justicia para abrir una investigación, los presidentes han evitado asiduamente hacerlo para evitar percepciones de interferencia política. [93] [94]
Sessions se resistió a varias demandas de Trump y sus aliados para que se investigaran a los oponentes políticos, lo que provocó que Trump expresara repetidamente su frustración, diciendo en un momento dado: "No tengo un fiscal general". [95] Mientras criticaba la investigación del fiscal especial en julio de 2019, Trump afirmó falsamente que la Constitución garantiza que "tengo el derecho de hacer lo que quiera como presidente". [96] Trump había sugerido o promovido en múltiples ocasiones opiniones sobre extender su presidencia más allá de los límites normales de mandato. [97] [98]
Trump criticó con frecuencia la independencia del poder judicial por interferir injustamente en la capacidad de su administración para decidir políticas. [99] En noviembre de 2018, en una reprimenda extraordinaria a un presidente en funciones, Roberts criticó la caracterización que hizo Trump de un juez que había dictaminado en contra de sus políticas como un "juez de Obama", y agregó: "Eso no es ley". [100] En octubre de 2020, veinte ex fiscales estadounidenses republicanos , entre ellos designados por cada presidente republicano desde Eisenhower, caracterizaron a Trump como "una amenaza para el estado de derecho en nuestro país". Greg Brower , que trabajó en la administración Trump, afirmó: "Está claro que el presidente Trump ve al Departamento de Justicia y al FBI como su propio bufete de abogados y agencia de investigación personal". [101]
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Al principio de su presidencia, Trump desarrolló una relación muy polémica con los medios de comunicación, refiriéndose repetidamente a ellos como los " medios de noticias falsas " y "el enemigo del pueblo ". [102] Como candidato, Trump había rechazado credenciales de prensa por publicaciones ofensivas, pero dijo que no lo haría si era elegido. [103] Trump, tanto en privado como en público, reflexionó sobre la posibilidad de quitarles las credenciales de prensa de la Casa Blanca a los periodistas críticos . [104] Al mismo tiempo, la Casa Blanca de Trump dio pases de prensa temporales a medios de comunicación marginales de extrema derecha pro-Trump, como InfoWars y The Gateway Pundit , que son conocidos por publicar engaños y teorías conspirativas . [104] [105] [106]
En su primer día en el cargo, Trump acusó falsamente a los periodistas de subestimar el tamaño de la multitud en su toma de posesión y calificó a los medios de comunicación como "uno de los seres humanos más deshonestos de la Tierra". Las afirmaciones de Trump fueron defendidas notablemente por el secretario de prensa Sean Spicer , quien afirmó que la multitud de la toma de posesión había sido la más grande de la historia, una afirmación refutada por fotografías. [107] La asesora principal de Trump, Kellyanne Conway, defendió a Spicer cuando se le preguntó sobre la falsedad, diciendo que era un " hecho alternativo ", no una falsedad. [108]
La administración frecuentemente buscó castigar y bloquear el acceso a los reporteros que publicaban historias sobre la administración. [109] [110] [111] [112] Trump criticó frecuentemente al medio de comunicación de derecha Fox News por no apoyarlo lo suficiente, [113] amenazando con prestar su apoyo a alternativas a Fox News de la derecha. [114] El 16 de agosto de 2018, el Senado aprobó por unanimidad una resolución que afirmaba que "la prensa no es el enemigo del pueblo". [115]
Se ha estudiado la relación entre Trump, los medios de comunicación y las noticias falsas. Un estudio concluyó que entre el 7 de octubre y el 14 de noviembre de 2016, mientras que uno de cada cuatro estadounidenses visitó un sitio web de noticias falsas , "los partidarios de Trump visitaron la mayoría de los sitios web de noticias falsas, que eran abrumadoramente pro-Trump" y "casi 6 de cada 10 visitas a sitios web de noticias falsas provenían del 10% de las personas con las dietas de información en línea más conservadoras". [116] [117] Brendan Nyhan , uno de los autores del estudio, dijo en una entrevista: "La gente recibió mucha más información errónea de Donald Trump que de los sitios web de noticias falsas". [118]
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En octubre de 2018, Trump elogió al representante estadounidense Greg Gianforte por agredir al periodista político Ben Jacobs en 2017. [120] Según los analistas, el incidente marcó la primera vez que el presidente "elogia abierta y directamente un acto violento contra un periodista en suelo estadounidense". [121] Más tarde ese mes, cuando CNN y demócratas prominentes fueron atacados con bombas por correo , Trump inicialmente condenó los intentos de bomba, pero poco después culpó a los "medios de comunicación dominantes a los que me refiero como noticias falsas" por causar "una parte muy grande de la ira que vemos hoy en nuestra sociedad". [122]
El Departamento de Justicia de Trump obtuvo mediante orden judicial los registros telefónicos o metadatos de correo electrónico de 2017 de periodistas de CNN, The New York Times , The Washington Post , BuzzFeed y Politico como parte de las investigaciones sobre filtraciones de información clasificada. [123]
Trump continuó usando Twitter después de la campaña presidencial. Continuó tuiteando personalmente desde @realDonaldTrump , su cuenta personal, mientras que su personal tuiteaba en su nombre usando la cuenta oficial @POTUS . Su uso de Twitter fue poco convencional para un presidente, con sus tuits iniciando controversias y convirtiéndose en noticias por derecho propio. [124] Algunos académicos se han referido a su tiempo en el cargo como la "primera presidencia verdadera de Twitter". [125] La administración Trump describió los tuits de Trump como "declaraciones oficiales del presidente de los Estados Unidos". [126] La jueza federal Naomi Reice Buchwald dictaminó en 2018 que el bloqueo de Trump a otros usuarios de Twitter debido a opiniones políticas opuestas violaba la Primera Enmienda y que debía desbloquearlos. [127] El fallo fue confirmado en apelación. [128] [129]
Sus tuits han sido reportados como imprudentes, impulsivos, vengativos y acosadores , a menudo hechos tarde en la noche o en las primeras horas de la mañana. [130] [131] [132] Sus tuits sobre una prohibición musulmana fueron utilizados con éxito contra su administración para detener dos versiones de restricciones de viaje de algunos países de mayoría musulmana. [133] Ha utilizado Twitter para amenazar e intimidar a sus oponentes políticos y posibles aliados políticos necesarios para aprobar proyectos de ley. [134] Muchos tuits parecen estar basados en historias que Trump ha visto en los medios, incluidos sitios web de noticias de extrema derecha como Breitbart y programas de televisión como Fox & Friends . [135] [136]
Trump usó Twitter para atacar a los jueces federales que fallaron en su contra en casos judiciales [137] y para criticar a funcionarios dentro de su propia administración, incluido el entonces Secretario de Estado Rex Tillerson , el entonces Asesor de Seguridad Nacional H. R. McMaster , el Fiscal General Adjunto Rod Rosenstein y, en varias ocasiones, el Fiscal General Jeff Sessions. [138] Tillerson fue finalmente despedido a través de un tuit de Trump. [139] Trump también tuiteó que su Departamento de Justicia es parte del "estado profundo" estadounidense ; [140] que "hubo tremendas filtraciones, mentiras y corrupción en los niveles más altos del FBI, los Departamentos de Justicia y Estado " ; [138] y que la investigación del fiscal especial es una " ¡CAZA DE BRUJAS !" [141] En agosto de 2018, Trump usó Twitter para escribir que el Fiscal General Jeff Sessions "debería detener" la investigación del fiscal especial de inmediato; también se refirió a ella como "amañada" y a sus investigadores como parciales. [142]
Luego de revisar minuciosamente los tweets recientes de la cuenta @realDonaldTrump y el contexto que los rodea, hemos suspendido permanentemente la cuenta debido al riesgo de una mayor incitación a la violencia.
8 de enero de 2021 [143]
En febrero de 2020, Trump tuiteó críticas a la sentencia propuesta por los fiscales para el ex asistente de Trump, Roger Stone . Unas horas más tarde, el Departamento de Justicia reemplazó la sentencia propuesta por los fiscales con una propuesta más leve. Esto dio la apariencia de interferencia presidencial en un caso penal y provocó una fuerte reacción negativa. Los cuatro fiscales originales se retiraron del caso; más de mil ex abogados del Departamento de Justicia firmaron una carta condenando la acción. [144] [145] El 10 de julio, Trump conmutó la sentencia de Stone días antes de que tuviera que presentarse en prisión. [146]
En respuesta a las protestas de mediados de 2020 por George Floyd , algunas de las cuales resultaron en saqueos, [147] Trump tuiteó el 25 de mayo que "cuando comienzan los saqueos, comienzan los disparos". No mucho después, Twitter restringió el tuit por violar la política de la empresa sobre la promoción de la violencia. [148] El 28 de mayo, Trump firmó una orden ejecutiva que buscaba limitar las protecciones legales de las empresas de redes sociales. [149]
El 8 de enero de 2021, Twitter anunció que había suspendido permanentemente la cuenta personal de Trump "debido al riesgo de una mayor incitación a la violencia" tras el ataque al Capitolio . [150] Trump anunció en su último tuit antes de la suspensión que no asistiría a la toma de posesión de Joe Biden . [151] Otras plataformas de redes sociales como Facebook , Snapchat , YouTube y otras también suspendieron los perfiles oficiales de Donald Trump. [152] [153]
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Debido a los aranceles comerciales de Trump combinados con precios deprimidos de las materias primas, los agricultores estadounidenses enfrentaron la peor crisis en décadas. [154] Trump proporcionó a los agricultores $ 12 mil millones en pagos directos en julio de 2018 para mitigar los impactos negativos de sus aranceles, aumentando los pagos en $ 14.5 mil millones en mayo de 2019 después de que las conversaciones comerciales con China terminaran sin acuerdo. [155] La mayor parte de la ayuda de la administración se destinó a las granjas más grandes. [156] Politico informó en mayo de 2019 que algunos economistas del Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos estaban siendo castigados por presentar análisis que mostraban que los agricultores estaban siendo perjudicados por las políticas comerciales e impositivas de Trump, y seis economistas con más de 50 años de experiencia combinada en el Servicio renunciaron el mismo día. [157] El presupuesto fiscal 2020 de Trump propuso un recorte del 15% de la financiación para el Departamento de Agricultura, calificando los subsidios agrícolas de "demasiado generosos". [154]
La administración revocó una norma de la Oficina de Protección Financiera del Consumidor (CFPB) que había facilitado a los consumidores afectados presentar demandas colectivas contra los bancos; Associated Press calificó la revocación como una victoria para los bancos de Wall Street. [158] Bajo el mandato de Mick Mulvaney , la CFPB redujo la aplicación de las normas que protegían a los consumidores de los prestamistas depredadores de día de pago . [159] [160] Trump descartó una norma propuesta por la administración Obama que exigía a las aerolíneas que revelaran las tarifas de equipaje. [161] Trump redujo la aplicación de las regulaciones contra las aerolíneas; las multas impuestas por la administración en 2017 fueron menos de la mitad de lo que hizo la administración Obama el año anterior. [162]
El New York Times resumió el "enfoque general de la administración Trump para la aplicación de la ley" como "tomar medidas enérgicas contra el crimen violento", "no regular los departamentos de policía que lo combaten" y revisar "los programas que la administración Obama utilizó para aliviar las tensiones entre las comunidades y la policía". [163] Trump revocó la prohibición de proporcionar equipo militar federal a los departamentos de policía locales [164] y restableció el uso de la confiscación de activos civiles . [165] La administración declaró que ya no investigaría a los departamentos de policía ni publicaría sus deficiencias en los informes, una política promulgada previamente bajo la administración Obama. Más tarde, Trump afirmó falsamente que la administración Obama nunca intentó reformar la policía. [166] [167]
En diciembre de 2017, Sessions y el Departamento de Justicia anularon una directriz de 2016 que aconsejaba a los tribunales no imponer multas y honorarios elevados a los acusados pobres. [168]
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A pesar de la retórica pro-policía de Trump, su plan presupuestario de 2019 propuso recortes de casi el cincuenta por ciento al Programa de Contratación de COPS , que proporciona fondos a las agencias policiales estatales y locales para ayudar a contratar agentes de policía comunitarios. [169] Trump pareció defender la brutalidad policial en un discurso de julio de 2017 a los agentes de policía, lo que provocó críticas de las agencias policiales. [170] En 2020, el Inspector General del Departamento de Justicia criticó a la administración Trump por reducir la supervisión policial y erosionar la confianza pública en la aplicación de la ley. [171]
En diciembre de 2018, Trump firmó la Ley del Primer Paso , un proyecto de ley bipartidista de reforma de la justicia penal que buscaba rehabilitar a los presos y reducir la reincidencia, en particular ampliando los programas de capacitación laboral y liberación temprana, y reduciendo las sentencias mínimas obligatorias para los delincuentes no violentos relacionados con las drogas. [172]
El número de procesamientos de traficantes sexuales de menores ha mostrado una tendencia decreciente bajo la administración Trump en relación con el segundo mandato de la administración Obama. [173] [174] Bajo la administración Trump, la SEC presentó la menor cantidad de casos de tráfico de información privilegiada desde la administración Reagan. [175]
Durante su presidencia, Trump indultó o conmutó las sentencias de 237 personas. [176] La mayoría de los indultados tenían conexiones personales o políticas con Trump. [177] Un número significativo había sido condenado por fraude o corrupción pública. [178] Trump eludió el proceso típico de clemencia, no tomando ninguna medida sobre más de diez mil solicitudes pendientes, utilizando el poder de indulto principalmente en "figuras públicas cuyos casos resonaron con él dadas sus propias quejas con los investigadores". [179]
En mayo de 2017, en una desviación de la política del Departamento de Justicia bajo Obama de reducir las largas sentencias de cárcel por delitos menores de drogas y en contra de un creciente consenso bipartidista, la administración ordenó a los fiscales federales que buscaran la sentencia máxima para los delitos de drogas . [180] En una medida de enero de 2018 que creó incertidumbre con respecto a la legalidad de la marihuana recreativa y medicinal, Sessions rescindió una política federal que había prohibido a los funcionarios encargados de hacer cumplir la ley federal aplicar agresivamente la ley federal de cannabis en los estados donde la droga es legal. [181] La decisión de la administración contradijo la declaración del entonces candidato Trump de que la legalización de la marihuana debería ser "dependiente de los estados". [182] Ese mismo mes, el VA dijo que no investigaría el cannabis como un posible tratamiento contra el TEPT y el dolor crónico; las organizaciones de veteranos habían presionado para que se realizara un estudio de este tipo. [183] En diciembre de 2018, Trump firmó la Ley de Mejora de la Agricultura de 2018 , que incluía la desclasificación de ciertos productos de cannabis, lo que llevó a un aumento del Delta-8 legal , una medida que se asemejaba a la legalización. [184]
Entre julio de 2020 [185] y el final del mandato de Trump, el gobierno federal ejecutó a trece personas; las primeras ejecuciones desde 2002. [186] En este período, Trump supervisó más ejecuciones federales que cualquier presidente en los 120 años anteriores. [186]
Tres huracanes azotaron Estados Unidos en agosto y septiembre de 2017: Harvey en el sureste de Texas, Irma en la costa del Golfo de Florida y María en Puerto Rico. Trump firmó una ley de 15 mil millones de dólares en ayuda para Harvey e Irma, y luego 18.67 mil millones de dólares para los tres. [187] La administración fue criticada por su respuesta tardía a la crisis humanitaria en Puerto Rico. [188] Los políticos de ambos partidos habían pedido ayuda inmediata para Puerto Rico y criticaron a Trump por centrarse en una disputa con la Liga Nacional de Fútbol . [189] Trump no hizo comentarios sobre Puerto Rico durante varios días mientras se desarrollaba la crisis. [190] Según The Washington Post , la Casa Blanca no sintió una sensación de urgencia hasta que "las imágenes de la destrucción total y la desesperación, y las críticas a la respuesta de la administración, comenzaron a aparecer en la televisión". [191] Trump desestimó las críticas y dijo que la distribución de los suministros necesarios estaba "yendo bien". El Washington Post señaló que "en el terreno en Puerto Rico, nada podría estar más lejos de la verdad". [191] Trump también criticó a los funcionarios de Puerto Rico. [192] Un análisis de BMJ concluyó que el gobierno federal respondió mucho más rápidamente y en mayor escala al huracán en Texas y Florida que en Puerto Rico, a pesar de que el huracán en Puerto Rico fue más severo. [187] Una investigación del Inspector General de HUD de 2021 concluyó que la administración Trump erigió obstáculos burocráticos que paralizaron aproximadamente $20 mil millones en ayuda por el huracán para Puerto Rico. [193]
