First presidency of Donald Trump#Economy

{{Main|Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign|2016 United States presidential election}}

{{Further|2016 United States elections|2016 Republican Party presidential primaries|2016 Republican National Convention}}

File:ElectoralCollege2016.svg.]]

Trump announced his candidacy for the nomination of the Republican Party in the 2016 presidential election on June 16, 2015. In May 2016, Trump clinched the nomination. Trump selected Governor Mike Pence of Indiana as his running mate, and the two were officially nominated at the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Early on November 9, 2016, the day after the election, Trump was projected to have secured the presidency. Trump won the presidential election with 304 electoral votes, while Hillary Clinton received 227, though Clinton won a plurality of the nationwide popular vote, receiving nearly 2.9 million more votes than Trump. Trump thus became the fifth person to win the presidency while losing the popular vote.DeSilver, Drew (December 20, 2016). [https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/12/20/why-electoral-college-landslides-are-easier-to-win-than-popular-vote-ones/ "Trump's victory another example of how Electoral College wins are bigger than popular vote ones"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712013502/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/12/20/why-electoral-college-landslides-are-easier-to-win-than-popular-vote-ones/ |date=July 12, 2020 }}. Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 7, 2021. The electoral votes were certified on January 6, 2017. In the concurrent congressional elections, Republicans maintained their majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell both remained in their posts.

{{main|First presidential transition of Donald Trump|First inauguration of Donald Trump}}

{{see also|First 100 days of Donald Trump's first presidency}}{{Multiple image

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| caption1 = Incumbent president Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office on November 10, 2016

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| caption2 = Chief Justice John Roberts administers the presidential oath of office to Trump at the Capitol, January 20, 2017

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The presidential transition period began following Trump's victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, though Trump had chosen Bill Hagerty to begin planning for the transition in August 2016. During the transition period, Trump announced nominations for his cabinet and administration.

Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017, officially assuming the presidency at 12:00 pm, EST. He was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts.Fahrenthold, David; Rucker, Philip; Wagner, John (January 20, 2017). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-to-be-sworn-in-marking-a-transformative-shift-in-the-countrys-leadership/2017/01/20/954b9cac-de7d-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html "Donald Trump is sworn in as president, vows to end 'American carnage'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200331205748/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-to-be-sworn-in-marking-a-transformative-shift-in-the-countrys-leadership/2017/01/20/954b9cac-de7d-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html |date=March 31, 2020 }}. The Washington Post. Retrieved January 20, 2017. In his seventeen-minute inaugural address, Trump painted a dark picture of contemporary America, pledging to end "American carnage" caused by urban crime and saying America's "wealth, strength, and confidence has dissipated" by jobs lost overseas.Pilkington, Ed (January 21, 2018). [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/20/donald-trump-transition-of-power-president-first-speech "'American carnage': Donald Trump's vision casts shadow over day of pageantry"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713104006/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/20/donald-trump-transition-of-power-president-first-speech |date=July 13, 2020 }}. The Guardian. Retrieved February 21, 2018. He declared his strategy would be "America First." The largest single-day protest in U.S. history, the Women's March, took place the day after his inauguration and was driven by opposition to Trump and his policies and views.Waddell, Kaveh (January 23, 2017). [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/01/womens-march-protest-count/514166/ "The Exhausting Work of Tallying America's Largest Protest"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126005341/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/01/womens-march-protest-count/514166/ |date=January 26, 2017 }}. The Atlantic. Retrieved February 8, 2017.

File:Donald Trump Cabinet meeting 2017-03-13 04.jpg

{{First Trump cabinet infobox}}

{{Further|Political appointments of the first Trump administration}}

The Trump administration was characterized by record turnover, particularly among White House staff. By early 2018, 43% of senior White House positions had turned over.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/03/07/591372397/white-house-staff-turnover-was-already-record-setting-then-more-advisers-left |date=March 7, 2018 |title=White House Staff Turnover Was Already Record-Setting. Then More Advisers Left|last=Keith|first=Tamara|work=NPR|access-date=March 16, 2018}} The administration had a higher turnover rate in the first two and a half years than the five previous presidents did over their entire terms.{{cite magazine |last = Joung |first = Madeleine |title = Trump Has Now Had More Cabinet Turnover Than Reagan, Obama and the Two Bushes |url = https://time.com/5625699/trump-cabinet-acosta/ |magazine = Time |access-date = October 26, 2019 |date = July 12, 2019 |archive-date = July 3, 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200703004922/https://time.com/5625699/trump-cabinet-acosta/ |url-status = live }}

By October 2019, one in 14 of Trump's political appointees were former lobbyists; less than three years into his presidency, Trump had appointed more than four times as many lobbyists than his predecessor Barack Obama did over the course of his first six years in office.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.propublica.org/article/we-found-a-staggering-281-lobbyists-whove-worked-in-the-trump-administration|title= We Found a "Staggering" 281 Lobbyists Who've Worked in the Trump Administration|last=Mora|first=David|date=October 15, 2019|website=ProPublica|access-date=October 15, 2019}}

Trump's cabinet included U.S. senator from Alabama Jeff Sessions as attorney general,{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Lichtblau|first=Eric|author-link=Eric Lichtblau|date=November 18, 2016|title=Jeff Sessions, as Attorney General, Could Overhaul Department He's Skewered|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/us/politics/jeff-sessions-donald-trump-attorney-general.html|access-date=December 19, 2019}} banker Steve Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary,{{#invoke:Cite|news|date=November 30, 2016|title=Former US banker Steve Mnuchin confirms he will be US treasury secretary|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38141686|access-date=November 30, 2016}} retired Marine Corps general James Mattis as Defense Secretary,{{#invoke:Cite|news|date=December 1, 2016|last=Lamothe|first=Dan|title=Trump has chosen retired Marine Gen. James Mattis for secretary of defense|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-has-chosen-retired-marine-gen-james-mattis-for-secretary-of-defense/2016/12/01/6c6b3b74-aff9-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html|access-date=December 1, 2016}} and ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Shear|first1=Michael D.|author-link1=Michael D. Shear|last2=Haberman|first2=Maggie|author-link2=Maggie Haberman|date=December 12, 2016|title=Rex Tillerson, Exxon C.E.O., chosen as Secretary of State|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/us/politics/rex-tillerson-secretary-of-state-trump.html|access-date=December 26, 2016}} Trump also brought on board politicians who had opposed him during the presidential campaign, such as neurosurgeon Ben Carson as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development,{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Gabriel|first=Trip|author-link=Trip Gabriel|date=December 5, 2016|title=Trump Chooses Ben Carson to Lead HUD|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/us/politics/ben-carson-housing-urban-development-trump.html|access-date=December 5, 2016}} and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley as Ambassador to the United Nations.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Markon|first1=Jerry|last2=Costa|first2=Robert|last3=Brown|first3=Emma|author-link=Robert Costa (journalist)|date=November 23, 2016|title=Trump nominates two prominent GOP women: DeVos as education secretary, Haley as U.N. ambassador|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sc-gov-nikki-haley-tapped-to-be-trumps-un-ambassador/2016/11/23/c1395cb6-b144-11e6-8616-52b15787add0_story.html|access-date=November 23, 2016}}

{{Main|First cabinet of Donald Trump|List of dismissals and resignations in the first Trump administration}}

{{See also|Vice presidency of Mike Pence}}

Days after the presidential election, Trump selected RNC Chairman Reince Priebus as his chief of staff.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Shear|first1=Michael|last2=Haberman|first2=Maggie|author2-link=Maggie Haberman|last3=Rappeport|first3=Alan|title=Donald Trump Picks Reince Priebus as Chief of Staff and Stephen Bannon as Strategist|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/us/politics/reince-priebus-chief-of-staff-donald-trump.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 13, 2016|access-date=November 14, 2016}} Trump chose Sessions for the position of attorney general.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Stokols|first=Eli|title=What Trump's early picks say about his administration|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/trump-cabinet-selections-231617 |newspaper=Politico|date=November 18, 2016|access-date=November 18, 2016}}

In February 2017, Trump formally announced his cabinet structure, elevating the Director of National Intelligence and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency to cabinet level. The Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, which had been added to the cabinet by Obama in 2009, was removed from the cabinet. Trump's cabinet consisted of 24 members, more than Obama at 23 or George W. Bush at 21.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/president-trump-announces-his-full-cabinet-roster-044552214.html |first=Hunter |last=Walker |work=Yahoo! News |date=February 8, 2017 |title=President Trump announces his full Cabinet roster|access-date=February 9, 2017}}

On February 13, 2017, Trump fired Michael Flynn from the post of National Security Advisor on grounds that he had lied to Vice President Pence about his communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak; Flynn later pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about his contacts with Russia.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Goldman|first1=Adam|last2=Mazzetti|first2=Mark|date=May 14, 2020|title=Trump White House Changes Its Story on Michael Flynn|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/us/politics/trump-michael-flynn.html|access-date=May 20, 2020|issn=0362-4331}} Flynn was fired amidst the ongoing controversy concerning Russian interference in the 2016 election and accusations that Trump's electoral team colluded with Russian agents.

In July 2017, John F. Kelly, who had served as secretary of Homeland Security, replaced Priebus as chief of staff.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Bender|first1=Bryan|last2=Hesson|first2=Ted|last3=Beasley|first3=Stephanie|title=How John Kelly got West Wing cleanup duty|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/28/who-is-white-house-chief-of-staff-john-kelly-241106 |access-date=July 29, 2017|newspaper=Politico|date=July 28, 2017}} In September 2017, Tom Price resigned as Secretary of HHS amid criticism over his use of private charter jets for personal travel.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/29/trump-to-decide-friday-night-whether-to-fire-hhs-secretary-price/|title=Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigns after criticism for taking charter flights at taxpayer expense|last1=Goldstein|first1=Amy|last2=Wagner|first2=John|date=September 29, 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=September 29, 2017}} Kirstjen Nielsen succeeded Kelly as secretary in December 2017.{{cite press release |url = https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/12/06/kirstjen-m-nielsen-sworn-sixth-homeland-security-secretary |title = Kirstjen M. Nielsen Sworn-in as the Sixth Homeland Security Secretary |date = December 6, 2017 |website = Department of Homeland Security |access-date = December 6, 2017 |archive-date = December 6, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171206174245/https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/12/06/kirstjen-m-nielsen-sworn-sixth-homeland-security-secretary |url-status = live }} Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was fired via a tweet in March 2018; Trump appointed Mike Pompeo to replace Tillerson and Gina Haspel to succeed Pompeo as the director of the CIA.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Mangan|first=Dan|title=Rex Tillerson found out he was fired as secretary of State from President Donald Trump's tweet|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/13/tillerson-learned-he-was-fired-from-trumps-tweet.html|access-date=April 5, 2018|work=CNBC |date=March 13, 2018}} In the wake of a series of scandals, Scott Pruitt resigned as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in July 2018.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Dennis|first1=Brady|last2=Eilperin|first2=Juliet|title=Scott Pruitt steps down as EPA head after ethics, management scandals|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-epa-head-steps-down-after-wave-of-ethics-management-scandals/2018/07/05/39f4251a-6813-11e8-bea7-c8eb28bc52b1_story.html|access-date=July 5, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 5, 2018}} Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis informed Trump of his resignation following Trump's abrupt December 19, 2018, announcement that the remaining 2,000 American troops in Syria would be withdrawn, against the recommendations of his military and civilian advisors.{{#invoke:Cite|news|title='A sad day for America': Washington fears a Trump unchecked by Mattis|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-sad-day-for-america-washington-fears-a-trump-unchecked-by-mattis/2018/12/20/faef8da0-04ac-11e9-b6a9-0aa5c2fcc9e4_story.html |access-date=November 8, 2021 |first1=Greg |last1=Jaffe |first2=Karoun |last2=Demirjian |date=December 20, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

Trump fired numerous inspectors general of agencies, including those who were probing the Trump administration and close Trump associates. In 2020, he fired five inspectors general in two months. The Washington Post wrote, "For the first time since the system was created in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, inspectors general find themselves under systematic attack from the president, putting independent oversight of federal spending and operations at risk."{{#invoke:Cite|news|date=May 4, 2020 |first1=Lisa |last1=Rein |first2=Tom |last2=Hamburger |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=As Trump removes federal watchdogs, some loyalists replacing them have 'preposterous' conflicts|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-trump-removes-federal-watchdogs-some-loyalists-replacing-them-have-extensive-conflicts/2020/05/24/8dad46a4-9b89-11ea-a2b3-5c3f2d1586df_story.html}}

{{Main|Dismissal of James Comey}}

Trump dismissed FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017, saying he had accepted the recommendations of Attorney General Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to dismiss Comey. Sessions's recommendation was based on Rosenstein's, while Rosenstein wrote that Comey should be dismissed for his handling of the conclusion of the FBI investigation into the Hillary Clinton email controversy.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Gambacorta|first=David|title=Rod Rosenstein: one-man man standing in Trump's way is the president's polar opposite|url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/rod-rosenstein-trump-russia-investigation-robert-mueller-20170727.html |date=July 27, 2017 |website=philly.com|publisher=The Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=February 20, 2019}} On May 10, Trump met Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office. Based on White House notes of the meeting, Trump told the Russians, "I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job{{spaces}}... I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Apuzzo|first1=Matt|author1-link=Matt Apuzzo|last2=Haberman|first2=Maggie|author2-link=Maggie Haberman|last3=Rosenberg|first3=Matthew|author3-link=Matthew Rosenberg|title=Trump Told Russians That Firing 'Nut Job' Comey Eased Pressure From Investigation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/us/politics/trump-russia-comey.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 19, 2017|access-date=May 19, 2017}} On May 11, Trump said in a videoed interview, "...{{spaces}}regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey{{spaces}}... in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story."{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Shabad|first=Rebecca|title=Trump says he planned to fire James Comey regardless of DOJ recommendation|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-says-he-planned-to-fire-james-comey-regardless-of-doj-recommendation/ |date=May 11, 2017 |work=CBS News|access-date=February 20, 2019}} On May 18, Rosenstein told members of the U.S. Senate that he recommended Comey's dismissal while knowing Trump had already decided to fire Comey.{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Leigh Ann|last=Caldwell|title=Rosenstein Tells Senate He Knew of Comey Firing Before He Wrote Memo|date=May 18, 2017|work=NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/rosenstein-tells-senate-he-knew-comey-firing-he-wrote-memo-n761666 |access-date=November 8, 2021}} In the aftermath of Comey's firing, the events were compared with those of the "Saturday Night Massacre" during Richard Nixon's administration and there was debate over whether Trump had provoked a constitutional crisis, as he had dismissed the man leading an investigation into Trump's associates.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Rosen|first=Jeffrey|author-link=Jeffrey Rosen (legal academic)|title=Does Comey's Dismissal Fit the Definition of a Constitutional Crisis?|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/president-trump-james-comey-constitutional-crisis/526299/|access-date=May 12, 2017|work=The Atlantic|date=May 11, 2017}} Trump's statements raised concerns of potential obstruction of justice.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/30/us/politics/questions-mueller-wants-to-ask-trump-russia.html |date=April 30, 2018 |first1=Matt |last1=Apuzzo |first2=Michael S. |last2=Schmidt |title=The Questions Mueller Wants to Ask Trump About Obstruction, and What They Mean|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=October 20, 2018}} In Comey's memo about a February 2017 meeting with Trump, Comey said Trump attempted to persuade him to abort the investigation into Flynn.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Schmidt|first=Michael S.|author-link=Michael S. Schmidt|date=May 16, 2017|title=Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html|access-date=May 16, 2017}}

{{Further|List of federal judges appointed by Donald Trump|Donald Trump judicial appointment controversies}}

File:President Trump Nominates Judge Amy Coney Barrett for Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (50397909157).jpg and her family with Trump on September 26, 2020]]

After Republicans won control of the U.S. Senate in 2014, only 28.6 percent of judicial nominees were confirmed, "the lowest percentage of confirmations from 1977 to 2018".{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Boghani |first=Priyanka |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-mcconnell-and-the-senate-helped-trump-set-records-in-appointing-judges/ |title=How McConnell's Bid to Reshape the Federal Judiciary Extends Beyond the Supreme Court |work=PBS |date=October 16, 2020 |access-date=May 15, 2021}} At the end of the Obama presidency, 105 judgeships were vacant.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Greenberg |first=Jon |url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/oct/02/donald-trump/fact-check-why-barack-obama-failed-fill-over-100-j/ |title=Fact-check: Why Barack Obama failed to fill over 100 judgeships |work=Politifact |date=October 2, 2020 |access-date=May 15, 2021}} Senate Republicans, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, prioritized confirming Trump's judicial appointees, doing so rapidly.{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Li|last=Zhou|date=May 4, 2020|title='Leave no vacancy behind': Mitch McConnell remains laser-focused on judges amid coronavirus|work=Vox|url=https://www.vox.com/2020/5/4/21246313/federal-judges-mitch-mcconnell-senate-coronavirus-pandemic |access-date=November 8, 2021}} By November 2018, Trump had appointed 29 judges to the U.S. courts of appeals, more than any modern president in the first two years of a presidential term.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Cancryn|first=Adam|title=Even if Democrats win, Trump has them beat on the courts|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/05/trump-courts-elections-judges-960754|access-date=January 12, 2019|work=Politico|date=November 5, 2018}}

Trump ultimately appointed 226 Article III federal judges and 260 federal judges in total.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/13/how-trump-compares-with-other-recent-presidents-in-appointing-federal-judges/ |access-date=November 8, 2021 |first=John |last=Gramlich |date=January 13, 2021 |title=How Trump compares with other recent presidents in appointing federal judges}} His appointees, who were usually affiliated with the conservative Federalist Society, shifted the judiciary to the right.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Ruiz|first1=Rebecca R.|last2=Gebeloff|first2=Robert|last3=Eder|first3=Steve|last4=Protess|first4=Ben|date=March 14, 2020|title=A Conservative Agenda Unleashed on the Federal Courts|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/us/trump-appeals-court-judges.html |access-date=November 8, 2021}} A third of Trump's appointees were under 45 years old when appointed, far higher than under previous presidents. Trump's judicial nominees were less likely to be female or ethnic minority than those of the previous administration.{{#invoke:Cite|web|date=November 14, 2017|title=Trump choosing white men as judges, highest rate in decades|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-choosing-white-men-as-judges-highest-rate-in-decades/|access-date=December 21, 2021|website=www.cbsnews.com|language=en-US}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Gramlich|first=John|date=March 20, 2018|title=Trump has appointed a larger share of female judges than other GOP presidents, but lags Obama |publisher=Pew Research Center|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/02/trump-has-appointed-a-larger-share-of-female-judges-than-other-gop-presidents-but-lags-obama/ |access-date=May 11, 2018}} Of Trump's judicial appointments to the U.S. courts of appeals (circuit courts), two-thirds were white men, compared to 31% of Obama nominees and 63% of George W. Bush nominees.{{#invoke:Cite|web|first=Andrew|last=Cohen|date=July 1, 2020|url=https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/trump-and-mcconnells-overwhelmingly-white-male-judicial-appointments |access-date=November 8, 2021 |work=Brennan Center for Justice |publisher=New York University School of Law|title=Trump and McConnell's Overwhelmingly White Male Judicial Appointments}}

{{main|Donald Trump Supreme Court candidates}}

Trump made three nominations to the Supreme Court: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett:

• Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch in January 2017 to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, which had not been filled by Obama because the Republican-majority Senate did not consider the nomination of Merrick Garland. The Senate confirmed Gorsuch in a mostly party-line vote of 54–45 in April 2017.{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Leigh Ann|last=Caldwell|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/neil-gorsuch-confirmed-supreme-court-after-senate-uses-nuclear-option-n743766 |access-date=November 8, 2021 |work=NBC News|title=Neil Gorsuch Confirmed to Supreme Court After Senate Uses 'Nuclear Option'|date=April 7, 2020}} Gorsuch's confirmation was one of Trump's major first year accomplishments, made as part of a "100{{nbh}}day pledge".Jacobson, Louis (April 24, 2017). [https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2017/apr/24/donald-trump/how-do-donald-trumps-first-100-days-rate-historica/ "How do Donald Trump's first 100 days rate historically?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424073916/https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/apr/24/donald-trump/how-do-donald-trumps-first-100-days-rate-historica/ |date=April 24, 2019 }}. PolitiFact. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
• Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh in July 2018 to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was considered a key swing vote on the Supreme Court. The Senate confirmed Kavanaugh in a mostly party-line vote of 50–48 in October 2018 after allegations that Kavanaugh had attempted to rape another student when they were both in high school, which Kavanaugh denied.{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Sheryl Gay|last=Stolberg|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/us/politics/brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court.html |access-date=November 8, 2021 |date=October 6, 2018|title=Kavanaugh Is Sworn In After Close Confirmation Vote in Senate|newspaper=The New York Times}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Barnes|first=Robert|title=Justice Kennedy, the pivotal swing vote on the Supreme Court, announces his retirement|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/justice-kennedy-the-pivotal-swing-vote-on-the-supreme-court-announces-retirement/2018/06/27/a40a8c64-5932-11e7-a204-ad706461fa4f_story.html|access-date=August 26, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 27, 2018}}
• Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett in September 2020 to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg was considered part of the Court's liberal wing and her replacement with a conservative jurist substantially changed the ideological composition of the Supreme Court.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Baker|first1=Peter|last2=Haberman|first2=Maggie|date=September 25, 2020|title=Trump Selects Amy Coney Barrett to Fill Ginsburg's Seat on the Supreme Court|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/25/us/politics/amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court.html |access-date=November 8, 2021 |author1-link=Peter Baker (journalist)|author2-link=Maggie Haberman}} Democrats opposed the nomination, arguing that the court vacancy should not be filled until after the 2020 presidential election. On October 26, 2020, the Senate confirmed Barrett by a mostly party-line vote of 52–48, with all Democrats opposing her confirmation.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-amy-coney-barrett-vote |first=Tyler |last=Olson |title=Senate confirms Amy Coney Barrett to Supreme Court, cements 6-3 conservative majority|website=Fox News|date=October 26, 2020|access-date=December 17, 2020}}