En el momento de la salida de FEMA de Puerto Rico, un tercio de los residentes de Puerto Rico todavía carecían de electricidad y algunos lugares carecían de agua corriente. [194] Un estudio del New England Journal of Medicine estimó que el número de muertes relacionadas con huracanes durante el período del 20 de septiembre al 31 de diciembre de 2017 fue de alrededor de 4600 (rango 793-8498) [195] La tasa de mortalidad oficial debido a María informada por el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico es de 2975; la cifra se basó en una investigación independiente de la Universidad George Washington encargada por el gobernador de Puerto Rico. [196] Trump afirmó falsamente que la tasa de mortalidad oficial estaba equivocada y dijo que los demócratas estaban tratando de hacerlo "verse lo peor posible". [197]
Trump culpó engañosamente de los destructivos incendios forestales de 2018 en California a la "mala" y "grave" gestión de los bosques por parte de California, diciendo que no había otra razón para estos incendios forestales. Los incendios en cuestión no eran "incendios forestales"; la mayor parte del bosque era propiedad de agencias federales; y el cambio climático contribuyó en parte a los incendios. [198]
En septiembre de 2020, los peores incendios forestales de la historia de California llevaron a Trump a visitar el estado. En una reunión informativa con funcionarios estatales, Trump dijo que era necesaria la asistencia federal y volvió a afirmar sin fundamento que la falta de forestación , no el cambio climático, es la causa subyacente de los incendios. [199]
Las políticas económicas de Trump se han centrado en la reducción de impuestos, la desregulación y el proteccionismo comercial. Trump se mantuvo o intensificó las posiciones tradicionales de política económica republicana que beneficiaban a los intereses corporativos o a los ricos, con la excepción de sus políticas proteccionistas comerciales. [205] El gasto deficitario , combinado con recortes de impuestos para los ricos, provocó que la deuda nacional de Estados Unidos aumentara drásticamente. [206] [207] [208] [209]
Una de las primeras acciones de Trump fue suspender indefinidamente un recorte en las tasas de las hipotecas aseguradas por el gobierno federal implementado por la administración Obama, que les ahorraba a las personas con puntajes de crédito más bajos alrededor de $500 por año en un préstamo típico. [210] Al asumir el cargo, Trump detuvo las negociaciones comerciales con la Unión Europea sobre la Asociación Transatlántica de Comercio e Inversión , que había estado en marcha desde 2013. [211]
La administración propuso cambios al Programa de Asistencia Nutricional Suplementaria (cupones de alimentos), que de implementarse harían que millones de personas perdieran el acceso a los cupones de alimentos y limitarían la cantidad de beneficios para los beneficiarios restantes. [212]
Durante su mandato, Trump buscó repetidamente intervenir en la economía para afectar a empresas e industrias específicas. [213] Trump trató de obligar a los operadores de la red eléctrica a comprar carbón y energía nuclear, y buscó aranceles a los metales para proteger a los productores nacionales de metales. [213] Trump también atacó públicamente a Boeing y Lockheed Martin , haciendo caer sus acciones. [214] Trump criticó repetidamente a Amazon y abogó por medidas que dañarían a la empresa, como poner fin a un acuerdo entre Amazon y el Servicio Postal de los Estados Unidos (USPS) y aumentar los impuestos a Amazon. [215] [216] Trump expresó su oposición a la fusión entre Time Warner (la empresa matriz de CNN) y AT&T . [217]
La campaña de Trump se basó en una política de reducción del déficit comercial de Estados Unidos, en particular con China. [218] El déficit comercial general aumentó durante la presidencia de Trump. [219] El déficit de bienes con China alcanzó un máximo histórico por segundo año consecutivo en 2018. [220]
Un estudio de 2021, que utilizó el método de control sintético , no encontró evidencia de que Trump haya tenido un impacto en la economía estadounidense durante su mandato. [221] Un análisis realizado por Bloomberg News al final del segundo año de mandato de Trump encontró que su economía ocupó el sexto lugar entre los últimos siete presidentes, según catorce métricas de actividad económica y desempeño financiero. [222] Trump caracterizó repetida y falsamente a la economía durante su presidencia como la mejor en la historia de Estados Unidos. [223]
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En febrero de 2020, en medio de la pandemia de COVID-19 , Estados Unidos entró en recesión . [224] [225]
En septiembre de 2017, Trump propuso la reforma fiscal federal más radical en muchos años. [226] Trump firmó la legislación fiscal el 22 de diciembre de 2017, después de que fuera aprobada por el Congreso en votaciones partidarias. [227] [228] [229] El proyecto de ley fiscal fue la primera legislación importante firmada por Trump. [230] El proyecto de ley de 1,5 billones de dólares redujo la tasa impositiva federal corporativa del 35% al 21%, [228] su punto más bajo desde 1939. [229] El proyecto de ley también redujo la tasa impositiva individual, reduciendo la tasa máxima del 39,6% al 37%, aunque estos recortes de impuestos individuales expiran después de 2025; [228] como resultado, "para 2027, cada grupo de ingresos que gane menos de $75,000 vería un aumento impositivo neto". [230] El proyecto de ley duplicó la exención del impuesto al patrimonio (a $22 millones para parejas casadas); y permitió a los propietarios de empresas de transferencia deducir el 20% de los ingresos comerciales. [228] El proyecto de ley duplicó la deducción estándar al tiempo que eliminó muchas deducciones detalladas , [230] incluida la deducción por impuestos estatales y locales. [228] El proyecto de ley también repitió el mandato de seguro médico individual contenido en la Ley de Atención Médica Asequible . [230]
Según The New York Times , el plan resultaría en una "enorme ganancia inesperada" para los muy ricos, pero no beneficiaría a los que están en el tercio inferior de la distribución del ingreso. [226] El Centro de Política Fiscal no partidista estimó que el 0,1% y el 1% más ricos serían los que más se beneficiarían en cantidades brutas en dólares y en términos porcentuales del plan fiscal, ganando un 10,2% y un 8,5% más de ingresos después de impuestos respectivamente. [231] Los hogares de clase media ganarían en promedio un 1,2% más después de impuestos, pero el 13,5% de los hogares de clase media verían aumentar su carga fiscal. [231] El quinto más pobre de los estadounidenses ganaría un 0,5% más. [231] El secretario del Tesoro, Steven Mnuchin, argumentó que el recorte del impuesto sobre la renta corporativa beneficiaría más a los trabajadores, mientras que el Comité Conjunto sobre Tributación no partidista , la Oficina de Presupuesto del Congreso y muchos economistas estimaron que los propietarios de capital se beneficiarían mucho más que los trabajadores. [232] Una estimación preliminar del Comité para un Presupuesto Federal Responsable concluyó que el plan fiscal añadiría más de 2 billones de dólares a la deuda federal en la próxima década, [233] mientras que el Centro de Política Fiscal concluyó que añadiría 2,4 billones de dólares a la deuda. [231] Un análisis del Servicio de Investigación del Congreso de 2019 concluyó que los recortes de impuestos tuvieron un efecto de crecimiento "relativamente pequeño (si es que hubo alguno) en el primer año" sobre la economía. [234] Un análisis de 2019 del Comité para un Presupuesto Federal Responsable concluyó que las políticas de Trump añadirán 4,1 billones de dólares a la deuda nacional entre 2017 y 2029. Se prevé que la Ley de Empleos y Reducción de Impuestos de 2017 genere una deuda de alrededor de 1,8 billones de dólares. [235]
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En marzo de 2018, Trump impuso aranceles a los paneles solares y las lavadoras del 30 al 50%. [236] En marzo de 2018, impuso aranceles al acero (25%) y al aluminio (10%) de la mayoría de los países, [237] [238] que cubrían aproximadamente el 4,1% de las importaciones estadounidenses. [239] El 1 de junio de 2018, esto se extendió a la Unión Europea , Canadá y México . [238] En movimientos separados, la administración Trump estableció y aumentó los aranceles a los bienes importados de China , lo que llevó a una guerra comercial . [240] Los aranceles enfurecieron a los socios comerciales, quienes implementaron aranceles de represalia sobre los bienes estadounidenses, [241] y afectaron negativamente el ingreso real y el PIB. [242] Un análisis de la CNBC concluyó que Trump "aplicó aranceles equivalentes a uno de los mayores aumentos de impuestos en décadas", mientras que los análisis de la Tax Foundation y el Tax Policy Center concluyeron que los aranceles podrían acabar con los beneficios de la Ley de Reducción de Impuestos y Empleos de 2017 para muchos hogares. [243] [244] Los dos países llegaron a un acuerdo de tregua de "fase uno" en enero de 2020. La mayor parte de los aranceles se mantuvieron vigentes hasta que se reanudaron las conversaciones después de las elecciones de 2020. Trump proporcionó 28.000 millones de dólares en ayuda en efectivo a los agricultores afectados por la guerra comercial. [245] [246] [247] Los estudios han descubierto que los aranceles también afectaron negativamente a los candidatos republicanos en las elecciones. [248] Un análisis publicado por The Wall Street Journal en octubre de 2020 concluyó que la guerra comercial no logró el objetivo principal de revivir la industria manufacturera estadounidense, ni resultó en la relocalización de la producción fabril. [249]
Tres semanas después de que el senador republicano Chuck Grassley , presidente del Comité de Finanzas del Senado , escribiera un artículo de opinión en el Wall Street Journal en abril de 2019 titulado "Los aranceles de Trump terminan o su acuerdo comercial muere", afirmando que "el Congreso no aprobará el T-MEC mientras los electores paguen el precio de las represalias mexicanas y canadienses", Trump levantó los aranceles al acero y al aluminio en México y Canadá. [250] Dos semanas después, Trump anunció inesperadamente que impondría un arancel del 5% a todas las importaciones de México el 10 de junio, aumentando al 10% el 1 de julio, y en otro 5% cada mes durante tres meses, "hasta que los inmigrantes ilegales que pasan por México y entran a nuestro país, DEJEN DE TRAER". [251] Grassley comentó la medida como un "mal uso de la autoridad arancelaria presidencial y contrario a la intención del Congreso". [252] Ese mismo día, la administración Trump inició formalmente el proceso para buscar la aprobación del Congreso del T-MEC. [253] El principal asesor comercial de Trump, el Representante Comercial de Estados Unidos Robert Lighthizer , se opuso a los nuevos aranceles mexicanos por temor a que pondrían en peligro la aprobación del T-MEC. [254] El secretario del Tesoro Steven Mnuchin y el asesor principal de Trump Jared Kushner también se opusieron a la acción. Grassley, cuyo comité es fundamental para la aprobación del T-MEC, no fue informado con antelación del sorpresivo anuncio de Trump. [255] El 7 de junio, Trump anunció que los aranceles serían "suspendidos indefinidamente" después de que México aceptara tomar medidas, incluido el despliegue de su Guardia Nacional en todo el país y a lo largo de su frontera sur. [256] El New York Times informó al día siguiente que México había aceptado la mayoría de las acciones meses antes. [257]
Como candidato presidencial en 2016, Trump se comprometió a retirarse del Acuerdo Transpacífico , un acuerdo comercial con once naciones de la Cuenca del Pacífico que Estados Unidos había firmado a principios de ese año. China no era parte del acuerdo, que tenía como objetivo permitir a Estados Unidos guiar las relaciones comerciales en la región. Afirmó incorrectamente que el acuerdo era defectuoso porque contenía una "puerta trasera" que permitiría a China ingresar al acuerdo más tarde. Trump anunció la retirada estadounidense del acuerdo días después de asumir el cargo. Tras la retirada estadounidense, los socios restantes lo rebautizaron como Acuerdo Integral y Progresivo para la Asociación Transpacífica . En septiembre de 2021, China solicitó formalmente unirse a ese acuerdo en un esfuerzo por reemplazar a Estados Unidos como su centro; el Global Times, administrado por el estado chino , dijo que la medida "consolidaría el liderazgo del país en el comercio global" y dejaría a Estados Unidos "cada vez más aislado". [258] [259]
Trump nombró a Betsy DeVos como su Secretaria de Educación. Su nominación fue confirmada en una votación de 50-50 en el Senado, y se le pidió al vicepresidente Pence que desempatara el voto (la primera vez que un vicepresidente emitía un voto de desempate en una nominación del Gabinete). [260] Los demócratas se opusieron a DeVos por considerar que no estaba calificada, mientras que los republicanos la apoyaron debido a su fuerte apoyo a la libertad de elección de escuelas . [260]
En 2017, Trump revocó un memorando de la administración Obama que brindaba protección a las personas en mora con los préstamos estudiantiles . [261] El Departamento de Educación de los Estados Unidos canceló los acuerdos con la Oficina de Protección Financiera del Consumidor (CFPB) para vigilar el fraude en los préstamos estudiantiles. [262] La administración rescindió una regulación que restringía la financiación federal a las universidades con fines de lucro que no pudieran demostrar que los graduados universitarios tenían una relación deuda-ingresos razonable después de ingresar al mercado laboral. [263] Seth Frotman, el defensor del pueblo de préstamos estudiantiles de la CFPB, renunció, acusando a la administración Trump de socavar el trabajo de la CFPB para proteger a los prestatarios estudiantiles. [264] DeVos marginó a una unidad de investigación dentro del Departamento de Educación que, bajo el mandato de Obama, investigó las actividades depredadoras de las universidades con fines de lucro. Una investigación iniciada durante el gobierno de Obama sobre las prácticas de DeVry Education Group , que opera universidades con fines de lucro, se detuvo a principios de 2017, y el ex decano de DeVry fue nombrado supervisor de la unidad de investigación más tarde ese verano. DeVry pagó una multa de 100 millones de dólares en 2016 por estafar a los estudiantes. [265]
En 2017, la administración revirtió una directriz de la administración Obama sobre cómo las escuelas y universidades deberían combatir el acoso sexual y la violencia sexual . [266] [267]
En vísperas de las elecciones intermedias de 2018, Politico calificó de “inconstantes” los esfuerzos de la administración Trump para combatir la propaganda electoral. Al mismo tiempo, las agencias de inteligencia estadounidenses advirtieron sobre “campañas en curso” de Rusia, China e Irán para influir en las elecciones estadounidenses. [268]
El " Plan de Energía América Primero " de la administración no mencionó la energía renovable y en su lugar se centró en los combustibles fósiles . [269] La administración promulgó aranceles del 30% sobre los paneles solares importados . La industria de energía solar estadounidense depende en gran medida de piezas extranjeras (el 80% de las piezas se fabrican en el extranjero); como resultado, los aranceles podrían aumentar los costos de la energía solar , reducir la innovación y reducir los empleos en la industria, que en 2017 empleó casi cuatro veces más trabajadores estadounidenses que la industria del carbón. [270] [271] La administración revirtió las normas establecidas para hacer que las bombillas de uso común sean más eficientes energéticamente. [272]
Trump anuló una norma que requería que las empresas de petróleo, gas y minería revelaran cuánto pagaban a los gobiernos extranjeros, [273] y se retiró de la Iniciativa Internacional para la Transparencia de las Industrias Extractivas (EITI) que requería la divulgación de los pagos de las empresas de petróleo, gas y minería a los gobiernos. [274]
En 2017, Trump ordenó la revocación de una prohibición de la era Obama sobre nuevas concesiones de petróleo y gas en el Océano Ártico y áreas ambientalmente sensibles de la costa del Atlántico Norte , en la Plataforma Continental Exterior . [275] La orden de Trump fue detenida por un tribunal federal, que dictaminó en 2019 que excedía ilegalmente su autoridad. [275] Trump también revocó la Regla de Control de Pozos de 2016, una regulación de seguridad adoptada después del derrame de petróleo de Deepwater Horizon ; esta acción es objeto de impugnaciones legales por parte de grupos ambientalistas. [276] [277] [278]
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En enero de 2018, la administración destacó a Florida para la exención del plan de perforación en alta mar de la administración. La medida generó controversia porque se produjo después de que el gobernador de Florida, Rick Scott , que estaba considerando postularse al Senado en 2018 , se quejara del plan. La medida planteó cuestiones éticas sobre la apariencia de "favoritismo transaccional" porque Trump posee un complejo turístico costero en Florida y debido al estatus del estado como un " estado clave " crucial en las elecciones presidenciales de 2020. [279] Otros estados buscaron exenciones de perforación en alta mar similares, [280] y se produjeron litigios. [281] [282]
A pesar de la retórica sobre el impulso a la industria del carbón, la capacidad de generación de electricidad a partir de carbón disminuyó más rápido durante la presidencia de Trump que durante cualquier mandato presidencial anterior, cayendo un 15% con la paralización de 145 unidades de combustión de carbón en 75 centrales eléctricas. Se estima que el 20% de la electricidad se generaría a partir de carbón en 2020, en comparación con el 31% en 2017. [283]