{{See also|Rhetoric of Donald Trump}}

Trump's own staffers, subordinates, and allies frequently characterized Trump as infantile.{{Cite book |last = Drezner |first = Daniel W. |title = The Toddler-in-Chief |date = 2020 |publisher = University of Chicago Press |doi = 10.7208/chicago/9780226714394.001.0001 |isbn = 978-0-226-71425-7 |s2cid = 202954099}} Trump reportedly eschewed reading detailed briefing documents, including the President's Daily Brief, in favor of receiving oral briefings.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/breaking-with-tradition-trump-skips-presidents-written-intelligence-report-for-oral-briefings/2018/02/09/b7ba569e-0c52-11e8-95a5-c396801049ef_story.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |date=February 9, 2018 |first1=Carol D. |last1=Leonnig |first2=Shane |last2=Harris |first3=Greg |last3=Jaffe |title=Breaking with tradition, Trump skips president's written intelligence report and relies on oral briefings|newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/americas-first-post-text-president/549794/ |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=The President Who Doesn't Read |first=David A. |last=Graham |date=January 5, 2018 |website=The Atlantic}} Intelligence briefers reportedly repeated the President's name and title in order to keep his attention.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-intelligence-reports-white-house-read-them-mentioned-name-president-a7740726.html |first=Andrew |last=Griffin |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=Donald Trump will only read intelligence reports if he is mentioned in them, White House sources claim|date=May 17, 2017 |website=The Independent}}{{cite magazine |url = https://time.com/5518947/donald-trump-intelligence-briefings-national-security/ |date = February 5, 2019 |first = John |last = Walcott |access-date = November 7, 2021 |title = 'Willful Ignorance'. Inside President Trump's Troubled Intel Briefings |magazine = Time |archive-date = October 27, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211027091400/https://time.com/5518947/donald-trump-intelligence-briefings-national-security/ |url-status = live }} He was also known to acquire information by watching up to eight hours of television each day, most notably Fox News programs such as Fox & Friends and Hannity, whose broadcast talking points Trump sometimes repeated in public statements, particularly in early morning tweets.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/09/us/politics/donald-trump-president.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Inside Trump's Hour-by-Hour Battle for Self-Preservation|first1=Maggie|last1=Haberman|first2=Glenn|last2=Thrush|first3=Peter|last3=Baker|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 9, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/22/media/president-trump-fox-news/index.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Watch President Trump repeat Fox News talking points|first=Jackie|last=Wattles|date=April 22, 2018|website=CNNMoney}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/05/trump-media-feedback-loop-216248/ |access-date=November 11, 2021 |date=January 5, 2018 |title=I've Studied the Trump-Fox Feedback Loop for Months. It's Crazier Than You Think.|first=Matthew |last=Gertz |website=Politico}} Trump reportedly expressed anger if intelligence analyses contradicted his beliefs or public statements, with two briefers stating they had been instructed by superiors to not provide Trump with information that contradicted his public statements.

Trump had reportedly fostered chaos as a management technique, resulting in low morale and policy confusion among his staff.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/us/politics/trump-chaos-oval-office.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Trump's Chaos Theory for the Oval Office Is Taking Its Toll|first1=Mark|last1=Landler|first2=Maggie|last2=Haberman |date=March 1, 2018 |newspaper=The New York Times}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/13/business-professors-discuss-donald-trumps-chaotic-management-style.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Business professors discuss Donald Trump's chaotic management style|first=Ruth|last=Umoh|date=March 13, 2018 |work=CNBC}} Trump proved unable to effectively compromise during the 115th U.S. Congress, which led to significant governmental gridlock and few notable legislative accomplishments despite Republican control of both houses of Congress.{{#invoke:Cite|journal| last=Binder| first=Sarah| date=2018| title=Dodging the Rules in Trump's Republican Congress| journal=The Journal of Politics| volume=80| issue=4| pages=1454–1463| doi=10.1086/699334| s2cid=158183066| issn=0022-3816}} Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin found Trump lacked several traits of an effective leader, including "humility, acknowledging errors, shouldering blame and learning from mistakes, empathy, resilience, collaboration, connecting with people and controlling unproductive emotions."{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/business/trump-staff-turnover-leadership.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Why Trump's Unusual Leadership Style Isn't Working in the White House|first=James B.|last=Stewart|date=January 10, 2019|newspaper=The New York Times}}

In January 2018, Axios reported Trump's working hours were typically around 11:00{{spaces}}a.m. to 6:00{{spaces}}p.m. (a later start and an earlier end compared to the beginning of his presidency) and that he was holding fewer meetings during his working hours in order to accommodate Trump's desire for more unstructured free time (labelled as "executive time").{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Swan|first=Jonathan|title= Trump's secret, shrinking schedule|url=https://www.axios.com/scoop-trumps-secret-shrinking-schedule-1515364904-ab76374a-6252-4570-a804-942b3f851840.html |date=January 7, 2018 |work=Axios |access-date=February 12, 2019}} In 2019, Axios published Trump's schedule from November 7, 2018, to February 1, 2019, and calculated that around sixty percent of the time between 8:00{{spaces}}a.m. and 5:00{{spaces}}p.m. was "executive time."{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.axios.com/donald-trump-private-schedules-leak-executive-time-34e67fbb-3af6-48df-aefb-52e02c334255.html| title= Insider leaks Trump's "Executive Time"-filled private schedules|last1=McCammond|first1=Alexi|last2=Swan|first2=Jonathan|date=February 3, 2019|work=Axios|access-date=February 5, 2019}}

{{Main|False or misleading statements by Donald Trump}}

{{ multiple image | total_width=320

|image1= 2017- Donald Trump veracity - composite graph.png |caption1= Fact-checkers from The Washington Post{{cite news |author1=Fact Checker |title=In four years, President Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120194744/https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/ |archive-date=January 20, 2021 |url-status=live }} (orange), the Toronto Star{{cite news|last1=Dale|first1=Daniel|author-link=Daniel Dale|date=June 5, 2019|title=Donald Trump has now said more than 5,000 false things as president|work=Toronto Star|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/analysis/2019/06/05/donald-trump-has-now-said-more-than-5000-false-claims-as-president.html|url-status=live|access-date=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003215457/https://www.thestar.com/news/world/analysis/2019/06/05/donald-trump-has-now-said-more-than-5000-false-claims-as-president.html|archive-date=October 3, 2019}} and CNN{{cite news |last1=Dale |first1=Daniel |title=Trump is averaging about 59 false claims per week since ... July 8, 2019. |url=https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1237083913496989702 |agency=CNN|date=March 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200309184231/https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1237083913496989702 |archive-date=March 9, 2020 |url-status=live |access-date=April 16, 2020 }} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20200415192932/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ESsA5nTXYAA562e?format=png direct link to chart image]){{cite web | last1=Dale | first1=Daniel | last2=Subramaniam | first2=Tara | title=Donald Trump made 115 false claims in the last two weeks of February | website=CNN | date=March 9, 2020 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/politics/fact-check-trump-false-claims-february/index.html | access-date=August 3, 2021 | archive-date=August 3, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803235929/https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/politics/fact-check-trump-false-claims-february/index.html | url-status=live }} (blue) compiled data on "false or misleading claims", and "false claims", respectively. The peaks corresponded in late 2018 to the midterm elections, in late 2019 to his impeachment inquiry, and in late 2020 to the presidential election. The Post reported 30,573 false or misleading claims in four years, an average of more than 20.9 per day.

}}

The number and scale of Trump's statements in public speeches, remarks, and tweets identified as false by scholars, fact-checkers, and commentators were characterized as unprecedented for an American president,{{#invoke:Cite|journal|first=Carole|last=McGranahan|url=https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/amet.12475|title=An anthropology of lying: Trump and the political sociality of moral outrage|journal=American Ethnologist|volume=44|issue=2|date=April 2017|pages=243–248|doi=10.1111/amet.12475|quote=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.{{spaces}}... Stretching the truth and exaggerating is a key part of Trump's repertoire.|access-date=June 13, 2020|archive-date=January 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126005215/https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/amet.12475|url-status=dead}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|access-date=November 11, 2021 |first=Grace |last=Segers |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/washington-post-fact-checker-talks-trumps-false-statements/|title=Washington Post fact checker talks about Trump and the truth |work=CBS News |date=June 12, 2020|quote=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.{{spaces}}... 'What is unique about Trump is that he misleads and says false things and lies about just about everything on a regular basis.'}} and even unprecedented in U.S. politics.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Stolberg|first=Sheryl Gay|date=August 7, 2017|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/07/us/politics/lies-trump-obama-mislead.html|title=Many Politicians Lie. But Trump Has Elevated the Art of Fabrication|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 11, 2019|quote=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.}} The New Yorker called falsehoods a distinctive part of his political identity,{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/trumps-escalating-war-on-the-truth-is-on-purpose| title=It's True: Trump Is Lying More, and He's Doing It on Purpose| magazine=The New Yorker| date=August 3, 2018| access-date=January 10, 2019| first=Susan| last=Glasser| quote=for the President's unprecedented record of untruths{{spaces}}... the previous gold standard in Presidential lying was, of course, Richard Nixon{{spaces}}... the falsehoods are as much a part of his political identity as his floppy orange hair and the "Make America Great Again" slogan.}} and they have also been described by Republican political advisor Amanda Carpenter as a gaslighting tactic.{{cite book |last = Carpenter |first = Amanda |author-link = Amanda Carpenter |title = Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wPKmtAEACAAJ |publisher = HarperCollins |access-date = March 2, 2019 |isbn = 978-0-06-274801-0 |date = April 30, 2019}} His White House had dismissed the idea of objective truth,{{cite book |last = Kakutani |first = Michiko |author-link = Michiko Kakutani |title = The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vlw_DwAAQBAJ |publisher = Crown Publishing Group |access-date = March 2, 2019 |isbn = 978-0-525-57484-2 |date = July 17, 2018}} and his campaign and presidency have been described as being "post-truth",{{cite book |last = Kellner |first = Douglas |author-link = Douglas Kellner |title = Post-Truth, Fake News |pages = 89–100 |chapter = Donald Trump and the Politics of Lying |doi = 10.1007/978-981-10-8013-5_7 |year = 2018 |isbn = 978-981-10-8012-8}} as well as hyper-Orwellian.{{cite book |last = Peters |first = Michael A. |author-link = Michael Adrian Peters |title = Post-Truth, Fake News |pages = 145–150 |chapter = Education in a Post-truth World |doi = 10.1007/978-981-10-8013-5_12 |url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323242136 |year = 2018 |isbn = 978-981-10-8012-8 |s2cid = 152030865 |access-date = November 8, 2021 |archive-date = November 10, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211110172459/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323242136_Education_in_a_Post-truth_World |url-status = live }} Trump's rhetorical signature included disregarding data from federal institutions that was incompatible to his arguments; quoting hearsay, anecdotal evidence, and questionable claims in partisan media; denying reality (including his own statements); and distracting when falsehoods were exposed.{{#invoke:Cite|journal|last1=Jamieson|first1=Kathleen Hall|last2=Taussig|first2=Doron|title=Disruption, Demonization, Deliverance, and Norm Destruction: The Rhetorical Signature of Donald J. Trump|journal=Political Science Quarterly|date=2017|volume=132|issue=4|pages=619–650|url=https://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA523610257&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00323195&p=AONE&sw=w|access-date=March 2, 2019|doi=10.1002/polq.12699 |s2cid=158646001}}