En octubre de 2020, la administración había revocado 72 regulaciones ambientales y estaba en proceso de revertir otras 27. [284] Un estudio de 2018 del American Journal of Public Health encontró que en los primeros seis meses de Trump en el cargo, la Agencia de Protección Ambiental de los Estados Unidos adoptó una actitud pro-empresarial diferente a la de cualquier administración anterior, ya que "se alejó del interés público y favoreció explícitamente los intereses de las industrias reguladas". [285]
Los análisis de los datos de aplicación de la EPA mostraron que la administración Trump presentó menos casos contra los contaminadores, buscó un total menor de sanciones civiles e hizo menos solicitudes a las empresas para modernizar las instalaciones para frenar la contaminación que las administraciones de Obama y Bush. Según The New York Times , "documentos internos confidenciales de la EPA muestran que la desaceleración de la aplicación coincide con importantes cambios de política ordenados por el equipo del Sr. Pruitt después de las súplicas de los ejecutivos de la industria del petróleo y el gas". [286] En 2018, la administración remitió el menor número de casos de contaminación para procesamiento penal en 30 años. [287] Dos años después de la presidencia de Trump, The New York Times escribió que había "desatado un retroceso regulatorio, presionado y aplaudido por la industria, con poco paralelo en el último medio siglo". [288] En junio de 2018, David Cutler y Francesca Dominici de la Universidad de Harvard estimaron de manera conservadora que las modificaciones de la administración Trump a las normas ambientales podrían resultar en más de 80.000 muertes adicionales en Estados Unidos y enfermedades respiratorias generalizadas. [289] En agosto de 2018, el propio análisis de la administración mostró que la flexibilización de las normas sobre las plantas de carbón podría causar hasta 1.400 muertes prematuras y 15.000 nuevos casos de problemas respiratorios. [290] Entre 2016 y 2018, la contaminación del aire aumentó un 5,5%, revirtiendo una tendencia de siete años en la que la contaminación del aire había disminuido un 25%. [291]
Todas las referencias al cambio climático fueron eliminadas del sitio web de la Casa Blanca, con la única excepción de mencionar la intención de Trump de eliminar las políticas de cambio climático de la administración Obama . [292] La EPA eliminó el material sobre el cambio climático de su sitio web, incluidos datos climáticos detallados . [293] En junio de 2017, Trump anunció la retirada de Estados Unidos del Acuerdo de París , un acuerdo sobre el cambio climático de 2015 alcanzado por 200 naciones para reducir las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero . [294] En diciembre de 2017, Trump, que había calificado repetidamente el consenso científico sobre el clima como un "engaño" antes de convertirse en presidente, insinuó falsamente que el clima frío significaba que el cambio climático no estaba ocurriendo. [295] A través de una orden ejecutiva, Trump revirtió múltiples políticas de la administración Obama destinadas a abordar el cambio climático, como una moratoria sobre el arrendamiento federal de carbón, el Plan de Acción Climática Presidencial y la orientación para las agencias federales sobre cómo tener en cuenta el cambio climático durante las revisiones de acciones de la Ley de Política Ambiental Nacional . Trump también ordenó revisiones y posiblemente modificaciones a varias directivas, como el Plan de Energía Limpia (CPP), la estimación del " costo social de las emisiones de carbono", los estándares de emisión de dióxido de carbono para nuevas plantas de carbón , los estándares de emisiones de metano de la extracción de petróleo y gas natural , así como cualquier regulación que inhiba la producción energética nacional. [296] La administración revocó las regulaciones que requerían que el gobierno federal tuviera en cuenta el cambio climático y el aumento del nivel del mar al construir infraestructura. [297] La EPA disolvió un panel de 20 expertos sobre contaminación que asesoraba a la EPA sobre los niveles de umbral apropiados para establecer para los estándares de calidad del aire. [298]
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La administración ha buscado repetidamente reducir el presupuesto de la EPA. [299] La administración invalidó la Regla de Protección de Arroyos , que limitaba el vertido de aguas residuales tóxicas que contenían metales, como arsénico y mercurio, en vías fluviales públicas, [300] regulaciones sobre cenizas de carbón (residuos cancerígenos sobrantes producidos por plantas de carbón), [301] y una orden ejecutiva de la era Obama sobre protecciones para océanos, costas y lagos promulgada en respuesta al derrame de petróleo de Deepwater Horizon . [302] La administración se negó a actuar sobre las recomendaciones de los científicos de la EPA que instan a una mayor regulación de la contaminación por partículas . [303]
La administración revocó importantes protecciones de la Ley de Agua Limpia , restringiendo la definición de las " aguas de los Estados Unidos " bajo protección federal. [304] Los estudios de la EPA de la era Obama sugieren que hasta dos tercios de los arroyos de agua dulce interiores de California perderían protecciones bajo el cambio de regla. [305] La EPA buscó derogar una regulación que requería que las compañías de petróleo y gas restringieran las emisiones de metano , un potente gas de efecto invernadero . [306] La EPA revocó los estándares de eficiencia de combustible de automóviles introducidos en 2012. [307] La EPA otorgó un vacío legal que permite a un pequeño grupo de compañías de camiones eludir las reglas de emisiones y producir camiones planeadores que emiten entre 40 y 55 veces más contaminantes del aire que otros camiones nuevos. [308] La EPA rechazó una prohibición del pesticida tóxico clorpirifos ; un tribunal federal luego ordenó a la EPA prohibir el clorpirifos, porque la propia investigación extensa de la EPA mostró que causaba efectos adversos para la salud en los niños. [288] La administración redujo la prohibición del uso del solvente cloruro de metileno , [309] y levantó una norma que requería que las grandes granjas informaran sobre la contaminación emitida por los desechos animales. [310]
La administración suspendió la financiación de varios estudios de investigación medioambiental , [311] [312] un programa multimillonario que distribuía subvenciones para la investigación de los efectos de la exposición a sustancias químicas en los niños [313] [314] y una línea de investigación de 10 millones de dólares al año para el Sistema de Monitoreo de Carbono de la NASA . [315] incluido un intento fallido de eliminar aspectos del programa de ciencia climática de la NASA . [315]
La EPA aceleró el proceso de aprobación de nuevos productos químicos e hizo menos estricto el proceso de evaluación de la seguridad de esos productos; los científicos de la EPA expresaron su preocupación por el hecho de que se estaba comprometiendo la capacidad de la agencia para detener los productos químicos peligrosos. [316] [317] Los correos electrónicos internos mostraron que los ayudantes de Pruitt impidieron la publicación de un estudio de salud que mostraba que algunos productos químicos tóxicos ponen en peligro a los seres humanos en niveles mucho más bajos que los que la EPA había caracterizado previamente como seguros. [318] Uno de esos productos químicos estaba presente en grandes cantidades alrededor de varias bases militares, incluidas las aguas subterráneas. [318] La no divulgación del estudio y la demora en el conocimiento público de los hallazgos pueden haber impedido que el gobierno actualizara la infraestructura en las bases y a las personas que vivían cerca de las bases para evitar el agua del grifo. [318]
La administración debilitó la aplicación de la Ley de Especies en Peligro de Extinción , facilitando el inicio de proyectos de minería, perforación y construcción en áreas con especies en peligro de extinción y amenazadas. [319] [320] La administración ha desalentado activamente a los gobiernos locales y a las empresas a emprender esfuerzos de preservación. [320]
La administración redujo drásticamente el tamaño de dos monumentos nacionales en Utah en aproximadamente dos millones de acres, lo que la convirtió en la mayor reducción de protecciones de tierras públicas en la historia de Estados Unidos. [321] Poco después, el secretario del Interior Ryan Zinke abogó por reducir el tamaño de cuatro monumentos nacionales adicionales y cambiar la forma en que se gestionaban seis monumentos adicionales. [322] En 2019, la administración aceleró el proceso de revisiones ambientales para la perforación de petróleo y gas en el Ártico; los expertos dijeron que la aceleración hizo que las revisiones fueran menos completas y confiables. [323] Según Politico , la administración aceleró el proceso en caso de que se eligiera una administración demócrata en 2020, lo que habría detenido nuevos arrendamientos de petróleo y gas en el Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre del Ártico . [323] La administración buscó abrir más de 180.000 acres del Bosque Nacional Tongass en Alaska, el más grande del país, para la tala. [324]
En abril de 2018, Pruitt anunció un cambio de política que prohíbe a los reguladores de la EPA considerar la investigación científica a menos que los datos brutos de la investigación se hagan públicos. Esto limitaría el uso por parte de los reguladores de la EPA de gran parte de la investigación ambiental, dado que los participantes en muchos de esos estudios proporcionan información sanitaria personal que se mantiene confidencial. [325] La EPA citó dos informes bipartidistas y varios estudios no partidistas sobre el uso de la ciencia en el gobierno para defender la decisión. Sin embargo, los autores de esos informes descartaron que la EPA siguiera sus instrucciones, y un autor dijo: "No adoptan ninguna de nuestras recomendaciones y van en una dirección opuesta, completamente diferente. No adoptan ninguna de las recomendaciones de ninguna de las fuentes que citan". [326]
En julio de 2020, Trump intentó debilitar la Ley Nacional de Política Ambiental al limitar la revisión pública para acelerar la concesión de permisos. [327] En agosto de 2020, Trump firmó la Ley Great American Outdoors para financiar completamente el Fondo de Conservación de Tierras y Aguas . Tenía la intención de oponerse al proyecto de ley y vaciar el fondo hasta que los senadores republicanos, temerosos de perder sus candidaturas a la reelección, y la mayoría del Senado cambiaran de opinión. [328] [329]
La administración impuso muchas menos sanciones financieras contra los bancos y las grandes empresas acusadas de malas prácticas que la administración Obama. [330]
En las primeras seis semanas de su mandato, Trump suspendió –o en algunos casos, revocó– más de 90 regulaciones. [331] A principios de 2017, Trump firmó una orden ejecutiva que ordenaba a las agencias federales recortar dos regulaciones existentes por cada nueva (sin aumentar el gasto en regulaciones). [332] Una revisión de Bloomberg BNA de septiembre de 2017 encontró que debido a la redacción poco clara de la orden y la gran proporción de regulaciones que exime, la orden había tenido poco efecto desde que se firmó. [333] La OMB de Trump publicó un análisis en febrero de 2018 que indicaba que los beneficios económicos de las regulaciones superan significativamente los costos económicos. [334] La administración ordenó que se eliminara un tercio de los comités asesores gubernamentales para las agencias federales, excepto los comités que evalúan la seguridad de los productos de consumo o los comités que aprueban las subvenciones de investigación. [335]
Trump ordenó una congelación de las contrataciones de personal civil en todo el gobierno durante cuatro meses al comienzo de su mandato (excluyendo al personal militar, de seguridad nacional, de seguridad pública y a las oficinas de los nuevos designados presidenciales). [336] Dijo que no tenía intención de cubrir muchos de los puestos gubernamentales que todavía estaban vacantes, ya que los consideraba innecesarios; [337] había casi 2.000 puestos gubernamentales vacantes. [338]
La administración puso fin al requisito de que las organizaciones sin fines de lucro, incluidos los grupos de defensa política que recaudan el llamado dinero oscuro , revelen los nombres de los grandes donantes al IRS ; el Senado votó para revocar el cambio de regla de la administración. [339]
La administración prohibió los bump stocks después de que dichos dispositivos fueran utilizados por el pistolero que perpetró el tiroteo de Las Vegas de 2017. [ 340] A raíz de varios tiroteos masivos durante la administración Trump, incluidos los tiroteos de agosto de 2019 en El Paso, Texas , y Dayton, Ohio , Trump pidió a los estados que implementaran leyes de bandera roja para retirar las armas de "aquellos que se considere que representan un grave riesgo para la seguridad pública". [341] En noviembre de 2019, abandonó la idea de las leyes de bandera roja. [342] Trump derogó una regulación que prohibía la posesión de armas a aproximadamente 75.000 personas que recibieron cheques de la Seguridad Social debido a enfermedades mentales y que se consideraban no aptas para manejar sus asuntos financieros. [343] La administración puso fin a la participación de Estados Unidos en el Tratado sobre el Comercio de Armas de la ONU para frenar el comercio internacional de armas convencionales con países que tienen malos antecedentes en materia de derechos humanos. [344]
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La Ley de Atención Médica Asequible de 2010 (también conocida como "Obamacare" o ACA) provocó una importante oposición del Partido Republicano desde su inicio, y Trump pidió la derogación de la ley durante la campaña electoral de 2016. [346] Al asumir el cargo, Trump prometió aprobar un proyecto de ley de atención médica que cubriría a todos y daría como resultado un seguro mejor y menos costoso. [347] [42] A lo largo de su presidencia, Trump afirmó repetidamente que su administración y los republicanos en el Congreso apoyaban las protecciones para las personas con condiciones preexistentes; sin embargo, los verificadores de hechos notaron que la administración apoyó los intentos tanto en el Congreso como en los tribunales de revertir la ACA (y sus protecciones para las condiciones preexistentes ). [348] [349] [350] [351]
Los republicanos del Congreso hicieron dos esfuerzos serios para derogar la ACA. Primero, en marzo de 2017, Trump respaldó la Ley de Atención Médica Estadounidense (AHCA) , un proyecto de ley republicano para derogar y reemplazar la ACA. [352] La oposición de varios republicanos de la Cámara, tanto moderados como conservadores, llevó a la derrota de esta versión del proyecto de ley. [352] En segundo lugar, en mayo de 2017, la Cámara votó por un estrecho margen a favor de una nueva versión de la AHCA para derogar la ACA, enviando el proyecto de ley al Senado para su deliberación. [352] Durante las siguientes semanas, el Senado hizo varios intentos de crear un proyecto de ley de derogación; sin embargo, todas las propuestas fueron finalmente rechazadas en una serie de votaciones del Senado a fines de julio. [352] El mandato individual fue derogado en diciembre de 2017 por la Ley de Reducción de Impuestos y Empleos . En mayo de 2018, la Oficina de Presupuesto del Congreso estimó que la derogación del mandato individual aumentaría el número de personas sin seguro en ocho millones y que las primas de seguro de salud individuales habían aumentado un diez por ciento entre 2017 y 2018. [353] Posteriormente, la administración se puso del lado de una demanda para revocar la ACA, incluidas las protecciones para las personas con condiciones preexistentes. [354]
Trump repeatedly expressed a desire to "let Obamacare fail",[355] and the Trump administration undermined Obamacare through various actions.[356] The open enrollment period was cut from twelve weeks to six, the advertising budget for enrollment was cut by 90%, and organizations helping people shop for coverage got 39% less money.[357][358][359] The CBO found that ACA enrollment at health care exchanges would be lower than its previous forecasts due to the Trump administration's undermining of the ACA.[357] A 2019 study found that enrollment into the ACA during the Trump administration's first year was nearly thirty percent lower than during 2016.[360] The CBO found that insurance premiums would rise sharply in 2018 due to the Trump administration's refusal to commit to continuing paying ACA subsidies, which added uncertainty to the insurance market and led insurers to raise premiums for fear they will not get subsidized.[357]
The administration ended subsidy payments to health insurance companies, in a move expected to raise premiums in 2018 for middle-class families by an average of about twenty percent nationwide and cost the federal government nearly $200 billion more than it saved over a ten-year period.[361] The administration made it easier for businesses to use health insurance plans not covered by several of the ACA's protections, including for preexisting conditions,[349] and allowed organizations not to cover birth control.[362] In justifying the action, the administration made false claims about the health harms of contraceptives.[363]
The administration proposed substantial spending cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security Disability Insurance. Trump had previously vowed to protect Medicare and Medicaid.[364][365] The administration reduced enforcement of penalties against nursing homes that harm residents.[366] As a candidate and throughout his presidency, Trump said he would cut the costs of pharmaceuticals. During his first seven months in office, there were 96 price hikes for every drug price cut.[367] Abandoning a promise he made as candidate, Trump announced he would not allow Medicare to use its bargaining power to negotiate lower drug prices.[368]
Trump reinstated the Mexico City policy, also known as the global gag rule, prohibiting funding to foreign non-governmental organizations that perform abortions as a method of family planning in other countries.[369] The administration implemented a policy restricting taxpayer dollars given to family planning facilities that mention abortion to patients, provide abortion referrals, or share space with abortion providers.[370][371] As a result, Planned Parenthood, which provides Title X birth control services to 1.5 million women, withdrew from the program.[372] Throughout his presidency, Trump pressed for a ban on late-term abortions and made frequent false claims about them.[373][374][375]
In 2018, the administration prohibited scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from acquiring new fetal tissue for research,[376] and a year later stopped all medical research by government scientists that used fetal tissue.[377]
The administration geared HHS funding towards abstinence education programs for teens rather than the comprehensive sexual education programs the Obama administration funded.[378]
Trump's Supreme Court nominees, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Trump took credit for the decision, which threw abortion rights back to the states.[379]
Trump nominated Tom Marino to become the nation's drug czar but the nomination was withdrawn after an investigation found he had been the chief architect of a bill that crippled the enforcement powers of the Drug Enforcement Administration and worsened the opioid crisis.[380]
Kellyanne Conway led White House efforts to combat the opioid epidemic; Conway had no experience or expertise on matters of public health, substance abuse, or law enforcement.[381] Conway sidelined drug experts and opted instead for the use of political staff. Politico wrote in 2018 that the administration's "main response" to the opioid crisis "so far has been to call for a border wall and to promise a 'just say no' campaign".[381]
In October 2017, the administration declared a 90-day public health emergency over the opioid epidemic and pledged to urgently mobilize the federal government in response to the crisis. On January 11, 2018, twelve days before the declaration ran out, Politico noted that "beyond drawing more attention to the crisis, virtually nothing of consequence has been done."[382] The administration had not proposed any new resources or spending, had not started the promised advertising campaign to spread awareness about addiction, and had yet to fill key public health and drug positions in the administration.[382] One of the top officials at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which is tasked with multi-billion-dollar anti-drug initiatives and curbing the opioid epidemic, was a 24-year old campaign staffer from the Trump 2016 campaign who lied on his CV and whose stepfather went to jail for manufacturing illegal drugs; after the administration was contacted about the official's qualifications and CV, the administration gave him a job with different tasks.[383]
In 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration reorganized the Global Health Security and Biodefense unit at the NSC by merging it with other related units.[384] Two months prior to the outbreak in Wuhan China, the Trump Administration had cut nearly $200 million in funding to Chinese research scientists studying animal coronaviruses.[385] Throughout his presidency he also proposed budget cuts to global health.[386] The Trump administration ignored detailed plans on how to mass-produce protective respirator masks under a program that had been launched by the Obama administration to alleviate a mask shortage for a future pandemic.[387]
From January to mid-March 2020, Trump consistently downplayed the threat posed by COVID-19 to the United States, giving many optimistic public statements.[388] He accused Democrats and media outlets of exaggerating the seriousness of the situation, describing Democrats' criticism of his administration's response as a "hoax".[389][390] By March 2020, however, Trump had adopted a more somber tone on the matter, acknowledging for the first time that COVID-19 was "not under control".[391][392] Although the CDC recommended people wear face masks in public when social distancing is not possible, Trump continually refused to wear one.[393] He praised and encouraged protesters who violated stay-at-home orders in Democratic states, as well as praised Republican governors who violated the White House's own COVID-19 guidelines regarding re-opening their economies.[394][395]
The White House Coronavirus Task Force was led by Vice President Mike Pence, Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah Birx, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.[396] Congress appropriated $8.3 billion in emergency funding, which Trump signed into law on March 6.[397] During his oval office address on March 11, Trump announced an imminent travel ban between Europe and the U.S. The announcement caused chaos in European and American airports, as Americans abroad scrambled to get flights back to the U.S. The administration later had to clarify that the travel ban applied to foreigners coming from the Schengen Area, and later added Ireland and the UK to the list.[398][399] Previously, in late January 2020, the administration banned travel to the U.S. from China; prior to the decision, major U.S. carriers had already announced that they would no longer fly to and from China.[400] On March 13, Trump designated COVID-19 pandemic as a national emergency, as the number of known cases of COVID-19 in the country exceeded 1,500, while known deaths exceeded 40.[401]
Although the U.S. government was initially quick to develop a diagnostic test for COVID-19, U.S. COVID-19 testing efforts from mid-January to late-February lost pace compared to the rest of the world.[402] ABC News described the testing as "shockingly slow".[403] When the WHO distributed 1.4 million COVID-19 tests in February, the U.S. chose instead to use its own tests. At that time, the CDC had produced 160,000 COVID-19 tests, but many were defective. As a result, fewer than 4,000 tests were done in the U.S. by February 27, with U.S. state laboratories conducting only about 200. In this period, academic laboratories and hospitals had developed their own tests, but were not allowed to use them until February 29, when the Food and Drug Administration issued approvals for them and private companies.[404] A comprehensive New York Times investigation concluded that "technical flaws, regulatory hurdles, business-as-usual bureaucracies and lack of leadership at multiple levels" contributed to the testing failures.[405] An Associated Press investigation found the administration made its first bulk orders for vital health care equipment, such as N95 respirator masks and ventilators, in mid-March.[406]
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On March 26, the U.S. became the country with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 infections, with over 82,000 cases.[407] On April 11, the U.S. became the country with the highest official death toll for COVID-19, with over 20,000 deaths.[408] The HHS Inspector General released a report in April of its survey of 323 hospitals in late March; reporting severe shortages of test supplies and extended waits for results, widespread shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), and other strained resources due to extended patient stays while awaiting test results.[409][410] Trump called the IG's report "just wrong", and subsequently Trump replaced the Inspector General.[411]
Following a dramatic economic downturn as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal intervention in providing Governmental aid was heavily lobbied for resulting in the initial signing of a $8 Billion aid package relating to vaccine research and outbreak prevention among states on March 8, 2020[412] and a secondary $192 billion aid package addressing sick leave for workers, expanding unemployment benefits and increased testing resources.[413] A subsequent $2.2 trillion aid package was later proposed and signed into law March 27, 2020, titled the CARES Act which provided forgivable loans for small businesses, increased unemployment benefits, a temporary child tax credit and further aid towards state and local governments in addressing the pandemic. The CARES Act emerged as the largest economic stimulus bill in American history with limited opposition against it; passing unanimously in the Senate and 419–6 in the House.[414][415] An additional $900 Billion would be further dedicated to the pandemic in the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act that was signed into law December 27, 2020, despite initial opposition by Trump following criticism of the individual stimulus payments as too low and of the bill as having wasteful spending.[416][417]
In May 2020, five months into the pandemic, Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the WHO.[418] In July 2020, Trump's Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, formally notified the UN of U.S. decision to withdraw from the WHO, to take effect on July 6, 2021.[419][420] Biden reversed Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO on January 20, 2021, on his first day in office.[419]
On May 15, 2020, Trump announced the public-private partnership Operation Warp Speed to fund and accelerate the development, manufacture and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine with $10 billion in funding (later increased to $18 billion). Some of the first companies to develop COVID-19 vaccines, such as AZD1222, mRNA-1273, and Ad26.COV2-S received funding from this program.[421][422]
In June 2020, amid surges in COVID-19 case numbers, Trump administration officials falsely claimed that the steep rise was due to increased testing; public health experts disputed the administration's claims, noting that the positivity rate of tests was increasing.[423][424]
In October 2020, after a superspreader event at the White House, Trump announced that he and Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19 and would begin quarantining at the White House.[425] Despite having the virus, Trump did not self-isolate and did not abstain from unnecessary risky behaviors. Trump was criticized for leaving his hospital room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to go on a joyride to greet his supporters, thus exposing United States Secret Service agents to the disease.[426]
According to sources in the Biden administration, the Trump administration left no plan for vaccine distribution to the Biden administration, however, Anthony Fauci rejected this, stating that they were "certainly not starting from scratch, because there is activity going on in the distribution," and that the new administration was improving upon existing distribution efforts.[427] In the last quarter of 2020, Trump administration officials lobbied Congress not to provide extra funding to states for vaccine rollout, thus hindering the vaccination rollout. One of those officials, Paul Mango, the deputy chief of staff for policy at the Department of Health and Human Services, claimed that states did not need extra money because they hadn't spent all the previously allocated money for vaccines given by the CDC.[428]
In December 2017, The Economist described the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), led by Carson, as "directionless". Most of the top HUD positions were unfilled and Carson's leadership was "inconspicuous and inscrutable". Of the policies HUD was enacting, The Economist wrote, "it is hard not to conclude that the governing principle at HUD is to take whatever the Obama administration was doing, and do the opposite."[429] HUD scaled back the enforcement of fair housing laws, halted several fair housing investigations started by the Obama administration and removed the words "inclusive" and "free from discrimination" from its mission statement.[430] The administration designated Lynne Patton, an event planner who had worked on the Trump campaign and planned Eric Trump's wedding, to lead HUD's New York and New Jersey office (which oversees billions of federal dollars).[431]
Trump has repeatedly characterized illegal immigrants as criminals, although some studies have found they have lower crime and incarceration rates than native-born Americans.[432] Prior to taking office, Trump promised to deport the estimated eleven million illegal immigrants living in the United States and to build a wall along the Mexico–U.S. border.[433] During his presidency, Trump reduced legal immigration substantially while the illegal immigrant population remained the same.[434] The administration took several steps to limit the rights of legal immigrants, which included attempted revocations of Temporary Protected Status for Central American refugees,[435] 60,000 Haitians (who emigrated following the 2010 Haiti earthquake),[436] and 200,000 Salvadorans (who emigrated following a series of devastating earthquakes in 2001)[437] as well as making it illegal for refugees and asylum seekers,[438] and spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the U.S.[439] A federal judge blocked the administration's attempt to deport the TPS recipients, citing what the judge said was Trump's racial "animus against non-white, non-European immigrants".[440] The administration slashed refugee admissions to record low levels (since the modern program began in 1980).[441] The administration made it harder non-citizens who served in the military to receive necessary paperwork to pursue U.S. citizenship.[442] The administration's key legislative proposal on immigration was the 2017 RAISE Act, a proposal to reduce legal immigration levels to the U.S. by fifty percent by halving the number of green cards issued, capping refugee admissions at 50,000 a year and ending the visa diversity lottery.[443] In 2020, the Trump administration set the lowest cap for refugees in the modern history of the United States for the subsequent year: 15,000 refugees.[444] The administration increased fees for citizen applications, as well as caused delays in the processing of citizen applications.[445]
By February 2018, arrests of undocumented immigrants by ICE increased by forty percent during Trump's tenure. Arrests of noncriminal undocumented immigrants were twice as high as during Obama's final year in office. Arrests of undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions increased only slightly.[446] In 2018, experts noted that the Trump administration's immigration policies had led to an increase in criminality and lawlessness along the U.S.–Mexico border, as asylum seekers prevented by U.S. authorities from filing for asylum had been preyed upon by human smugglers, organized crime and corrupt local law enforcement.[447] To defend administration policies on immigration, the administration fudged data and presented intentionally misleading analyses of the costs associated with refugees (omitting data that showed net positive fiscal effects),[448] as well as created the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement to highlight crimes committed by undocumented immigrants (there is no evidence undocumented immigrants increase the U.S. crime rate).[449] In January 2018, Trump was widely criticized after referring to Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations in general as "shithole countries" at a bipartisan meeting on immigration. Multiple international leaders condemned his remarks as racist.[450]
Upon taking office, Trump directed the DHS to begin work on a wall.[451] An internal DHS report estimated Trump's wall would cost $21.6 billion and take 3.5 years to build (far higher than the Trump 2016 campaign's estimate ($12 billion) and the $15 billion estimate from Republican congressional leaders).[452] In a January 2017 phone call between Trump and Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto, Trump conceded that the U.S. would pay for the border wall, not Mexico as he promised during the campaign, and implored Nieto to stop saying publicly the Mexican government would not pay for the border wall.[453] In January 2018, the administration proposed spending $18 billion over the next ten years on the wall, more than half of the $33 billion spending blueprint for border security.[454] Trump's plan would reduce funding for border surveillance, radar technology, patrol boats and customs agents; experts and officials say these are more effective at curbing illegal immigration and preventing terrorism and smuggling than a border wall.[454]
The administration sought to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, which experts warned would likely result in severe undercounting of the population and faulty data,[455] with naturalized U.S. citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented immigrants all being less likely to respond to the census.[456] Blue states were estimated to get fewer congressional seats and lower congressional appropriations than they would otherwise get, because they have larger non-citizen populations.[457] Thomas B. Hofeller, an architect of Republican gerrymandering, had found adding the census question would help to gerrymander maps that "would be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites" and that Hofeller had later written the key portion of a letter from the Trump administration's Justice Department justifying the addition of a citizenship question by claiming it was needed to enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act.[458] In July 2019, the Supreme Court in Department of Commerce v. New York blocked the administration from including the citizenship question on the census form.[459]