During the first year of Trump's presidency, The Washington Post{{'s}} fact-checking team wrote that Trump was "the most fact-challenged politician" it had "ever encountered{{spaces}}... the pace and volume of the president's misstatements means that we cannot possibly keep up."{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Ye|first1=Hee Lee Michelle|last2=Kessler|first2=Glenn|last3=Kelly|first3=Meg|title=President Trump has made 1,318 false or misleading claims over 263 days|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/10/10/president-trump-has-made-1318-false-or-misleading-claims-over-263-days/ |date=October 10, 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=November 5, 2017}} The Post found that as president, Trump made more than 30,000 false or misleading claims, increasing from an average of six a day in his first year as president to 39 claims a day in his final year.{{Cite news |date=January 24, 2021 |title=Trump's false or misleading claims total 30,573 over 4 years |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claims-total-30573-over-four-years/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=March 6, 2024 |archive-date=April 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240409180445/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claims-total-30573-over-four-years/ |url-status=live }} The most common false or misleading claims by Trump involved the economy and jobs, his border wall proposal, and his tax legislation; he had also made false statements regarding prior administrations,{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/14/president-trump-made-18000-false-or-misleading-claims-1170-days/|access-date=November 11, 2021|title=President Trump made 18,000 false or misleading claims in 1,170 days|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=December 16, 2019|first1=Glenn|last1=Kessler|first2=Salvador|last2=Rizzo|first3=Meg|last3=Kelly}} as well as other topics, including crime, terrorism, immigration, Russia and the Mueller probe, the Ukraine probe, immigration, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Senior administration officials had also regularly given false, misleading, or tortured statements to the news media,{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/trump-russia-trust-problem-238422 |first=Josh |last=Dawsey |date=May 15, 2017 |title=Trump's trust problem|work=Politico|access-date=May 16, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Tsipursky|first=Gleb|title=Towards a post-lies future: fighting "alternative facts" and "post-truth" politics|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/b72eb456caa5be84ac308a52020ee357/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=35529 |date=March 2017|work=The Humanist|access-date=March 2, 2019}} which made it difficult for the news media to take official statements seriously.

Shortly before Trump secured the 2016 Republican nomination, The New York Times reported "legal experts across the political spectrum say" Trump's rhetoric reflected "a constitutional worldview that shows contempt for the First Amendment, the separation of powers, and the rule of law," adding "many conservative and libertarian legal scholars warn that electing Mr. Trump is a recipe for a constitutional crisis."{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/us/politics/donald-trump-constitution-power.html |first=Adam |last=Liptak |date=June 4, 2016 |title=Donald Trump Could Threaten U.S. Rule of Law, Scholars Say|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=November 18, 2018}} Political scientists warned that candidate Trump's rhetoric and actions mimicked those of other politicians who ultimately turned authoritarian once in office.{{cite book |access-date = November 10, 2021 |last = Levitsky |first = Steven |title = How democracies die |date = January 16, 2018 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iF3ODgAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 |pages = 61–67 |publisher = Crown |isbn = 978-0-525-58795-8 |oclc = 1019872575}} Some scholars have concluded that during Trump's tenure as president and largely due to his actions and rhetoric, the U.S. has experienced democratic backsliding.{{#invoke:Cite|journal|last1=Lieberman |first1=Robert C. |last2=Mettler |first2=Suzanne |last3=Pepinsky |first3=Thomas B. |last4=Roberts |first4=Kenneth M. |last5=Valelly |first5=Richard |title=The Trump Presidency and American Democracy: A Historical and Comparative Analysis |journal=Perspectives on Politics |date=October 29, 2018 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=470–479 |doi=10.1017/S1537592718003286 |issn=1537-5927 |doi-access=free}}{{#invoke:Cite|journal|last1=Kaufman |first1=Robert R. |last2=Haggard |first2=Stephan |title=Democratic Decline in the United States: What Can We Learn from Middle-Income Backsliding? |journal=Perspectives on Politics |date=October 29, 2018 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=417–432 |doi=10.1017/s1537592718003377 |issn=1537-5927 |doi-access=free}} Many prominent Republicans have expressed similar concerns that Trump's perceived disregard for the rule of law betrayed conservative principles.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.nhpr.org/all-things-considered/2018-05-23/bill-kristol-really-wants-someone-to-challenge-trump |title=Bill Kristol Really Wants Someone to Challenge Trump|first=Peter|last=Biello|date=May 23, 2018|publisher=NHPR|access-date=November 18, 2018}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/opinion/republicans-midterms-trump.html |date=June 25, 2018 |first=David |last=Leonhardt |title=Opinion – Republicans Against Trump|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=November 18, 2018}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Just in time: A new Republican group seeks to protect Mueller |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 11, 2018 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/04/11/just-in-time-a-new-republican-group-seeks-to-protect-mueller/ |first=Jennifer |last=Rubin |access-date=November 10, 2021}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Conservative Lawyers Say Trump Has Undermined the Rule of Law |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/us/politics/conservative-lawyers-trump.html |first=Adam |last=Liptak |access-date=November 18, 2018 |date=November 14, 2018}}

During the first two years of his presidency, Trump repeatedly sought to influence the Department of Justice to investigate Clinton,{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/trumpometer/promise/1345/appoint-special-prosecutor-investigate-hillary-cli/ |access-date=November 10, 2021 |title=No special counsel was ever appointed to investigate Hillary Clinton |work=PolitiFact |first=Louis |last=Jacobson |date=July 15, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|access-date=November 10, 2021 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/03/trump-doj-investigate-hillary-clinton-244505 |title=Trump ratchets up call for DOJ to investigate Hillary Clinton |first=Louis |last=Nelson |website=Politico |date=November 3, 2017}} the Democratic National Committee,{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/358576-trump-calls-on-fbi-to-investigate-dems-after-revelations-about/|first1=Jordan|last1=Fabian|first2=Avery|last2=Anapol|title=Trump calls on FBI to investigate Clinton-DNC deal|work=The Hill|date=November 3, 2017|access-date=September 18, 2022}} and Comey.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-foes-james-comey-andrew-mccabe-reportedly-subjected-rare-rigorou-rcna37024|title=IRS asks for review of audits into Trump foes James Comey and Andrew McCabe|date=July 7, 2022|first1=Zoë|last1=Richards|first2=Dareh|last2=Gregorian|work=NBC News|access-date=September 19, 2022}} He persistently repeated a variety of allegations, at least some of which had already been investigated or debunked.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/03/trump-doj-investigate-hillary-clinton-244505 |first=Louis |last=Nelson |title=Trump ratchets up call for DOJ to investigate Hillary Clinton |work=Politico |access-date=November 21, 2018 |date=November 3, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/20/politics/donald-trump-justice-department-campaign/index.html|title=Trump demands Justice Department examine whether it or FBI spied on campaign |first1=Maegan |last1=Vazquez |first2=Laura |last2=Jarrett |first3=Dana |last3=Bash |date=May 20, 2018 |work=CNN|access-date=November 21, 2018}} In spring 2018, Trump told White House counsel Don McGahn he wanted to order the Department of Justice to prosecute Clinton and Comey, but McGahn advised Trump such action would constitute abuse of power and invite possible impeachment.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/us/politics/president-trump-justice-department.html |date=November 20, 2018 |first1=Michael S. |last1=Schmidt |first2=Maggie |last2=Haberman |title=Trump Wanted to Order Justice Dept. to Prosecute Comey and Clinton |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=November 21, 2018}} In May 2018, Trump demanded that the Department of Justice investigate "whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes," which the Department of Justice referred to its inspector general.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/20/us/politics/trump-mueller.html |date=May 20, 2018 |first1=Julie Hirschfeld |last1=Davis |first2=Adam |last2=Goldman |title=Trump Demands Inquiry Into Whether Justice Dept. 'Infiltrated or Surveilled' His Campaign|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=November 21, 2018}} Although it is not unlawful for a president to exert influence on the Department of Justice to open an investigation, presidents have assiduously avoided doing so to prevent perceptions of political interference.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-politics-north-america-ap-top-news-impeachments-060ca2399a744b4a9554dbd2ec276a90 |title=Trump Wanted to Prosecute Comey, Hillary Clinton|work=Associated Press |date=November 21, 2018 |first=Zeke |last=Miller |access-date=November 21, 2018}}

Sessions resisted several demands by Trump and his allies for investigations of political opponents, causing Trump to repeatedly express frustration, saying at one point, "I don't have an attorney general."{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/09/19/649475687/trump-again-slams-jeff-sessions-i-don-t-have-an-attorney-general|title=Trump Again Slams Jeff Sessions: 'I Don't Have An Attorney General'|newspaper=NPR|date=September 19, 2018|access-date=November 21, 2018|last1=Seipel|first1=Arnie}} While criticizing the special counsel investigation in July 2019, Trump falsely claimed that the Constitution ensures that "I have to the right to do whatever I want as president."{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Brice-Saddler|first=Michael|date=July 23, 2019|title=While bemoaning Mueller probe, Trump falsely says the Constitution gives him 'the right to do whatever I want'|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/23/trump-falsely-tells-auditorium-full-teens-constitution-gives-him-right-do-whatever-i-want/|access-date=July 24, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post}} Trump had on multiple occasions either suggested or promoted views of extending his presidency beyond normal term limits.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Corbett|first=Erin|title=Trump Keeps Alluding to Extending His Presidency. Does He Mean It? |date=May 6, 2019 |url=https://fortune.com/2019/05/06/donald-trump-presidential-term-limit/|access-date=June 17, 2019|website=Fortune}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Wu|first=Nicholas|title=Trump says supporters could 'demand' he not leave office after two terms|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/16/trump-says-supporters-could-demand-he-not-leave-after-two-terms/1471915001/ |date=June 16, 2019 |access-date=June 17, 2019|website=USA Today}}

Trump frequently criticized the independence of the judiciary for unfairly interfering in his administration's ability to decide policy.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Coyle|first=Marcia|date=February 25, 2020|title='Ridiculous and Unhelpful': Commentary on Trump's Bashing of SCOTUS|work=National Law Journal|url=https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2020/02/25/ridiculous-and-unhelpful-commentary-on-trumps-bashing-of-scotus/?slreturn=20200125193933|access-date=February 26, 2020}} In November 2018, in an extraordinary rebuke of a sitting president, Roberts criticized Trump's characterization of a judge who had ruled against his policies as an "Obama judge", adding "That's not law."{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/us/politics/trump-appeals-court-ninth-circuit.html |first=Adam |last=Liptak |date=November 20, 2018 |title=Trump Takes Aim at Appeals Court, Calling It a 'Disgrace'|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=November 21, 2018}} In October 2020, twenty Republican former U.S. attorneys, among them appointees by each Republican president since Eisenhower, characterized Trump as "a threat to the rule of law in our country." Greg Brower, who worked in the Trump administration, asserted, "It's clear that President Trump views the Justice Department and the FBI as his own personal law firm and investigative agency."{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Hamburger |first1=Tom |last2=Barrett |first2=Devlin |title=Former U.S. attorneys – all Republicans – back Biden, saying Trump threatens 'the rule of law' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republican-us-attorneys-back-biden/2020/10/27/c1b55702-17fd-11eb-befb-8864259bd2d8_story.html |access-date=November 10, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 27, 2020}}

File:President Trump's First 100 Days- 45 (33573172373).jpg (the NASA Transition Authorization Act).]]