During the 2018 midterm election campaign, Trump sent nearly 5,600 troops to the U.S.–Mexico border for the stated purpose of protecting the United States against a caravan of Central American migrants.[460] The Pentagon had previously concluded the caravan posed no threat to the U.S. The border deployment was estimated to cost as much as $220 million by the end of the year.[461] With daily warnings from Trump about the dangers of the caravan during the midterm election campaign, the frequency and intensity of the caravan rhetoric nearly stopped after election day.[462]
In May 2018, the administration announced it would separate children from parents caught unlawfully crossing the southern border into the United States. Parents were routinely charged with a misdemeanor and jailed; their children were placed in separate detention centers with no established procedure to track them or reunite them with their parent after they had served time for their offence, generally only a few hours or days.[463] Later that month, Trump falsely accused Democrats of creating that policy, despite it originating from his own administration, and urged Congress to "get together" and pass an immigration bill.[464] Members of Congress from both parties condemned the practice and pointed out that the White House could end the separations on its own.[465] The Washington Post quoted a White House official as saying Trump's decision to separate migrant families was to gain political leverage to force Democrats and moderate Republicans to accept hardline immigration legislation.[466]
Six weeks into the implementation of the "zero tolerance" policy, at least 2,300 migrant children had been separated from their families.[467] The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians and the American Psychiatric Association condemned the policy, with the American Academy of Pediatrics saying the policy was causing "irreparable harm" to the children.[468][466] The policy was extremely unpopular, more so than any major piece of legislation in recent memory.[469] Videos and images of children held in cage-like detention centers, distraught parents separated from their children, and sobbing children caused an outcry.[467] After criticism, DHS secretary Kirstjen Nielsen falsely claimed that "We do not have a policy of separating families at the border."[470]
On June 20, 2018, amid worldwide outrage and enormous political pressure to roll back his policy, Trump reversed the family-separation policy by signing an executive order,[467] despite earlier having said "you can't do it through an executive order."[467] Six days later, as the result of a class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the family-separation policy, and required the government to reunite separated families within 30 days.[471] By November 2020, the parents of 666 children still had not been found.[472] The administration refused to provide funds to cover the expenses of reuniting families, and volunteer organizations continue to provide both volunteers and funding.[473][474][475] The administration also refused to pay for mental health services for the families and orphaned children traumatized by the separations.[476]
In January 2017, Trump signed an executive order which indefinitely suspended admission of asylum seekers fleeing the Syrian Civil War, suspended admission of all other refugees for 120 days, and denied entry to citizens of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. The order also established a religious test for refugees from Muslim nations by giving priority to refugees of other religions over Muslim refugees.[477] Later, the administration seemed to reverse a portion of part of the order, effectively exempting visitors with a green card.[478] After the order was challenged in the federal courts, several federal judges issued rulings enjoining the government from enforcing the order.[478] Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she said she would not defend the order in court; Yates was replaced by Dana Boente, who said the Department of Justice would defend the order.[479]
A new executive order was signed in March which limited travel to the U.S. from six different countries for 90 days, and by all refugees who do not possess either a visa or valid travel documents for 120 days.[480] The new executive order revoked and replaced the executive order issued in January.[481]
In June, the Supreme Court partially stayed certain injunctions that were put on the order by two federal appeals courts earlier, allowing the executive order to mostly go into effect. In October, the Court dismissed the case, saying the orders had been replaced by a new proclamation, so challenges to the previous executive orders are moot.[482]
In September, Trump signed a proclamation placing limits on the six countries in the second executive order and added Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela.[483] In October 2017, Judge Derrick Watson, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii issued another temporary restraining order.[484] In December 2017, the Supreme Court allowed the September 2017 travel restrictions to go into effect while legal challenges in Hawaii and Maryland are heard. The decision effectively barred most citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea from entry into the United States along with some government officials from Venezuela and their families.[485]
In January 2020, Trump added Nigeria, Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan, and Tanzania to the visa ban list.[486][487]
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Trump further restricted travel from Iran on February 29, 2020, and advised American citizens not to travel to specific regions in Italy and South Korea in response to COVID-19.[488] In March 2020, the Trump administration later issued a ban on entrants from all Schengen Area countries, eventually including Ireland and the UK.[489]
The federal government was partially shut down from December 22, 2018, until January 25, 2019, (the longest shutdown in U.S. history) over Trump's demand that Congress provide $5.7 billion in federal funds for a U.S.–Mexico border wall.[490] The House and Senate lacked votes necessary to support his funding demand and to overcome Trump's refusal to sign the appropriations last passed by Congress into law.[491] In negotiations with Democratic leaders leading up to the shutdown, Trump commented he would be "proud to shut down the government for border security".[492] By mid-January 2019, the White House Council of Economic Advisors estimated that each week of the shutdown reduced GDP by 0.1 percentage points, the equivalent of 1.2 points per quarter.[493]
In September 2020, Brian Murphy – who until August 2020 was the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis – asserted in a whistleblower complaint[494] that during the shutdown senior DHS officials sought to inflate the number of known or suspected terrorists who had been apprehended at the border, to increase support for funding the wall. NBC News reported that in early 2019 a DHS spokeswoman, Katie Waldman, pushed the network to retract a story that correctly cited only six such apprehensions in the first half of 2018, compared to the nearly four thousand a year the administration was publicly claiming. The story was not retracted, and Waldman later became the press secretary for Vice President Pence and wife of Trump advisor Stephen Miller.[495][496]
The administration rolled back numerous LGBT protections, in particular those implemented during the Obama administration, covering issues such as health care, education, employment, housing, military, and criminal justice, as well as foster care and adoption.[497][498] The administration rescinded rules prohibiting taxpayer-funded adoption and foster care agencies from discriminating against LGBT adoption and foster parents.[499] The Department of Justice reversed its position on whether the Civil Rights Act's workplace protections covered LGBT individuals and argued in state and federal courts for a constitutional right for businesses to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.[497] The administration exempted government contractors from following federal workplace discrimination rules, as long as they could cite religious reasons for doing so.[497]
The administration rescinded a directive that public schools treat students according to their gender identity.[497] The administration rescinded a federal policy that allowed transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity, and dropped a lawsuit against North Carolina's "bathroom bill".[500] The administration rescinded rules that prohibited discrimination against LGBT patients by health care providers.[497][501] Rules were rescinded to give transgender homeless people equal access to homeless shelters, and to house transgender prison inmates according to their gender identity "when appropriate".[497] HHS stopped collecting information on LGBT participants in its national survey of older adults,[502] and the Census Bureau removed "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" as proposed subjects for possible inclusion on the decennial census and/or American Community Survey.[502] The Justice Department and Labor Department cancelled quarterly conference calls with LGBT organizations.[502]
Trump said he would not allow "transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military", citing disruptions and medical costs.[497] In March 2018, he signed a Presidential Memorandum to prohibit transgender persons, whether transitioned or not, with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria from military service, except for individuals who have had 36 consecutive months of stability "in their biological sex before accession" and currently serving transgender persons in military service.[497] Studies have found that allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military has "little or no impact on unit cohesion, operational effectiveness, or readiness"[503] and that medical costs associated with transgender service members would be "minimal".[504]
In 2017, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and a Chechen law enforcement official, citing anti-gay purges in Chechnya.[505] In February 2019, the administration launched a global campaign to end the criminalization of homosexuality; the initiative was pushed by Richard Grenell, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany. Asked about the administration's campaign, Trump appeared to be unaware of it.[506]In February 2020, Trump appointed Grenell acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI), marking the first time in history an openly gay official served in a Cabinet Level position.[507]
Replying to @realDonaldTrump
....These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!
May 29, 2020[508]
In response to the 2020 rioting and looting amid nationwide protests against racism and police brutality after a white Minneapolis Police Department officer murdered an African American man named George Floyd, Trump tweeted a quote, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts", coined in 1967 by a Miami police chief that has been widely condemned by civil rights groups.[509][510] Trump later addressed protestors outside the White House by saying they "would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen" if they breached the White House fence.[510]
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On June 1, 2020, hundreds of police officers, members of the National Guard and other forces, in riot gear used smoke canisters, rubber bullets, batons and shields to disperse a crowd of peaceful protesters outside St. John's Episcopal Church across Lafayette Square from the White House.[511][512] A news crew from Australia was attacked by these forces[513] and clergy on the church's porch suffered effects of the gas and were dispersed along with the others.[514] Trump, accompanied by other officials including the Secretary of Defense, then walked across Lafayette Square and posed for pictures while he was holding a Bible up for the cameras, outside the church which had suffered minor damage from a fire started by arsonists the night before.[515][516][517] Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington said she was "outraged" by Trump's actions,[518] which also received widespread condemnation from other religious leaders.[519][520][521] However, the reaction from the religious right and evangelicals generally praised the visit.[522][523][524]
In July 2020, federal forces were deployed to Portland, Oregon, in response to rioting during protests against police brutality, which had resulted in vandalism to the city's federal courthouse.[525] The Department of Homeland Security cited Trump's June 26 executive order to protect statues and monuments as allowing federal officers to be deployed without the permission of individual states.[526][527] Federal agents fired pepper spray or tear gas at protesters who got too close to the U.S. courthouse.[528] The heavily armed officers were dressed in military camouflage uniforms (without identification) and used unmarked vans to arrest protestors, some of whom were nowhere near the federal courthouse.[529][530][531]
The presence and tactics of the officers drew widespread condemnation. Oregon officials including the governor, the mayor of Portland, and multiple members of Congress asked the DHS to remove federal agents from the city.[532][533][534] The mayor said the officers were causing violence and "we do not need or want their help."[532] Multiple Congressional committees asked for an investigation, saying "Citizens are concerned that the Administration has deployed a secret police force."[535][536] Lawsuits against the administration were filed by the American Civil Liberties Union[537] and the Attorney General of Oregon.[538] The inspectors general for the Justice Department and Homeland Security announced investigations into the deployment.[539]
Trump said he was pleased with the way things were going in Portland and said that he might send federal law enforcement to many more cities, including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore, and Oakland – "all run by liberal Democrats".[540] Albuquerque and Milwaukee were also named as potential targets.[541][542]
Under a deal worked out between Governor Kate Brown and the Trump administration, federal agents withdrew to standby locations on July 30, while state and local law enforcement forces took over responsibility for protecting the courthouse; they made no arrests and mostly stayed out of sight. Protests that night were peaceful. A DHS spokesperson said federal officers would remain in the area at least until the following Monday.[543]
The administration marginalized the role of science in policymaking, halted numerous research projects, and saw the departure of scientists who said their work was marginalized or suppressed.[314] In 2018, 19 months after Trump took office, meteorologist Kelvin Droegemeier became the Science Advisor to the President; this was the longest period without a science advisor since the 1976 administration.[544] While preparing for talks with Kim Jong-un, the White House did not do so with the assistance of a White House science adviser or senior counselor trained in nuclear physics. The position of chief scientist in the State Department or the Department of Agriculture was not filled. The administration nominated Sam Clovis to be chief scientist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but he had no scientific background and the White House later withdrew the nomination. The administration successfully nominated Jim Bridenstine, who had no background in science and rejected the scientific consensus on climate change, to lead NASA. The U.S. Department of the Interior, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) disbanded advisory committees,[545] while the Department of Energy prohibited use of the term "climate change".[546][547] In March 2020, The New York Times reported that an official at the Interior Department has repeatedly inserted climate change-denying language into the agency's scientific reports, such as those that affect water and mineral rights.[548]
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration replaced career public affairs staff at the Department of Health and Human Services with political appointees, including Michael Caputo, who interfered with weekly Centers for Disease Control scientific reports and attempted to silence the government's most senior infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, "sowing distrust of the FDA at a time when health leaders desperately need people to accept a vaccine in order to create the immunity necessary to defeat the novel coronavirus".[549] One day after Trump noted that he might dismiss an FDA proposal to improve standards for emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine, the presidents of the National Academies of Sciences and Medicine issued a statement expressing alarm at political interference in science during a pandemic, "particularly the overriding of evidence and advice from public health officials and derision of government scientists".[550][551]
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NASA began the Artemis program in December 2017, with its initial focus on returning humans to the Moon for commercial mining and research, aiming to secure the leading position in the emerging commercial space race. Trump also promoted the United States Space Force. On December 20, 2019, the Space Force Act, developed by Democratic Representative Jim Cooper and Republican Representative Mike Rogers, was signed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. The act reorganized the Air Force Space Command into the United States Space Force, and created the first new independent military service since the Army Air Forces were reorganized as the U.S. Air Force in 1947.
In 2019, Trump signed into law a six-year extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, allowing the NSA to conduct searches of foreigners' communications without any warrant. The process incidentally collects information from Americans.[552]
Prior to David Shulkin's firing in April 2018, The New York Times described the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as a "rare spot of calm in the Trump administration". Shulkin built upon changes started under the Obama administration to do a long-term overhaul of the VA system.[553] In May 2018, legislation to increase veterans' access to private care was stalled, as was a VA overhaul which sought to synchronize medical records.[554] In May 2018, there were reports of a large number of resignations of senior staffers and a major re-shuffling.[553]
In August 2018, ProPublica reported that three wealthy patrons of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, formed an "informal council" that strongly influenced VA policy, including reviewing a confidential $10 billion contract to modernize the VA's records.[555] The Government Accountability Office announced in November 2018 that it would investigate the matter.[556]
In 2018, Trump signed into law the VA MISSION Act, which expanded eligibility for the Veterans Choice program, allowing veterans greater access to private sector healthcare.[557] Trump falsely asserted more than 150 times that he created the Veterans Choice program, which has in fact existed since being signed into law by president Obama in 2014.[558][559]
Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department limited enforcement actions to protect voting rights, and in fact often defended restrictions on voting rights imposed by various states that have been challenged as voter suppression.[560][561] The Justice Department under Trump has filed only a single new case under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[561] Trump's Justice Department opposed minority voters' interests in all of the major voting litigation since 2017 in which the Justice Department Civil Rights Division Voting Section has been involved.[561]
Trump has repeatedly alleged, without evidence, there was widespread voter fraud.[562] The administration created a commission with the stated purpose to review the extent of voter fraud in the wake of Trump's false claim that millions of unauthorized votes cost him the popular vote in the 2016 election. It was chaired by Vice President Pence, while the day-to-day administrator was Kris Kobach, best known for promoting restrictions on access to voting. The commission began its work by requesting each state to turn over detailed information about all registered voters in their database. Most states rejected the request, citing privacy concerns or state laws.[563] Multiple lawsuits were filed against the commission. Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said Kobach was refusing to share working documents and scheduling information with him and the other Democrats on the commission. A federal judge ordered the commission to hand over the documents.[564] Shortly thereafter, Trump disbanded the commission, and informed Dunlap that it would not obey the court order to provide the documents because the commission no longer existed.[565] Election integrity experts argued that the commission was disbanded because of the lawsuits, which would have led to greater transparency and accountability and thus prevented the Republican members of the commission from producing a sham report to justify restrictions on voting rights.[564] It was later revealed the commission had, in its requests for Texas voter data, specifically asked for data that identifies voters with Hispanic surnames.[566]
On August 13, 2017, Trump condemned violence "on many sides" after a gathering of hundreds of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, the previous day (August 12) turned deadly. A white supremacist drove a car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman and injuring 19 others. According to Sessions, that action met the definition of domestic terrorism.[567] During the rally there had been other violence, as some counter-protesters charged at the white nationalists with swinging clubs and mace, throwing bottles, rocks, and paint.[568][569][570] Trump did not expressly mention neo-Nazis, white supremacists, or the alt-right movement in his remarks on August 13,[571] but the following day condemned "the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups".[572] On August 15, he again blamed "both sides".[573]
Many Republican and Democratic elected officials condemned the violence and hatred of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and alt-right activists. Trump came under criticism from world leaders[574] and politicians,[575][571] as well as a variety of religious groups[576] and anti-hate organizations[577] for his remarks, which were seen as muted and equivocal.[575] The New York Times reported Trump "was the only national political figure to spread blame for the 'hatred, bigotry and violence' that resulted in the death of one person to 'many sides'",[575] and said Trump had "buoyed the white nationalist movement on Tuesday as no president has done in generations".[578]
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The foreign policy positions expressed by Trump during his presidential campaign changed frequently, so it was "difficult to glean a political agenda, or even a set of clear, core policy values ahead of his presidency".[580] Under a banner of "America First", the Trump administration distinguished itself from past administrations with frequent open admiration of authoritarian rulers and rhetorical rejections of key human rights norms.[581]
Despite pledges to reduce the number of active duty U.S. military personnel deployed overseas, the number was essentially the same three years into Trump's presidency as they were at the end of Obama's.[582]
In August 2019, Trump cancelled a state visit to Denmark by invitation of Queen Margrethe II due to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen having called Trump's suggestion to buy Greenland, a territory within the Danish Realm, "an absurd discussion".[583][584][585][586][587][588]
On October 27, 2019, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed himself and three children by detonating a suicide vest during the Barisha raid conducted by the U.S. Delta Force in Syria's northwestern Idlib Province.[589]
Trump withdrew from the Open Skies Treaty, a nearly three-decade old agreement promoting transparency of military forces and activities.[590]
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As a candidate and as president, Trump called for a major build-up of American military capabilities. Trump announced in October 2018 that the United States would withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia. The goal was to enable the United States to counter increasing Chinese intermediate nuclear missile capabilities in the Pacific.[591] In December 2018, Trump complained about the amount the United States spends on an "uncontrollable arms race" with Russia and China. Trump said that the $716 billion which the United States was spending on the "arms race" was "Crazy!". He had previously praised his own increased defense spending, five months earlier. The total fiscal 2019 defense budget authorization was $716 billion, although missile defense and nuclear programs made up about $10 billion of the total.[592][593]
During 2018, Trump falsely asserted that he had secured the largest defense budget authorization ever, the first military pay raise in ten years, and that military spending was at least 4.0% of GDP, "which got a lot bigger since I became your president".[594]
Controversy arose in November 2019 after Trump pardoned or promoted three soldiers accused or convicted of war crimes.[595] The most prominent case involved Eddie Gallagher, a Navy SEAL team chief who had been reported to Navy authorities by his own team members for sniping at an unarmed civilian girl and an elderly man. Gallagher faced court martial for the murder of a wounded teenage combatant, among other charges. The medic of his SEAL team was granted immunity to testify against him, but on the witness stand the medic reversed what he had previously told investigators and testified that he himself had murdered the teenage combatant. Gallagher was subsequently acquitted of the murder charge against him, and the Navy demoted him to the lowest possible rank due to his conviction on another charge. The Navy later moved to strip Gallagher of his Trident pin and to eject him from the Navy. Trump intervened to restore Gallagher's rank and pin. Many military officers were enraged by Trump's intervention, as they felt it disrupted principles of military discipline and justice. Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer protested Trump's intervention and was forced to resign; in his resignation letter, he sharply rebuked Trump for his judgment in the matter. Trump told a rally audience days later, "I stuck up for three great warriors against the deep state."[596][597][598]
The Trump administration sharply increased the frequency of drone strikes compared to the preceding Obama administration, in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria and Yemen,[599][600] rollbacked transparency in reporting drone strike deaths,[601] and reduced accountability.[602] In March 2019, Trump ended the Obama policy of reporting the number of civilian deaths caused by U.S. drone strikes, claiming that this policy was unnecessary.[603]
The number of U.S. troops deployed to Afghanistan decreased significantly during Trump's presidency. By the end of Trump's term in office troop levels in Afghanistan were at the lowest levels since the early days of the war in 2001.[604] Trump's presidency saw an expansion of drone warfare and a massive increase in civilian casualties from airstrikes in Afghanistan relative to the Obama administration.[601]
In February 2020, the Trump administration signed a deal with the Taliban, which if upheld by the Taliban, would result in the withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan by May 2021 (Trump's successor Joe Biden later extended the deadline to September 2021).[605][606] As part of the deal, the U.S. agreed to the release of 5,000 Taliban members who were imprisoned by the Afghan government; some of these ex-prisoners went on to join the 2021 Taliban offensive that felled the Afghan government.[607][608]
In 2020, US casualties in Afghanistan reached their lowest level for the entire war.[609] In Iraq, casualties increased, being significantly higher in Trump's term than Obama's second term.[610]
Following the collapse of the Afghan government and the fall of Kabul in August 2021, accusations by Olivia Troye surfaced on Twitter of the Trump Administration deliberately obstructing the visa process for Afghans who had helped U.S. efforts in Afghanistan.[611]
On January 19, 2021, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the Department of State had determined that "genocide and crimes against humanity" had been perpetrated by China against the Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.[612] The announcement was made on the last day of Trump's presidency. The incoming president, Joe Biden, had already declared during his presidential campaign, that such a determination should be made.[612] On January 20, 2021, Pompeo along with other Trump administration officials were sanctioned by China.[613]
After initially adopting a verbally hostile posture[614] toward North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong Un, Trump quickly pivoted to embrace the regime, saying he and Kim "fell in love".[615] Trump engaged Kim by meeting him at two summits, in June 2018 and February 2019, an unprecedented move by an American president, as previous policy had been that a president's simply meeting with the North Korean leader would legitimize the regime on the world stage. During the June 2018 summit, the leaders signed a vague agreement to pursue denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, with Trump immediately declaring "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea."[616] Little progress was made toward that goal during the months before the February 2019 summit, which ended abruptly without an agreement, hours after the White House announced a signing ceremony was imminent.[617] During the months between the summits, a growing body of evidence indicated North Korea was continuing its nuclear fuel, bomb and missile development, including by redeveloping an ICBM site it was previously appearing to dismantle – even while the second summit was underway.[618][619][620][621] In the aftermath of the February 2019 failed summit, the Treasury department imposed additional sanctions on North Korea. The following day, Trump tweeted, "It was announced today by the U.S. Treasury that additional large scale Sanctions would be added to those already existing Sanctions on North Korea. I have today ordered the withdrawal of those additional Sanctions!"[622] On December 31, 2019, the Korean Central News Agency announced that Kim had abandoned his moratoriums on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests, quoting Kim as saying, "the world will witness a new strategic weapon to be possessed by the DPRK in the near future."[623][624] Two years after the Singapore summit, the North Korean nuclear arsenal had significantly expanded.[625][626]
During a June 2019 visit to South Korea, Trump visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone and invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to meet him there, which he did, and Trump became the first sitting president to step inside North Korea.[627][a]
In October 2019, after Trump spoke to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the White House acknowledged that Turkey would be carrying out a planned military offensive into northern Syria; as such, U.S. troops in northern Syria were withdrawn from the area to avoid interference with that operation. The statement also passed responsibility for the area's captured ISIS fighters to Turkey.[629] Congress members of both parties denounced the move, including Republican allies of Trump like Senator Lindsey Graham. They argued that the move betrayed the American-allied Kurds, and would benefit ISIS, Russia, Iran and Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime.[630] Trump defended the move, citing the high cost of supporting the Kurds, and the lack of support from the Kurds in past U.S. wars.[631] Within a week of the U.S. pullout, Turkey proceeded to attack Kurdish-controlled areas in northeast Syria.[632] Kurdish forces then announced an alliance with the Syrian government and its Russian allies, in a united effort to repel Turkey.[633]
After an Iranian missile test on January 29, 2017, and Houthi attacks on Saudi warships, the Trump administration sanctioned 12 companies and 13 individuals suspected of being involved in Iran's missile program.[634] In May 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 agreement between Iran, the U.S., and five other countries that lifted most economic sanctions against Iran in return for Iran agreeing to restrictions on its nuclear program.[635][636] Analysts determined that, after the United States's withdrawal, Iran moved closer to developing a nuclear weapon.[637]
In January 2020, Trump ordered a U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who had planned nearly every significant operation by Iranian forces over the past two decades.[638] Trump threatened to hit 52 Iranian sites, including some "important to Iran & the Iranian culture", if Iran retaliated.[639] The threat to hit cultural sites was seen as illegal and both Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the U.S. would not attack such sites, but would "follow the laws of armed conflict" and "behave inside the system".[640] Iran did retaliate with ballistic missile strikes against two U.S. airbases in Iraq.[637] On the same day, amid the heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, Iran accidentally[641] shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 after takeoff from Tehran airport.[642][641][643]
In August 2020, the Trump administration unsuccessfully attempted to trigger a mechanism that was part of the agreement and would have led to the return of U.N. sanctions against Iran.[644] The Trump administration asserted that the U.S. remained a "participant" in the Iran Deal to persuade the United Nations Security Council to reimpose pre-agreement sanctions on Iran for its breaches of the deal after the U.S. withdrawal. The agreement provided for a resolution process among signatories in the event of a breach, but that process had not yet played out. The Security Council voted on the administration's proposal in August, with only the Dominican Republic joining the U.S. to vote in favor.[645][646]
Trump actively supported the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen against the Houthis.[647][648][649] Trump also praised his relationship with Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.[647] On May 20, 2017, Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud signed a series of letters of intent for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to purchase arms from the United States totaling $110 billion immediately,[650] and $350 billion over ten years.[651][652] The transfer was widely seen as a counterbalance against the influence of Iran in the region[653][654] and a "significant" and "historic" expansion of United States relations with Saudi Arabia.[655][656][657][651][658] By July 2019, two of Trump's three vetoes were to overturn bipartisan congressional action related to Saudi Arabia.[659]
In October 2018, amid widespread condemnation of Saudi Arabia for the murder of prominent Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi, the Trump administration pushed back on the condemnation.[660] After the CIA assessed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman ordered the murder of Khashoggi, Trump rejected the assessment and said the CIA only had "feelings" on the matter.[661]
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Since the Six Day War in 1967, the United States had considered Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to be "illegitimate". This status changed in November 2019 when the Trump administration shifted U.S. policy and[662] declared "the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law."[663]
Trump unveiled his own peace plan to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict on January 28, 2020.[664] A step toward improved relations in the region occurred in August 2020 with the first of the Abraham Accords, when Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to begin normalizing relations in an agreement brokered by Jared Kushner, an accomplishment described by Foreign Policy as "arguably his administration's first unqualified diplomatic success".[665][666] The following month, Israel and Bahrain agreed to normalize diplomatic relations in another deal mediated and brokered by the Trump administration.[667][668][669] A month later, Israel and Sudan agreed to normalize relations in a third such agreement in as many months. On December 10, 2020, Trump announced that Israel and Morocco had agreed to establish full diplomatic relations, while also announcing that the United States recognized Morocco's claim over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.[670]
As Donald Trump lost the election bid against Joe Biden, the U.S. State Department notified Congress about its plans to sell 18 sophisticated armed MQ-9B aerial drones to the United Arab Emirates, under a deal worth $2.9 billion. The drones were expected to be equipped with maritime radar, and the delivery was being estimated by 2024.[671] Besides, another informal notification was sent to the Congress regarding the plans of providing the UAE with $10 billion of defense equipment, including precision-guided munitions, non-precision bombs and missiles.[672]
American intelligence sources found the Russian government attempted to intervene in the 2016 presidential election to favor the election of Trump,[673] and that members of Trump's campaign were in contact with Russian government officials both before and after the election.[674] In May 2017, the Department of Justice appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate "any links and/or coordination between Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump, and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation".[675]
During his January 2017 confirmation hearings as the attorney general nominee before the Senate, then-Senator Jeff Sessions appeared to deliberately omit two meetings he had in 2016 with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, when asked if he had meetings involving the 2016 election with Russian government officials. Sessions later amended his testimony saying he "never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign".[676] Following his amended statement, Sessions recused himself from any investigation regarding connections between Trump and Russia.[677]