File:President Trump in Iowa (48051727941).jpg

Early into his presidency, Trump developed a highly contentious relationship with the news media, repeatedly referring to them as the "fake news media" and "the enemy of the people."{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Bondarenko|first=Veronika|title=Trump keeps saying 'enemy of the people' – but the phrase has a very ugly history|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-president-trumps-phrase-an-enemy-of-the-people-2017-2 |date=February 27, 2017 |website=Business Insider|access-date=October 25, 2017}} As a candidate, Trump had refused press credentials for offending publications but said he would not do so if elected.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://money.cnn.com/2016/06/14/media/donald-trump-press-credentials-access/index.html|title=Donald Trump: I won't kick reporters out of White House press briefing room|last=Stelter|first=Brian|work=CNN Business |date=June 14, 2016|access-date=December 28, 2019}} Trump both privately and publicly mused about taking away critical reporters' White House press credentials.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/09/media/president-trump-press-credentials/index.html |date=May 9, 2018 |title=Trump's latest shot at the press corps: 'Take away credentials?' |first1=Brian |last1=Stelter |first2=Kaitlan |last2=Collins |work=CNNMoney |access-date=May 9, 2018}} At the same time, the Trump White House gave temporary press passes to far-right pro-Trump fringe outlets, such as InfoWars and The Gateway Pundit, which are known for publishing hoaxes and conspiracy theories.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/infowars-granted-white-house-press-credentials-2017-5 |first=Maxwell |last=Tani |date=May 22, 2017 |title=Conspiracy outlet InfoWars was granted temporary White House press credentials|work=Business Insider|access-date=May 9, 2018}}{{#invoke:Cite|news| last=Grynbaum| first=Michael M.| title=White House Grants Press Credentials to a Pro-Trump Blog| website=The New York Times| date=February 13, 2017|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/business/the-gateway-pundit-trump.html| access-date=June 4, 2018}}

On his first day in office, Trump falsely accused journalists of understating the size of the crowd at his inauguration and called the news media "among the most dishonest human beings on earth." Trump's claims were notably defended by Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who claimed the inauguration crowd had been the biggest in history, a claim disproven by photographs.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/us/politics/trump-white-house-briefing-inauguration-crowd-size.html|title=With False Claims, Trump Attacks Media on Turnout and Intelligence Rift|first1=Julie Hirschfeld|last1=Davis|first2=Matthew|last2=Rosenberg|date=January 21, 2017|access-date=April 30, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times}} Trump's senior adviser Kellyanne Conway then defended Spicer when asked about the falsehood, saying it was an "alternative fact", not a falsehood.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Jaffe|first=Alexandra|title=Kellyanne Conway: WH Spokesman Gave 'Alternative Facts' on Inauguration Crowd|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/wh-spokesman-gave-alternative-facts-inauguration-crowd-n710466 |date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=January 22, 2017|work=NBC News}}

The administration frequently sought to punish and block access for reporters who broke stories about the administration.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/us/politics/white-house-sean-spicer-briefing.html|title=White House Bars Times and 2 Other News Outlets From Briefing|last=Grynbaum|first=Michael M.|date=February 24, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=February 24, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/reporters-blocked-white-house-gaggle-235360 |title=White House selectively blocks media outlets from briefing with Spicer|last=Gold|first=Hadas|date=February 24, 2017|newspaper=Politico|access-date=February 24, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Michael M.|last=Grynbaum|date=November 13, 2018|title=CNN Sues Trump Administration for Barring Jim Acosta From White House|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/business/media/cnn-jim-acosta-trump-lawsuit.html |access-date=November 11, 2021}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Farhi|first=Paul|date=April 30, 2020|title=Pence staff threatens action against reporter who tweeted about visit to clinic without surgical mask|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/pence-staff-threatens-action-against-reporter-who-tweeted-about-visit-to-clinic-without-surgical-mask/2020/04/30/27c63056-8b0a-11ea-9dfd-990f9dcc71fc_story.html |access-date=May 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501001915/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/pence-staff-threatens-action-against-reporter-who-tweeted-about-visit-to-clinic-without-surgical-mask/2020/04/30/27c63056-8b0a-11ea-9dfd-990f9dcc71fc_story.html |archive-date=May 1, 2020}} Trump frequently criticized right-wing media outlet Fox News for being insufficiently supportive of him,{{#invoke:Cite|news|date=August 28, 2019|title=Trump Blasts Fox News: We Have to Start Looking for a New News Outlet|work=Haaretz|url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/trump-blast-fox-news-we-have-to-start-looking-for-a-new-news-outlet-1.7764396|access-date=September 18, 2019}} threatening to lend his support for alternatives to Fox News on the right.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Bowden|first=John|date=April 26, 2020|title=Trump blasts Fox News, says he wants 'an alternative'|work=The Hill|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/494745-trump-blasts-fox-news-says-he-wants-an-alternative|access-date=April 27, 2020}} On August 16, 2018, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution affirming that "the press is not the enemy of the people."{{#invoke:Cite|web|title=Senate adopts resolution declaring "the press is not the enemy of the people"|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-unanimously-passes-resolution-declaring-the-press-is-not-the-enemy-of-the-people/ |first=Kathryn |last=Watson |date=August 16, 2018 |access-date=August 16, 2018|work=CBS News}}

The relationship between Trump, the news media, and fake news has been studied. One study found that between October{{spaces}}7 and November 14, 2016, while one in four Americans visited a fake news website, "Trump supporters visited the most fake news websites, which were overwhelmingly pro-Trump" and "almost 6{{spaces}}in 10 visits to fake news websites came from the 10% of people with the most conservative online information diets."{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Guess|first1=Andrew|last2=Nyhan|first2=Brendan|last3=Reifler|first3=Jason|date=January 9, 2018|title=Selective Exposure to Misinformation: Evidence from the consumption of fake news during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign|website=Dartmouth.edu|url=https://www.dartmouth.edu/~nyhan/fake-news-2016.pdf|access-date=February 4, 2018}}{{#invoke:Cite|journal|first1=H.|last1=Allcott|first2=M.|last2=Gentzkow|year=2017|title=Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 election|journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives|volume=31|number=2|pages=211–236|access-date=May 3, 2017|url=https://web.stanford.edu/~gentzkow/research/fakenews.pdf|doi=10.1257/jep.31.2.211|s2cid=32730475}} Brendan Nyhan, one of the authors of the study, said in an interview, "People got vastly more misinformation from Donald Trump than they did from fake news websites."{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Sarlin|first=Benjy|title='Fake news' went viral in 2016. This professor studied who clicked.|website=NBC News|date=January 14, 2018|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/fake-news-went-viral-2016-expert-studied-who-clicked-n836581|access-date=February 4, 2018}}

File:19 03 2019 Declaração à imprensa (47423243351).jpgian president Jair Bolsonaro use the term "fake news."{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Trump says he's 'very proud' to hear Bolsonaro use the term 'fake news'|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/434762-trump-says-hes-very-proud-to-hear-bolsonaro-use-the-term-fake-news |first=Brett |last=Samuels |access-date=November 7, 2021 |work=The Hill|date=March 19, 2019}}]]

In October 2018, Trump praised U.S. representative Greg Gianforte for assaulting political reporter Ben Jacobs in 2017.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/us/politics/trump-greg-gianforte-montana.html|title='That's My Kind of Guy,' Trump Says of Republican Lawmaker Who Body-Slammed a Reporter|last=Cochrane|first=Emily|date=October 19, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=October 20, 2018}} According to analysts, the incident marked the first time the president has "openly and directly praised a violent act against a journalist on American soil."{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/18/trump-greg-gianforte-assault-guardian-ben-jacobs|title=Trump praises Gianforte for assault on Guardian reporter: 'He's my guy'|last=Pilkington|first=Ed|date=October 19, 2018|website=The Guardian|access-date=October 19, 2018}} Later that month, as CNN and prominent Democrats were targeted with mail bombs, Trump initially condemned the bomb attempts but shortly thereafter blamed the "Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News" for causing "a very big part of the anger we see today in our society."{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/25/politics/trump-blames-media-for-anger-after-attacks/index.html |date=October 25, 2018 |title=Trump claims media to blame for 'anger' after bombs sent to CNN, Dems |first1=Veronica |last1=Stracqualursi |first2=Liz |last2=Stark |work=CNN |access-date=October 25, 2018}}

The Trump Justice Department obtained by court order the 2017 phone logs or email metadata of reporters from CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, and Politico as part of investigations into leaks of classified information.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/02/politics/trump-administration-phone-records-reporters-new-york-times/index.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |date=June 3, 2021 |title=New York Times reports Trump administration secretly obtained its reporters' phone records|first=Paul |last=LeBlanc |website=CNN}}

{{Main|Donald Trump on social media|Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign#Use of Twitter}}

{{See also|List of nicknames used by Donald Trump}}

Trump continued his use of Twitter following the presidential campaign. He continued to personally tweet from @realDonaldTrump, his personal account, while his staff tweet on his behalf using the official @POTUS account. His use of Twitter was unconventional for a president, with his tweets initiating controversy and becoming news in their own right.{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Andrew|last=Buncombe|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-twitter-tweets-no-regrets-interview-financial-times-a7664641.html|title=Donald Trump does not regret sending any of his tweets|date=April 3, 2017|newspaper=The Independent |access-date=April 30, 2017}} Some scholars have referred to his time in office as the "first true Twitter presidency."{{Cite book |url = https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315447049 |title = Presidential Communication and Character |last = Farnsworth |first = Stephen J. |publisher = Routledge |year = 2018 |doi = 10.4324/9781315447049 |isbn = 978-1-315-44704-9 |access-date = July 23, 2019 |archive-date = August 6, 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200806133630/https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315447049 |url-status = live }} The Trump administration described Trump's tweets as "official statements by the President of the United States."{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Elizabeth|last=Landers|title=Spicer: Tweets are Trump's official statements |access-date=November 11, 2021 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/06/politics/trump-tweets-official-statements/index.html|work=CNN|date=June 6, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720220333/http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/06/politics/trump-tweets-official-statements/index.html|archive-date=July 20, 2017}} The federal judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ruled in 2018 that Trump's blocking of other Twitter users due to opposing political views violated the First Amendment and he must unblock them.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-twitter/trump-unblocks-more-twitter-users-after-u-s-court-ruling-idUSKCN1LE08Q |access-date=November 11, 2021 |work=Reuters|title=Trump unblocks more Twitter users after U.S. court ruling|date=August 29, 2018|first=David|last=Shepardson}} The ruling was upheld on appeal.{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Charlie|last=Savage|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/us/politics/trump-twitter-first-amendment.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times|title=Trump Can't Block Critics From His Twitter Account, Appeals Court Rules|date=July 9, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Katelyn |last=Polantz |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/politics/trump-twitter-block/index.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Appeals court won't revisit ruling saying Trump can't block Twitter users |work=CNN |date=March 23, 2020}}

File:Twitter activity of Donald Trump.png

His tweets have been reported as ill-considered, impulsive, vengeful, and bullying, often being made late at night or in the early hours of the morning.{{#invoke:Cite|journal|last=Ott|first=Brian L.|date=January 1, 2017|title=The age of Twitter: Donald J. Trump and the politics of debasement |journal=Critical Studies in Media Communication|volume=34|issue=1|pages=59–68|doi=10.1080/15295036.2016.1266686 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15295036.2016.1266686 |s2cid=152133074|issn=1529-5036}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/us/politics/freedom-caucus-donald-trump.html|title='We Must Fight Them': Trump Goes After Conservatives of Freedom Caucus|last1=Thrush|first1=Glenn|author1-link=Glenn Thrush|last2=Martin|first2=Jonathan|date=March 30, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=April 30, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/30/15114408/trump-tweets-freedom-caucus-new-york-times |date=March 30, 2017 |title=Were those Trump tweets impulsive or strategic? The latest in a continuing series.|access-date=April 30, 2017 |work=Vox|last1=Prokop|first1=Andrew|last2=Beauchamp|first2=Zack}} His tweets about a Muslim ban were successfully turned against his administration to halt two versions of travel restrictions from some Muslim-majority countries.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.wired.com/2017/03/blocked-immigration-ban-proves-trumps-tweets-will-haunt-presidency/ |date=March 15, 2017 |title=A court just blocked Trump's second immigration ban, proving his tweets will haunt his presidency|first=Issie|last=Lapowsky|magazine=Wired|access-date=April 30, 2017}} He has used Twitter to threaten and intimidate his political opponents and potential political allies needed to pass bills.{{#invoke:Cite|web|title=Trump Used Twitter to Praise and Blame Congress, Yet the Hill Agreed With Him Most of the Time|url=https://www.rollcall.com/2017/12/18/trump-used-twitter-to-praise-and-blame-congress-yet-the-hill-agreed-with-him-most-of-the-time/ |access-date=November 11, 2021 |last=McMinn|first=Sean|date=December 18, 2017|website=Roll Call}} Many tweets appear to be based on stories Trump has seen in the media, including far-right news websites such as Breitbart and television shows such as Fox & Friends.{{#invoke:Cite|news|access-date=June 4, 2018|title=A Trump tweet echoed RT and Breitbart criticisms of the FBI's Russia distraction|url=https://www.vox.com/world/2018/2/20/17029860/trump-rt-breitbart-fbi-russia |date=February 20, 2018 |first=Ricky |last=Zipp |newspaper=Vox}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|access-date=June 4, 2018|title=Trump's Fox News Addiction Is Even Worse Than We Knew|url=https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a20681265/trump-fox-news-sean-hannity/ |first=Jack |last=Holmes |newspaper=Esquire|date=May 14, 2018}}

Trump used Twitter to attack federal judges who ruled against him in court cases{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Kristine |last=Phillips |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/26/all-the-times-trump-personally-attacked-judges-and-why-his-tirades-are-worse-than-wrong/ |title=All the times Trump personally attacked judges{{snd}}and why his tirades are 'worse than wrong' |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171103144335/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/26/all-the-times-trump-personally-attacked-judges-and-why-his-tirades-are-worse-than-wrong/ |archive-date=November 3, 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 26, 2017 |url-status=live |access-date=November 11, 2021}} and to criticize officials within his own administration, including then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, then-National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and, at various times, Attorney General Jeff Sessions.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/28/upshot/donald-trump-twitter-insults.html|title=The 459 People, Places and Things Donald Trump Has Insulted on Twitter: A Complete List|last=Lee|first=Jasmine C.|date=2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 14, 2018|issn=0362-4331}} Tillerson was eventually fired via a tweet by Trump.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Singletary|first=Michelle|title=Trump dumped Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a tweet. What's the worst way you've been fired?|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2018/03/15/trump-dumped-secretary-of-state-rex-tillerson-in-a-tweet-whats-the-worst-way-youve-been-fired/ |date=March 15, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=March 18, 2018}} Trump also tweeted that his Justice Department is part of the American "deep state";{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Trump again at war with 'deep state' Justice Department|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/02/politics/president-donald-trump-deep-state/index.html |date=January 2, 2018 |first1=Stephen |last1=Collinson |first2=Jeremy |last2=Diamond |newspaper=CNN|access-date=March 18, 2018}} that "there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State" Departments; and that the special counsel investigation is a "WITCH HUNT!"{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Griffiths|first=Brent|title=Trump slams Comey, mentions Mueller for first time in tweet|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/17/trump-james-comey-andrew-mccabe-fbi-469008 |date=March 17, 2018 |work=Politico|access-date=March 18, 2018}} In August 2018, Trump used Twitter to write that Attorney General Jeff Sessions "should stop" the special counsel investigation immediately; he also referred to it as "rigged" and its investigators as biased.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia/trump-says-attorney-general-should-stop-mueller-probe-right-now-idUSKBN1KM539| title=Trump says attorney general should stop Mueller probe 'right now'| work=Reuters| date=August 1, 2018| access-date=August 1, 2018| first=Doina| last=Chiacu}}

{{Tweet|name=((Twitter Safety))|username=TwitterSafety|date=January 8, 2021|text=After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.|ID=1347684877634838528 }} In February 2020, Trump tweeted criticism of the prosecutors' proposed sentence for Trump's former aide Roger Stone. A few hours later, the Justice Department replaced the prosecutors' proposed sentence with a lighter proposal. This gave the appearance of presidential interference in a criminal case and caused a strong negative reaction. All four of the original prosecutors withdrew from the case; more than a thousand former Department of Justice lawyers signed a letter condemning the action.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Benner|first=Katie|date=February 16, 2020|title=Former Justice Dept. Lawyers Press for Barr to Step Down|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/16/us/politics/barr-trump-justice-department.html|access-date=February 18, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Wise|first=Justin|date=February 17, 2020|title=Judges' association calls emergency meeting in wake of Stone sentencing reversal|work=The Hill|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/483398-judges-association-calls-emergency-meeting-in-wake-of-roger-stone|access-date=February 18, 2020}} On July 10, Trump commuted the sentence of Stone days before he was due to report to prison.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Baker|first=Peter|title=In Commuting Stone's Sentence, Trump Goes Where Nixon Would Not|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/11/us/politics/trump-roger-stone-nixon.html|access-date=July 17, 2020|website=The New York Times|date=July 11, 2020}}

In response to the mid-2020 George Floyd protests, some of which resulted in looting,{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Calamur|first1=Krishnadev|last2=Rascoe|first2=Ayesha|last3=Wise|first3=Alana|date=May 29, 2020|title=Trump Says He Spoke With Floyd's Family, Understands Hurt And Pain Of Community|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/864722348/twitter-hides-trumps-tweet-on-minneapolis-saying-it-glorifies-violence|access-date=January 9, 2021|website=NPR}} Trump tweeted on May 25 that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." Not long after, Twitter restricted the tweet for violating the company's policy on promoting violence.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Porter|first=Jon|date=May 29, 2020|title=Twitter restricts new Trump tweet for 'glorifying violence'|url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/29/21274323/trump-twitter-glorifying-violence-minneapolis-shooting-looting-notice-restriction|access-date=June 29, 2020|website=The Verge}} On May 28, Trump signed an executive order which sought to limit legal protections of social media companies.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Allyn|first=Bobby|date=May 28, 2020|title=Stung By Twitter, Trump Signs Executive Order To Weaken Social Media Companies|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/05/28/863932758/stung-by-twitter-trump-signs-executive-order-to-weaken-social-media-companies|access-date=June 29, 2020|website=NPR}}

On January 8, 2021, Twitter announced that they had permanently suspended Trump's personal account "due to the risk of further incitement of violence" following the Capitol attack.{{#invoke:Cite|web|date=January 8, 2020|title=Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump|url=https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension.html|access-date=January 9, 2021|website=Twitter}} Trump announced in his final tweet before the suspension that he would not attend the inauguration of Joe Biden.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/tech/trump-twitter-ban/index.html|title=Twitter bans President Trump permanently|first=Brian|last=Fung|work=CNN|date=January 8, 2021|access-date=January 9, 2021}} Other social media platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube and others also suspended the official handles of Donald Trump.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/13/youtube-suspends-trump-channel-from-uploading-new-content-for-seven-days|title=YouTube suspends Trump channel from uploading new content for seven days|access-date=January 13, 2021|website=The Guardian|date=January 13, 2021}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.vox.com/2021/1/10/22223356/every-platform-that-banned-trump-twitter-facebook-snapchat-twitch |first=Cameron |last=Peters |date=January 10, 2021 |title=Every online platform that has cracked down on Trump|access-date=January 10, 2021 |website=Vox}}

{{See also|Social policy of the first Donald Trump administration}}

{{excerpt|Domestic policy of the first Trump administration|paragraphs=2,3|templates=-Donald Trump series}}

{{Main|Foreign policy of the first Donald Trump administration}}

File:List of international presidential trips made by Donald Trump.svg to 24 different countries during his first presidency.{{cite web|url= https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/trump-donald-j|title= Travels of President Donald Trump|publisher= U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian|access-date= 2023-12-15|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230623112422/https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/trump-donald-j|archive-date= 2023-06-23|url-status= live}}]]

File:President Trump Meets with Chairman Kim Jong Un (48162628746).jpg's Communist Party leader Kim Jong Un shake hands at the Korean Demilitarized Zone, June 30, 2019]]