In May 2017, Trump discussed highly classified intelligence in an Oval Office meeting with the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and ambassador Sergey Kislyak, providing details that could expose the source of the information and how it was collected.[678] A Middle Eastern ally[b] provided the intelligence which had the highest level of classification and was not intended to be shared widely.[678] The New York Times reported, "sharing the information without the express permission of the ally who provided it was a major breach of espionage etiquette, and could jeopardize a crucial intelligence-sharing relationship."[678] The White House, through National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster, issued a limited denial, saying the story "as reported" was incorrect[680] and that no "intelligence sources or methods" were discussed.[681] McMaster did not deny that information had been disclosed.[682] The following day Trump said on Twitter that Russia is an important ally against terrorism and that he had an "absolute right" to share classified information with Russia.[683] Soon after the meeting, American intelligence extracted a high-level covert source from within the Russian government, on concerns the individual could be at risk due, in part, to Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandling classified intelligence.[684]
In October 2017, former Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the FBI regarding his contacts with Russian agents. During the campaign he had tried repeatedly but unsuccessfully to set up meetings in Russia between Trump campaign representatives and Russian officials.[685]
Trump went to great lengths to keep details of his private conversations with Russian president Putin secret, including in one case by retaining his interpreter's notes and instructing the linguist to not share the contents of the discussions with anyone in the administration. As a result, there were no detailed records, even in classified files, of Trump's conversations with Putin on five occasions.[686][687]
Of Trump's campaign advisors and staff, six of them were indicted by the special counsel's office; five of them (Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos) pleaded guilty, while one has pleaded not guilty (Roger Stone).[688] As of December 2020, Stone, Papadopoulos, Manafort, and Flynn have been pardoned by Trump, but not Cohen or Gates.[689]
On June 12, 2019, Trump asserted he saw nothing wrong in accepting intelligence on his political adversaries from foreign powers, such as Russia, and he could see no reason to contact the FBI about it. Responding to a reporter who told him FBI director Christopher Wray had said such activities should be reported to the FBI, Trump said, "the FBI director is wrong." Trump elaborated, "there's nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country, Norway, 'we have information on your opponent' – oh, I think I'd want to hear it." Both Democrats and Republicans repudiated the remarks.[690][691][692][693]
The New York Times reported in June 2021 that in 2017 and 2018 the Justice Department subpoenaed metadata from the iCloud accounts of at least a dozen individuals associated with the House Intelligence Committee, including that of ranking Democratic member Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, and family members, to investigate leaks to the press about contacts between Trump associates and Russia. Records of the inquiry did not implicate anyone associated with the committee, but upon becoming attorney general Bill Barr revived the effort, including by appointing a federal prosecutor and about six others in February 2020. The Times reported that, apart from corruption investigations, subpoenaing communications information of members of Congress is nearly unheard-of, and that some in the Justice Department saw Barr's approach as politically motivated.[694][695] Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced an inquiry into the matter the day after the Times report.[696]
In February 2018, when Mueller indicted more than a dozen Russians and three entities for interference in the 2016 election, Trump asserted the indictment was proof his campaign did not collude with the Russians. The New York Times noted Trump "voiced no concern that a foreign power had been trying for nearly four years to upend American democracy, much less resolve to stop it from continuing to do so this year".[697]
In July 2018, the special counsel indicted twelve Russian intelligence operatives and accused them of conspiring to interfere in the 2016 U.S. elections, by hacking servers and emails of the Democratic Party and the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign.[698] The indictments were made before Trump's meeting with Putin in Helsinki, in which Trump supported Putin's denial that Russia was involved and criticized American law enforcement and intelligence community (subsequently Trump partially walked back some of his comments). A few days later, it was reported that Trump had actually been briefed on the veracity and extent of Russian cyber-attacks two weeks before his inauguration, back in December 2016, including the fact that these were ordered by Putin himself. The evidence presented to him at the time included text and email conversations between Russian military officers as well as information from a source close to Putin.[699]
On March 22, 2019, Mueller submitted the final report to Attorney General William Barr. Two days later, Barr sent Congress a four-page letter, describing what he said were the special counsel's principal conclusions in the report. Barr added that, since the special counsel "did not draw a conclusion" on obstruction,[700] this "leaves it to the Attorney General to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime".[701] Barr continued: "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense."[702][703]
On April 18, 2019, a two-volume redacted version of the special counsel's report titled Report on the Investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election was released to Congress and to the public. About one-eighth of the lines in the public version were redacted.[704][705][706]
Volume I discusses about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, concluding that interference occurred "in sweeping and systematic fashion" and "violated U.S. criminal law".[707][708] The report detailed activities by the Internet Research Agency, a Kremlin-linked Russian troll farm, to create a "social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton",[709] and to "provoke and amplify political and social discord in the United States".[710] The report also described how the Russian intelligence service, the GRU, performed computer hacking and strategic releasing of damaging material from the Clinton campaign and Democratic Party organizations.[711][712] To establish whether a crime was committed by members of the Trump campaign with regard to Russian interference, investigators used the legal standard for criminal conspiracy rather than the popular concept of "collusion", because a crime of "collusion" is not found in criminal law or the United States Code.[713][714]
According to the report, the investigation "identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign", and found that Russia had "perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency" and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign "expected it would benefit electorally" from Russian hacking efforts. Ultimately, "the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."[715][716] However, investigators had an incomplete picture of what had really occurred during the 2016 campaign, due to some associates of the Trump campaign providing false or incomplete testimony, exercising the privilege against self-incrimination, and having deleted, unsaved, or encrypted communications. As such, the Mueller report "cannot rule out the possibility" that information then unavailable to investigators would have presented different findings.[717]
Volume II covered obstruction of justice. The report described ten episodes where Trump may have obstructed justice as president, plus one instance before he was elected.[718][719] The report said that in addition to Trump's public attacks on the investigation and its subjects, he had also privately tried to "control the investigation" in multiple ways, but mostly failed to influence it because his subordinates or associates refused to carry out his instructions.[720][721] For that reason, no charges against the Trump's aides and associates were recommended "beyond those already filed".[718] The special counsel could not charge Trump himself once investigators decided to abide by an Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion that a sitting president cannot stand trial,[722][723] and they feared charges would affect Trump's governing and possibly preempt his impeachment.[723][724] In addition, investigators felt it would be unfair to accuse Trump of a crime without charges and without a trial in which he could clear his name,[722][723][720] hence investigators "determined not to apply an approach that could potentially result in a judgment that the President committed crimes".[723][725][726][727]
Since the special counsel's office had decided "not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment" on whether to "initiate or decline a prosecution", they "did not draw ultimate conclusions about the President's conduct". The report "does not conclude that the president committed a crime",[709][728] but specifically did not exonerate Trump on obstruction of justice, because investigators were not confident that Trump was innocent after examining his intent and actions.[729][730] The report concluded "that Congress has authority to prohibit a President's corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice" and "that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the president's corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law".[726][730][720]
On May 1, 2019, following publication of the special counsel's report, Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, during which Barr said he "didn't exonerate" Trump on obstruction as that was not the role of the Justice Department.[731] He declined to testify before the House Judiciary Committee the following day because he objected to the committee's plan to use staff lawyers during questioning.[732] Barr also repeatedly[733] failed to give the unredacted special counsel's report to the Judiciary Committee by its deadline of May 6, 2019.[734] On May 8, 2019, the committee voted to hold Barr in contempt of Congress, which refers the matter to entire House for resolution.[735] Concurrently, Trump asserted executive privilege via the Department of Justice in an effort to prevent the redacted portions of the special counsel's report and the underlying evidence from being disclosed.[736] Committee chairman Jerry Nadler said the U.S. is in a constitutional crisis, "because the President is disobeying the law, is refusing all information to Congress".[737] Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump was "self-impeaching" by stonewalling Congress.[738]
Following release of the Mueller report, Trump and his allies turned their attention toward "investigating the investigators".[739] On May 23, 2019, Trump ordered the intelligence community to cooperate with Barr's investigation of the origins of the investigation, granting Barr full authority to declassify any intelligence information related to the matter. Some analysts expressed concerns that the order could create a conflict between the Justice Department and the intelligence community over closely guarded intelligence sources and methods, as well as open the possibility Barr could cherrypick intelligence for public release to help Trump.[740][741][742][743]
Upon announcing the formal closure of the investigation and his resignation from the Justice Department on May 29, Mueller said, "If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. We did not, however, decide as to whether the president did commit a crime."[744] During his testimony to Congress on July 24, 2019, Mueller said that a president could be charged with obstruction of justice (or other crimes) after the president left office.[745]
Amid accusations by Trump and his supporters that he had been subjected to an illegitimate investigation, in May 2019, Barr appointed federal prosecutor John Durham to review the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.[746] By September 2020, Durham's inquiry had expanded to include the FBI's investigation of the Clinton Foundation during the 2016 campaign.[747]
In November 2017, Sessions appointed U.S. Attorney John Huber to investigate the FBI's surveillance of Carter Page and connections between the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One, starting in November 2017.[748] The investigation ended in January 2020 after no evidence was found to warrant the opening of a criminal investigation.[749] Special Counsel Robert Mueller's April 2019 report documented that Trump pressured Sessions and the Department of Justice to re-open the investigation into Clinton's emails.[750]
The Trump administration was characterized by a departure from ethical norms.[751][752] Unlike previous administrations of both parties, the Trump White House did not observe a strict boundary between official government activities and personal, political, or campaign activities.[751][753][754] Some critics went so far as to describe Trump as bringing kleptocracy to America.[755][756][757][758][759][760]
During the 2016 campaign, Trump promised to "drain the swamp" – a phrase that usually refers to entrenched corruption and lobbying in Washington, D.C. – and he proposed a series of ethics reforms.[761] However, according to federal records and interviews, there was a dramatic increase in lobbying by corporations and hired interests during Trump's tenure, particularly through Pence's office.[762] About twice as many lobbying firms contacted Pence, compared to previous presidencies, among them representatives of major energy firms and drug companies.[762] In many cases, the lobbyists charged their clients millions of dollars for access to the vice president, then donated the money to Pence's political causes.[762]
Among the administration's first policies was a five-year ban on serving as a lobbyist after working in the executive branch.[761] However, as one of his final acts of office, Trump rolled back that policy, thus allowing administration staff to work as lobbyists.[763]
Trump's presidency was marked by significant public concern about conflict of interest stemming from his diverse business ventures. In the lead up to his inauguration, Trump promised to remove himself from the day-to-day operations of his businesses.[765] Trump placed his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. at the head of his businesses claiming they would not communicate with him regarding his interests. However, critics noted that this would not prevent him from having input into his businesses and knowing how to benefit himself, and Trump continued to receive quarterly updates on his businesses.[766] As his presidency progressed, he failed to take steps or show interest in further distancing himself from his business interests resulting in numerous potential conflicts.[767] Ethics experts found Trump's plan to address conflicts of interest between his position as president and his private business interests to be entirely inadequate.[768] Unlike every other president in the last 40 years, Trump did not put his business interests in a blind trust or equivalent arrangement "to cleanly sever himself from his business interests".[768] In January 2018, a year into his presidency, Trump owned stakes in hundreds of businesses.[769] Anne Applebaum noted how Trump properties, including Trump Tower, has been used for laundering money by kleptocrats around the world (though there is no evidence Trump knew that was going on) and that two-thirds of the sales in Trump-owned properties went to anonymous buyers in 2017, raising potential conflicts-of-interest with a sitting president of the United States.[770]
After Trump took office, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, represented by a number of constitutional scholars, sued him[771] for violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause (a constitutional provision that bars the president or any other federal official from taking gifts or payments from foreign governments), because his hotels and other businesses accept payment from foreign governments.[771][772][773] CREW separately filed a complaint with the General Services Administration (GSA) over Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C.; the 2013 lease that Trump and the GSA signed "explicitly forbids any elected government official from holding the lease or benefiting from it".[774] The GSA said it was "reviewing the situation".[774] By May 2017, the CREW v. Trump lawsuit had grown with additional plaintiffs and alleged violations of the Domestic Emoluments Clause.[775] In June 2017, attorneys from the Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that the plaintiffs had no right to sue[776] and that the described conduct was not illegal.[777] Also in June 2017, two more lawsuits were filed based on the Foreign Emoluments Clause: D.C. and Maryland v. Trump,[778][779] and Blumenthal v. Trump, which was signed by more than one-third of the voting members of Congress.[780] United States District Judge George B. Daniels dismissed the CREW case on December 21, 2017, holding that plaintiffs lacked standing.[781][782] D.C. and Maryland v. Trump cleared three judicial hurdles to proceed to the discovery phase during 2018,[783][784][785] with prosecutors issuing 38 subpoenas to Trump's businesses and cabinet departments in December before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay days later at the behest of the Justice Department, pending hearings in March 2019.[786][787][788] NBC News reported that by June 2019 representatives of 22 governments had spent money at Trump properties.[789] In January 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuits as Trump was no longer president.[790]
In March 2018, The New York Times reported that George Nader had turned Trump's major fundraiser Elliott Broidy "into an instrument of influence at the White House for the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ... High on the agenda of the two men ... was pushing the White House to remove Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson," a top defender of the Iran nuclear deal in Donald Trump's administration, and "backing confrontational approaches to Iran and Qatar".[791]
The Washington Post reported in May 2017, "a wide variety of information that until recently was provided to the public, limiting access, for instance, to disclosures about workplace violations, energy efficiency, and animal welfare abuses" had been removed or tucked away. The Obama administration had used the publication of enforcement actions taken by federal agencies against companies as a way to name and shame companies that engaged in unethical and illegal behaviors.[792]
The Trump administration stopped the longstanding practice of logging visitors to the White House, making it difficult to tell who had visited the White House.[792][793] In July 2018, CNN reported that the White House had suspended the practice of publishing public summaries of Trump's phone calls with world leaders, bringing an end to a common exercise from previous administrations.[794]
In January 2024, the White House Medical Unit and its pharmacy caught the media's attention when the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General issued an investigation report focused on prescription drug records and care between 2017 and 2019, describing improper recording of prescriptions, disposal of controlled substances, and verification of identities, among other problems. The pharmacy dispensed expensive brand-name products for free, and the Unit spent considerable amounts of money on healthcare for numerous ineligible White House staff members, employees, and contractors.[795][796][797]
Trump refused to follow the rules of the Presidential Records Act, which requires presidents and their administrations to preserve all official documents and turn them over to the National Archives. Trump habitually tore up papers after reading them, and White House staffers were assigned to collect the scraps and tape them back together for the archives.[798] He also took boxes of documents and other items with him when he left the White House; the National Archives later retrieved them.[799][800] Some of the documents he took with him were discovered to be classified, including some at the "top secret" level.[801][802] Trump sometimes used his personal cellphone to converse with world leaders so that there would be no record of the conversation.[803] By May 2022, federal prosecutors had empaneled a grand jury to investigate possible mishandling of documents by Trump and other officials in his White House.[804]
In the first three and a half years of Trump's term, the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal government ethics agency, found 13 senior Trump administration officials in violation of the Hatch Act of 1939, which restricts the government employees' (other than the president's and vice president's) involvement in politics; 11 of the complaints were filed by the activist group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).[751][753] By comparison, CREW stated that it was aware of only two findings of Hatch Act violations during the eight years of the Obama administration.[751]
Henry Kerner, head of the Office of Special Counsel, found in a report released in November 2021 that at least 13 administration officials demonstrated "willful disregard" for the Hatch Act, including "especially pernicious" behavior in the days before the 2020 election.[805][806]
In March 2019, Tricia Newbold, a White House employee working on security clearances, privately told the House Oversight Committee that at least 25 Trump administration officials had been granted security clearances over the objections of career staffers. Newbold also asserted that some of these officials had previously had their applications rejected for "disqualifying issues", only for those rejections to be overturned with inadequate explanation.[807][808][809]
After the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed former head of White House security clearances Carl Kline to give testimony, the administration instructed Kline not to comply with the subpoena, asserting that the subpoena "unconstitutionally encroaches on fundamental executive branch interests".[810][811] Kline eventually gave closed-door testimony before the committee in May 2019, but House Democrats said he did not "provide specific details to their questions".[812]
On August 12, 2019, an unnamed intelligence official privately filed a whistleblower complaint with Michael Atkinson, the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (ICIG), under the provisions of the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act (ICWPA).[813] The whistleblower alleged that Trump had abused his office in soliciting foreign interference to improve his own electoral chances in 2020. The complaint reports that in a July 2019 call, Trump had asked Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate potential 2020 rival presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, as well as matters pertaining to whether Russian interference occurred in the 2016 U.S. election with regard to Democratic National Committee servers and the company Crowdstrike. Trump allegedly nominated his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr to work with Ukraine on these matters. Additionally, the whistleblower alleged that the White House attempted to "lock down" the call records in a cover-up, and that the call was part of a wider pressure campaign by Giuliani and the Trump administration to urge Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. The whistleblower posits that the pressure campaign may have included Trump cancelling Vice President Mike Pence's May 2019 Ukraine trip, and Trump withholding financial aid from Ukraine in July 2019.[814][815][816][817]
Inspector General Atkinson found the whistleblower's complaint both urgent and credible, so he transmitted the complaint on August 26 to Joseph Maguire, the acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Under the law, Maguire was supposed to forward the complaint to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees within a week. Maguire refused, so Atkinson informed the congressional committees of the existence of the complaint, but not its content.[818][819] The general counsel for Maguire's office said that since the complaint was not about someone in the intelligence community, it was not an "urgent concern" and thus there was no need to pass it to Congress. Later testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on September 26, Maguire said he had consulted with the White House Counsel and the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, of which the latter office gave him the rationale to withhold the complaint.[820] Maguire also testified: "I think the whistleblower did the right thing. I think he followed the law every step of the way."[821]
On September 22, Trump confirmed that he had discussed with Zelensky how "we don't want our people like Vice President Biden and his son creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine."[822] Trump also confirmed that he had indeed temporarily withheld military aid from Ukraine, offering contradicting reasons for his decision on September 23 and 24.[823]
On September 24, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the start of a formal impeachment inquiry.[824] On September 25, the White House released a non-verbatim transcript of the call between Trump and Zelensky; while the members and staff of congressional intelligence committees were allowed to read the whistleblower complaint.[819] On September 26, the White House declassified the whistleblower's complaint, so Schiff released the complaint to the public.[819] The non-verbatim transcript corroborated the main allegations of the whistleblower's report about the Trump–Zelensky call.[825] The non-verbatim transcript stated that after Zelensky discussed the possibility of buying American anti-tank missiles to defend Ukraine, Trump instead asked for a favor, suggesting an investigation of the company Crowdstrike, while later in the call he also called for an investigation of the Bidens and cooperation with Giuliani and Barr.[826][827] On September 27, the White House confirmed the whistleblower's allegation that the Trump administration had stored the Trump–Zelensky transcript in a highly classified system.[828]
Following these revelations, members of congress largely divided along party lines, with Democrats generally in favor of impeachment proceedings and Republicans defending the president.[829] Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker resigned and three House committees issued a subpoena to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to schedule depositions for Volker and four other State Department employees, and to compel the release of documents.[830][831] Attention to the issue also led to further revelations by anonymous sources. These included the misuse of classification systems to hide records of conversations with Ukrainian, Russian, and Saudi Arabian leaders, and statements made to Sergei Lavrov and Sergey Kislyak in May 2017 expressing a lack of concern about Russian interference in U.S. elections.[832][833]
Trump often sought to use the office of the presidency for his own interest. Under his leadership, the Justice Department, which is traditionally independent from the President, became highly partisan and acted in Trump's interest.[834][835][836][837]Bloomberg News reported in October 2019 that during a 2017 Oval Office meeting, Trump had asked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to pressure the Justice Department to drop a criminal investigation of Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish gold trader who was a client of Trump associate Rudy Giuliani. Tillerson reportedly refused.[838]
Trump attempted to host the 2020 G7 Summit at his Doral Golf Resort, from which he could have made significant profits.[839] Trump visited his properties 274 times during his presidency. Government officials were charged as much as $650 per night to stay at Trump's properties.[840]
In the lead up to the 2020 election, Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a close ally of Trump, sought to hamper the US postal service by cutting funding and services, a move which would prevent postal votes from being counted during the COVID-19 pandemic.[841]
Trump fired, demoted, or withdrew nominations of numerous government officials in retaliation for actions that projected negatively on his public image or harmed his personal or political interests, including Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey,[842] Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions,[843] and Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.[844]
In December 2020, shortly before Christmas and in his last month in office, Trump granted 26 people full pardons and commuted the sentences of three others convicted of federal crimes. Those who benefitted included his former campaign advisor Paul Manafort, advisor and personal friend Roger Stone and Charles Kushner, father of Trump's son-in-law and confidant Jared Kushner.[845] In the final hours of his presidency, Donald Trump pardoned nearly 74 people, including rappers, financiers, and former members of congress. Those pardoned include his former senior adviser Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner's friend charged with cyberstalking, Ken Kurson; a real estate lawyer, Albert Pirro; and rappers prosecuted on federal weapons offenses, Lil Wayne and Kodak Black. Trump also pardoned his former fundraiser Elliott Broidy, who worked for China, the UAE, and Russia at the White House. Broidy also lobbied the US government to end the investigations in the 1MDB scandal.[846]
According to several reports, Trump's and his family's trips in the first month of his presidency cost U.S. taxpayers nearly as much as President Obama's travel expenses for an entire year. When Obama was president, Trump frequently criticized him for taking vacations which were paid for with public funds.[847] The Washington Post reported that Trump's atypically lavish lifestyle is far more expensive to the taxpayers than what was typical of previous presidents and could end up in the hundreds of millions of dollars over the whole of Trump's term.[848]
A June 2019 analysis by the Washington Post found that federal officials and GOP campaigns had spent at least $1.6 million at businesses owned by Trump during his presidency.[849] This was an undercount, as most of the data on spending by government officials covered only the first few months of Trump's presidency.[849]
In the 2018 midterm elections, Democrats had a blue wave, winning control of the House of Representatives, while Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate.[850]
Trump officially announced his reelection campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2020 presidential election on June 18, 2019.[851] Trump did not face any significant rivals for the 2020 Republican nomination, with some state Republican parties cancelling the presidential primaries in the states.[852] Trump's Democratic opponent in the general election was former Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware. The election on November 3 was not called for either candidate for several days. On November 7, the Associated Press along with mainstream media called the race for Joe Biden.[853]
It was the first presidency since that of Herbert Hoover in 1932 in which a sitting president was defeated and his party lost its majorities in both chambers of Congress.[854]
Trump refused to concede, and the administration did not begin cooperating with president-elect Biden's transition team until November 23.[855][856] In late December 2020, Biden and his transition team criticized Trump administration political appointees for hampering the transition and failing to cooperate with the Biden transition team on national security areas, such as the Defense and State departments, as well as on the economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that many of the agencies that are critical to their security have incurred enormous damage and have been hollowed out – in personnel, capacity and in morale.[857][858] Throughout December and January, Trump continued to insist that he had won the election. He filed numerous lawsuits alleging election fraud, tried to persuade state and federal officials to overturn the results, and urged his supporters to rally on his behalf.[859] At the urging and direction of Trump campaign attorneys and other Trump associates, including Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon, Republican activists in seven states filed and submitted false documents claiming to be the official presidential electors.[860] The "alternate slates" were intended to serve as a reason for Congress or the Vice President to reject the results from the seven states.[861]
On January 6, 2021, rioters supporting Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to thwart a joint session of Congress during which the Electoral College vote was to be certified, affirming the election of former vice president Joe Biden as president and Senator Kamala Harris as vice president.
During an initial rally earlier that morning, Trump encouraged his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol.[862][863] Subsequently, pro-Trump attendees marched to the Capitol building, joined other protesters, and stormed the building.[864] Congress was in session at the time, conducting the Electoral College vote count and debating the results of the vote. As the protesters arrived, Capitol security evacuated the Senate and House of Representatives chambers and locked down several other buildings on the Capitol campus.[865] Later that evening, after the Capitol was secured, Congress went back into session to discuss the Electoral College vote, finally affirming at 3:41 a.m. that Biden had won the election.[866]
Five casualties occurred during the event: one Capitol Police officer, and four stormers or protesters at the Capitol, including one rioter shot by police inside the building.[867] At least 138 police officers were injured.[868] Three improvised explosive devices were reported to have been found: one each on Capitol grounds, at the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee offices.[869]
Following the Capitol attack, several cabinet-level officials and White House staff resigned, citing the incident and Trump's behavior.[870]
On January 7, the day after the Electoral College results were certified by Congress, Trump tweeted a video in which he stated, "A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power."[871] The State Department subsequently told diplomats to affirm Biden's victory.[872]
On January 12, the House voted in favor of requesting that the vice president remove Trump from office per the Twenty-fifth Amendment; hours earlier, Pence had indicated that he opposed such a measure.[873] The next day, the House voted 232–197 to impeach Trump on a charge of "incitement of insurrection". Ten Republican representatives joined all Democratic representatives in voting to impeach Trump. Trump is the first and only president to be impeached twice.[874] On February 13, the Senate voted 57–43 to convict Trump on a charge of inciting insurrection, ten votes short of the required two-thirds majority, and he was acquitted. Seven Republican senators joined all Democratic and independent senators in voting to convict Trump.[875][876]
Trump gave a farewell address the day prior to the inauguration of Joe Biden. In it he stressed his economic and foreign policy record, and said the country can never tolerate "political violence".[877] Trump did not attend Biden's inauguration, becoming the first departing president in 152 years to refuse to attend his elected successor's inauguration,[878][879] but he did honor another tradition by leaving Biden a letter on the Resolute desk in the White House.[880][881]
In the 2018 presidential rankings by the Siena College Research Institute, Trump ranked as the third-worst president in history.[882] C-SPAN's 2021 President Historians Survey ranked Trump as the fourth-worst president overall and the worst in the leadership characteristics of Moral Authority and Administrative Skills. Trump's best rated leadership characteristic was Public Persuasion, where he ranked 32nd out of the 44 presidents.[883] Trump ranked last in both the 2018 and 2024 surveys of the American Political Science Association Presidents and Executive Politics section, with self-identified Republican historians ranking Trump in their bottom five presidents.[884]
At the time of the 2016 election, polls by Gallup found Trump had a favorable rating around 35 percent and an unfavorable rating around 60 percent, while Clinton held a favorable rating of 40 percent and an unfavorable rating of 57 percent.[885] 2016 was the first election cycle in modern presidential polling in which both major-party candidates were viewed so unfavorably.[886][887][888][889] By January 20, 2017, Inauguration Day, Trump's approval rating average was 42 percent, the lowest rating average for an incoming president in the history of modern polling;[890] during his term it was an "incredibly stable (and also historically low)" 36 percent to 40 percent.[891][892] According to Gallup, Trump's approval rating peaked at 49 percent in several polls in early 2020; this makes him the only president to never reach a 50 percent approval rating in the Gallup poll dating to 1938.[893]
Since the beginning of Trump's presidency, ratings of how well U.S. democracy is functioning has dropped significantly according to the 2018 Varieties of Democracy Annual Democracy Report, which cites "a significant democratic backsliding in the United States [since the Inauguration of Donald Trump] ... attributable to weakening constraints on the executive."[894] Freedom House also attributed a 2019 decrease in its US rankings to Trump, as did Transparency International in downgrading the United States in its Corruption Perceptions Index.[895] International IDEA labeled the US a "backsliding democracy" after evaluating 2020 and 2021 events, noting Trump's election denial as a historic turning point and the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol as raising alarm bells.[896]
Footnotes
Citations
Donald Trump is different. By all metrics and counting schemes, his lies are off the charts. We simply have not seen such an accomplished and effective liar before in U.S. politics. ... Stretching the truth and exaggerating is a key part of Trump's repertoire.
Glenn Kessler, the chief writer for the "Fact Checker" feature of The Washington Post, says that 'every president lies,' but President Trump is unique in the sheer scale and number of his falsehoods. ... 'What is unique about Trump is that he misleads and says false things and lies about just about everything on a regular basis.'
President Trump, historians and consultants in both political parties agree, appears to have taken what the writer Hannah Arendt once called 'the conflict between truth and politics' to an entirely new level.
for the President's unprecedented record of untruths ... the previous gold standard in Presidential lying was, of course, Richard Nixon ... the falsehoods are as much a part of his political identity as his floppy orange hair and the "Make America Great Again" slogan.
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{{cite web}}: |author1= has generic name (help) {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)advancing eight vaccines in parallel will increase the chances of delivering 300 million doses in the first half of 2021 ... Of the eight vaccines in OWS's portfolio, six have been announced and partnerships executed with the companies: Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech (both mRNA), AstraZeneca and Janssen (both replication-defective live-vector), and Novavax and Sanofi/GSK (both recombinant-subunit-adjuvanted protein). These candidates cover three of the four platform technologies and are currently in clinical trials. The remaining two candidates will enter trials soon.
Researchers uncovered a significant and troubling finding from this survey research: Fewer Latinx immigrant households will participate in the 2020 census if the question is implemented, which will result in an undercount. Without the citizenship question, 84 percent of respondents were willing to participate in the census; after including the citizenship question, however, willingness to participate dropped by almost half, to 46 percent. Willingness dropped among individuals across legal status: naturalized citizens, legal residents, and undocumented individuals.
'Is that your Bible?' a reporter is heard asking Mr Trump during the moment. He responded: 'It's a Bible.'
I thought it was completely appropriate for the president to stand in front of that church," Jeffress told me. "And by holding up the Bible, he was showing us that it teaches that, yes, God hates racism, it's despicable – but God also hates lawlessness.
photos and videos from Saturday's riot does show people dressed in black, their faces covered, engaging the neo-Nazis in violent confrontation.
Trump promising "fire and fury" towards the "little rocket man".
every ethics professional interviewed for this story thinks the Trump administration has significantly undermined decades of ethical norms and standards.
17 Civ. 458
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