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".{{#invoke:Cite|web|first=Jane C.|last=Timm|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/full-list-donald-trump-s-rapidly-changing-policy-positions-n547801 |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=The 141 Stances Donald Trump Took During His White House Bid |work=NBC News |date=March 30, 2016}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|journal|last1=Mills|first1=Kurt|last2=Payne|first2=Rodger A.|date=August 7, 2020|title=America First and the human rights regime|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2020.1809362|journal=Journal of Human Rights|volume=19|issue=4|pages=399–424|doi=10.1080/14754835.2020.1809362|s2cid=221865662|issn=1475-4835}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2019-12-03/trump-didnt-shrink-us-military-commitments-abroad-he-expanded-them|title=Trump Didn't Shrink U.S. Military Commitments Abroad – He Expanded Them|last1=MacDonald|first1=Paul K.|last2=Parent|first2=Joseph M.|date=December 5, 2019|work=Foreign Affairs|access-date=January 11, 2020|issn=0015-7120}}

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 purchase Greenland, a territory within the Danish Realm, "an absurd discussion".{{Cite news |last=Helmore |first=Edward |date=August 21, 2019 |title=Trump cancels Denmark trip after PM says Greenland is not for sale |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/20/trump-greenland-denmark-mette-frederiksen |access-date=April 4, 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |date=August 21, 2019 |title=Trump cancels Denmark visit amid spat over sale of Greenland |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49416740 |access-date=April 4, 2023}}{{Cite web |date=August 21, 2019 |title=Trump aflyser dansk statsbesøg |url=https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/trump-aflyser-dansk-statsbesog |access-date=April 4, 2023 |website=DR |language=da-DK}}{{Cite web |title=Trump cancels Denmark trip after PM says Greenland isn't for sale |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-postpones-meeting-danish-pm-after-she-says-greenland-isn-n1044651 |access-date=April 4, 2023 |website=NBC News |date=August 21, 2019 |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Karni |first=Annie |date=August 21, 2019 |title=Trump Scraps Trip to Denmark, as Greenland Is Not for Sale |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/20/us/politics/trump-cancels-greenland-trip.html |access-date=April 4, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |last=Jensen |first=Signe From |date=August 21, 2019 |title=Trumps aflysning går verden rundt:"Sådan behandler man ikke en allieret"|url=https://jyllands-posten.dk/international/ECE11564178/trumps-aflysning-af-besoeg-i-danmark-gaar-verden-rundt/ |access-date=April 4, 2023 |website=Jyllands-Posten |language=da}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/world/middleeast/al-baghdadi-dead.html|title=Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS Leader Known for His Brutality, Is Dead at 48|last1=Callimachi|first1=Rukmini|last2=Hassan|first2=Falih|date=October 27, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=October 27, 2019|location=New York City|issn=0362-4331}}

Trump withdrew from the Open Skies Treaty, a nearly three-decade old agreement promoting transparency of military forces and activities.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Gordon|first=Michael R.|date=November 22, 2020|title=Trump Exits Open Skies Treaty, Moves to Discard Observation Planes|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-exits-open-skies-treaty-moves-to-discard-observation-planes-11606055371|access-date=December 20, 2020|issn=0099-9660}}

{{Further|Foreign policy of the first Donald Trump administration#Military}}

File:Armed Forces Welcome Ceremony 190930-D-SW162-2211 (48822902953).jpg at the welcoming ceremony for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley (left) on September 30, 2019. Outgoing chairman General Joseph Dunford (right) and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper (center-right) are present]]

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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/us/politics/russia-nuclear-arms-treaty-trump-administration.html|title=U.S. to Tell Russia It Is Leaving Landmark I.N.F. Treaty|last1=Sanger|first1=David E.|last2=Broad|first2=William J.|date=October 19, 2018|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=December 5, 2018}} 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{{spaces}}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{{spaces}}billion, although missile defense and nuclear programs made up about $10{{spaces}}billion of the total.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/us/politics/donald-trump-speech.html|title=Donald Trump Vows to Bolster Nation's Military Capacities|last1=Parker|first1=Ashley|last2=Rosenberg|first2=Matthew|date=September 7, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=December 5, 2018}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/world/middleeast/obama-nuclear-security-summit-iran.html|title=Obama Rebukes Donald Trump's Comments on Nuclear Weapons|last=Landler|first=Mark|date=April 1, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=December 5, 2018}}

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".{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=3 False Claims From Trump's Naval Academy Speech|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/us/politics/fact-check-trump-naval-academy-speech.html |first=Linda |last=Qiu |date=May 15, 2018 |access-date=November 25, 2018}}

Controversy arose in November 2019 after Trump pardoned or promoted three soldiers accused or convicted of war crimes.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-announces-review-green-beret-murder-case-we-train-our-n1065421 |access-date=November 11, 2021 |first=Phil |last=McCausland |date=October 12, 2019 |title=Trump announces 'review' of Green Beret murder case: 'We train our boys to be killing machines' |website=NBC News}} 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."{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/19/us/navy-seals-edward-gallagher-trident.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Navy Wants to Eject From SEALs a Sailor Cleared by Trump, Officials Say |first=Dave |last=Philipps |date=November 19, 2019|newspaper=The New York Times}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/us/trump-seals-eddie-gallagher.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Trump Reverses Navy Decision to Oust Edward Gallagher From SEALs |first=Dave |last=Philipps |date=November 21, 2019 |newspaper=The New York Times}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/472201-trump-says-he-stood-up-to-the-deep-state-by-intervening-in-war-crime-cases |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Trump says he stood up to the 'deep state' by intervening in war crime cases |first=Brett |last=Samuels |date=November 26, 2019 |website=The Hill}}

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,{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Cupp|first=S. E.|title=Under Donald Trump, drone strikes far exceed Obama's numbers|url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2019/5/8/18619206/under-donald-trump-drone-strikes-far-exceed-obama-s-numbers|access-date=June 14, 2020|work=Chicago Sun-Times|date=May 8, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Ackerman|first=Spencer|title=Trump Ramped Up Drone Strikes in America's Shadow Wars|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-ramped-up-drone-strikes-in-americas-shadow-wars|access-date=June 14, 2020|work=The Daily Beast|date=November 26, 2018}} rollbacked transparency in reporting drone strike deaths, and reduced accountability.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Atherton|first=Kelsey D.|title=Trump Inherited the Drone War but Ditched Accountability|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/22/obama-drones-trump-killings-count/ |date=May 22, 2020 |access-date=December 20, 2020|website=Foreign Policy}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Trump revokes Obama rule on reporting drone strike deaths|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47480207|access-date=June 14, 2020|work=BBC News|date=March 7, 2019}}

{{Main|War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)}}

File:President Trump Watches as U.S. Special Operations Forces Close in on ISIS Leader (48967991042).jpg, Vice President Mike Pence, President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Chairman Mark Milley, and Brigadier General Marcus S. Evans overseeing Operation Kayla Mueller in the White House Situation Room, October 26, 2019]]

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=US troop numbers in Afghanistan drop to lowest level since 2001 |first=Phillip Walter |last=Wellman |work=Stars and Stripes |date=January 15, 2021 |url=https://www.stripes.com/theaters/middle_east/us-troop-numbers-in-afghanistan-drop-to-lowest-level-since-2001-1.658621 |access-date=March 9, 2021}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Crawford|first=Neta|date=2020|title=Afghanistan's Rising Civilian Death Toll Due to Airstrikes, 2017–2020|url=https://www.carnegie.org/publications/afghanistans-rising-civilian-death-toll-due-airstrikes-2017-2020/|access-date=December 20, 2020|website=Carnegie Corporation of New York}}

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).{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Afghan conflict: US and Taliban sign deal to end 18-year war |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51689443 |access-date=August 16, 2021 |work=BBC News |date=February 29, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Brown |first1=Matthew |title=A timeline of the US withdrawal and Taliban recapture of Afghanistan |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/08/15/timeline-afghanistans-history-and-us-involvement/8143131002/ |access-date=August 16, 2021 |work=USA Today |date=August 15, 2021}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Mashal |first1=Mujib |last2=Faizi |first2=Fatima |title=Afghanistan to Release Last Taliban Prisoners, Removing Final Hurdle to Talks |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/09/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-prisoners-peace-talks.html |access-date=August 18, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=September 3, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Weissert |first1=Will |last2=Fram |first2=Alan |title=GOP hits Biden despite divides over Afghanistan withdrawal |url=https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-afghanistan-036874ebcb40acb404ac1a7f3db11f1a |access-date=August 18, 2021 |work=Associated Press|date=August 17, 2021}}

In 2020, US casualties in Afghanistan reached their lowest level for the entire war.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=http://icasualties.org/App/AfghanFatalities |website=icasualties.org |title= Afghanistan Fatalities Total: 3557 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231041605/http://icasualties.org/App/AfghanFatalities |access-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-date=December 31, 2020}} In Iraq, casualties increased, being significantly higher in Trump's term than Obama's second term.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=http://www.icasualties.org/App/Fatalities |title= Iraq Fatalities Total: 4902 |website=icasualties.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028103153/http://www.icasualties.org/App/Fatalities |access-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-date= October 28, 2021}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|title=Former Pence aide says Trump and Stephen Miller fought against taking Afghan refugees with 'racist hysteria'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-visas-afghan-refugees-troye-b1906190.html |first=Helen |last=Elfer |access-date=August 20, 2021|website=Independent|date=August 20, 2021|language=en}}

{{Main|United States foreign policy toward the People's Republic of China}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|title=U.S. Says China Is Committing 'Genocide' Against Uighur Muslims|last=Gordon|first=Michael R.|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=January 19, 2021|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-declares-chinas-treatment-of-uighur-muslims-to-be-genocide-11611081555 |access-date=November 11, 2021}} 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. On January 20, 2021, Pompeo along with other Trump administration officials were sanctioned by China.{{#invoke:Cite|news|date=January 20, 2021 |last=McEvoy |first=Jemima |title=China Sanctions Top Trump Officials, Including Pompeo, Navarro And Azar |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/01/20/china-sanctions-top-trump-officials-including-pompeo-navarro-and-azar/ |access-date=November 11, 2021 |website=Forbes}}

{{Main|North Korea–United States relations}}

{{See also|2017–2018 North Korea crisis|2018–19 Korean peace process}}

After initially adopting a verbally hostile posture{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Clark|first=Dartunorro|date=May 10, 2018|title=Trump says he will hold summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-north-korea-leader-kim-jong-un-will-meet-singapore-n872966|url-status=live|work=NBC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614135459/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-north-korea-leader-kim-jong-un-will-meet-singapore-n872966|archive-date=June 14, 2020|access-date=June 17, 2020|quote=Trump promising "fire and fury" towards the "little rocket man".}} toward North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong Un, Trump quickly pivoted to embrace the regime, saying he and Kim "fell in love".{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-45696420 |access-date=November 9, 2021 |date=September 30, 2018 |title=Trump on Kim Jong-un: 'We fell in love'|website=BBC News}} 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."{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/politics/trump-north-korea-nuclear-threat/index.html |date=June 13, 2018 |title=Trump declares North Korea 'no longer a nuclear threat' |first1=Veronica |last1=Stracqualursi |first2=Stephen |last2=Collinson |website=CNN |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608125827/https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/politics/trump-north-korea-nuclear-threat/index.html |archive-date=June 8, 2020 |access-date=November 11, 2021}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/27/trump-schedules-joint-agreement-signing-ceremony-with-north-korean-dictator-kim-jong-un.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Trump schedules joint agreement signing ceremony with North Korea's Kim|first=Carmin|last=Chappell|date=February 27, 2019|website=cnbc.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228115237/https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/27/trump-schedules-joint-agreement-signing-ceremony-with-north-korean-dictator-kim-jong-un.html|archive-date=February 28, 2019}} 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{{snd}}even while the second summit was underway.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/16/world/asia/trump-north-korea-nuclear.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=North Korea's Trump-Era Strategy: Keep Making A-Bombs, but Quietly|first=David E.|last=Sanger|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 16, 2018}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/us/politics/north-korea-missile-bases.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=In North Korea, Missile Bases Suggest a Great Deception|first1=David E.|last1=Sanger|first2=William J.|last2=Broad|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 12, 2018}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/world/asia/north-korea-missile-site.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=North Korea Has Started Rebuilding Key Missile-Test Facilities, Analysts Say|first=Choe|last=Sang-Hun|newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 5, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-korea-completes-work-on-missile-facility-images-show-11551967478 |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=U.S. Seeks Access to North Korean Missile Base|first=Michael R.|last=Gordon|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=March 7, 2019}} 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!"{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/world/asia/north-korea-sanctions.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Trump Reverses North Korea Sanctions That U.S. Imposed Yesterday|first=Alan|last=Rappeport|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 22, 2019}} 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."{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/31/world/asia/north-korea-kim-speech.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=North Korea Is No Longer Bound by Nuclear Test Moratorium, Kim Says|first=Choe|last=Sang-Hun |newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 31, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/kim-jong-un-north-korea-ending-test-moratoriums-221240994.html |agency=AFP |access-date=November 8, 2021 |date=December 31, 2019 |title=Kim Jong Un: North Korea ending test moratoriums|website=Yahoo! News}} Two years after the Singapore summit, the North Korean nuclear arsenal had significantly expanded.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/world/asia/korea-nuclear-trump-kim.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Two Years After Trump-Kim Meeting, Little to Show for Personal Diplomacy |first1=David E. |last1=Sanger |first2=Choe |last2=Sang-Hun |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 12, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/24/world/asia/kim-jong-un-nuclear-north-korea.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Kim Jong-un Moves to Increase North Korea's Nuclear Strength |first=Choe |last=Sang-Hun |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 16, 2020}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/30/world/asia/trump-north-korea-dmz.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Trump Steps Into North Korea and Agrees With Kim Jong-un to Resume Talks|first1=Peter|last1=Baker|first2=Michael|last2=Crowley|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 30, 2019}}{{efn|Trump later falsely asserted, "President Obama wanted to meet and chairman Kim would not meet him. The Obama administration was begging for a meeting."{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/02/no-obama-didnt-beg-kim-jong-un-meeting/ |access-date=November 11, 2021 |first=Salvador |last=Rizzo |title=No, Obama didn't beg Kim Jong Un for a meeting|date=July 2, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post}}}}

{{Main|Turkey–United States relations}}

File:President Trump and President Erdoğan joint statement in the Roosevelt Room, May 16, 2017.jpg, May 16, 2017]]

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Chappell|first1=Bill|last2=Neuman|first2=Scott|title=In Major Policy Shift, U.S. Will Stand Aside As Turkish Forces Extend Reach In Syria|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/10/07/767777899/in-major-policy-shift-u-s-will-stand-aside-as-turkish-forces-extend-reach-in-syr|access-date=October 11, 2019|work=NPR|date=October 7, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/07/trump-turkey-syria-invasion-037052|title=Republicans unload on Trump for Syria shift when he needs them most|last=Forgey|first=Quint|date=October 7, 2019|work=Politico|access-date=October 7, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Singh|first=Maanvi|title=Trump defends Syria decision by saying Kurds 'didn't help us with Normandy'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/09/trump-syria-kurds-normandy|access-date=October 10, 2019|work=The Guardian|date=October 9, 2019}} Within a week of the U.S. pullout, Turkey proceeded to attack Kurdish-controlled areas in northeast Syria.{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Turkey Syria offensive: Tens of thousands flee homes|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50008418 |access-date=October 11, 2019|work=BBC News|date=October 10, 2019}} Kurdish forces then announced an alliance with the Syrian government and its Russian allies, in a united effort to repel Turkey.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Cornish|first1=Chloe|last2=Pitel|first2=Laura|last3=Fedor|first3=Lauren|title=Kurds strike deal with Russia and Syria to stem Turkish assault|url=https://www.ft.com/content/8139b25e-eda6-11e9-ad1e-4367d8281195|access-date=October 14, 2019|work=Financial Times|date=October 13, 2019}}

{{Main|Iran–United States relations during the first Trump administration|United States withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action}}

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.{{cite web|last1=Borger|first1=Julian|author-link1=Julian Borger|last2=Smith|first2=David|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/03/trump-administration-iran-sanctions|title=Trump administration imposes new sanctions on Iran|work=The Guardian|date=February 3, 2017|access-date=November 9, 2018}} 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.{{cite web|last1=Lederman|first1=Josh|last2=Lucey|first2=Catherine|date=May 8, 2018|title=Trump declares US leaving 'horrible' Iran nuclear accord|work=Associated Press|url=https://apnews.com/article/cead755353a1455bbef08ef289448994/Trump-decides-to-exit-nuclear-accord-with-Iran|access-date=May 8, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/world/middleeast/trump-iran-nuclear-deal.html|title=Trump Abandons Iran Nuclear Deal He Long Scorned|first=Mark|last=Landler|author-link=Mark Landler|date=May 8, 2018|access-date=October 4, 2021|work=The New York Times}} Analysts determined that, after the United States's withdrawal, Iran moved closer to developing a nuclear weapon.{{cite web|last=Hennigan|first=W.J.|title='They're Very Close.' U.S. General Says Iran Is Nearly Able to Build a Nuclear Weapon|url=https://time.com/6123380/iran-near-nuclear-weapon-capability/|magazine=Time|date=November 24, 2021 |access-date=December 18, 2021}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/world/middleeast/qassem-soleimani-iraq-iran-attack.html|title=U.S. Strike in Iraq Kills Qassim Suleimani, Commander of Iranian Forces|last1=Crowley|first1=Michael|author-link1=Michael Crowley (journalist)|last2=Hassan|first2=Falih|last3=Schmitt|first3=Eric|author-link3=Eric P. Schmitt|date=January 2, 2020|work=The New York Times|access-date=January 3, 2020}} Trump threatened to hit 52 Iranian sites, including some "important to Iran & the Iranian culture", if Iran retaliated.{{cite web|last1=Daniel|first1=Douglas K.|last2=Lemire|first2=Jonathan|url=https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-donald-trump-nancy-pelosi-ap-top-news-international-news-75944e42ccc66ac08ee5122e080d7f33|title=Trump says 52 targets already lined up if Iran retaliates|work=Associated Press|date=January 5, 2020 |access-date=November 3, 2022}} 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".{{cite web|last=Wamsley|first=Laurel|title=Trump Says He'll Target Iran's Cultural Sites. That's Illegal|website=NPR|date=January 6, 2020|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/01/06/794006073/trump-says-hell-target-iran-s-cultural-sites-that-s-illegal | access-date=November 6, 2022}} Iran did retaliate with ballistic missile strikes against two U.S. airbases in Iraq. On the same day, amid the heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, Iran accidentally shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 after takeoff from Tehran airport.{{cite web|last1=Baker|first1=Peter|last2=Bergman|first2=Ronen|last3=Kirkpatrick|first3=David D.|last4=Barnes|first4=Julian E.|last5=Rubin|first5=Alissa J.|date=January 11, 2020|title=Seven Days in January: How Trump Pushed U.S. and Iran to the Brink of War|website=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/11/us/politics/iran-trump.html |access-date=November 8, 2022}}{{cite web|last=Ward|first=Alex|title=Evidence is mounting that Iran accidentally shot down the Ukraine flight|website=Vox|date=January 9, 2020|url=https://www.vox.com/2020/1/9/21059004/iran-plane-crash-missile-video-trump-ukraine | access-date=November 8, 2022}}{{cite web|last=Motamedi|first=Maziar|title=Iran rejects claim Ukraine's plane shot down intentionally|website=Al Jazeera|date=April 17, 2021|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/17/iran-rejects-claim-ukraines-plane-was-shot-down-intentionally | access-date=November 8, 2022}}

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.{{cite web|last=Nichols|first=Michelle|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-un-idUSKBN2AI2Y9|title=U.S. rescinds Trump White House claim that all U.N. sanctions had been reimposed on Iran|work=Reuters|date=February 18, 2021 |access-date=December 14, 2021}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/26/world/middleeast/us-iran-nuclear-deal-pompeo.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=To Pressure Iran, Pompeo Turns to the Deal Trump Renounced|first=David E.|last=Sanger|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 26, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/us/politics/trump-iran-nuclear-deal.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Instead of Isolating Iran, U.S. Finds Itself on the Outside Over Nuclear Deal |first1=Lara |last1=Jakes |first2=David E. |last2=Sanger |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 20, 2020}}

{{Main|Saudi Arabia–United States relations}}

{{See also|2017 United States–Saudi Arabia arms deal}}

File:President Donald Trump & Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, March 14, 2017 cropped.jpg, Washington, D.C., March 14, 2017]]

Trump actively supported the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen against the Houthis.{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Trump praises arms sales as he meets Saudi crown prince|url=https://www.ft.com/content/94204940-2c47-11e8-9b4b-bc4b9f08f381 |access-date=November 8, 2021 |work=Financial Times|date=March 20, 2018}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Senate rejects bid to end U.S. support for Saudi campaign in Yemen |access-date=November 8, 2021 |first=Patricia |last=Zengerle |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-senate-idUSKBN1GW2BA |work=Reuters|date=May 21, 2018}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Trump signs $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia on 'a tremendous day'|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-signs-110-billion-arms-deal-saudi-arabia/story?id=47531180|work=ABC News|date=May 20, 2017|access-date=July 6, 2018|first1=Jordyn|last1=Phelps|first2=Ryan|last2=Struyk}} Trump also praised his relationship with Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. 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{{spaces}}billion immediately,{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/truth-president-trumps-110-billion-saudi-arms-deal/story?id=47874726 |date=June 7, 2017 |first1=Elizabeth |last1=McLaughlin |first2=Conor |last2=Finnegan |title=The truth about President Trump's $110 billion Saudi arms deal|website=ABC News|access-date=May 21, 2017}} and $350{{spaces}}billion over ten years.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/20/us-saudi-arabia-seal-weapons-deal-worth-nearly-110-billion-as-trump-begins-visit.html|title=US–Saudi Arabia ink historic 10-year weapons deal worth $350 billion as Trump begins visit|last=David|first=Javier E.|date=May 20, 2017|website=CNBC |access-date=May 21, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-saudi-arabia-arms-deal-sale-arab-nato-gulf-states-a7741836.html |first=Mythili |last=Sampathkumar |title=Donald Trump to announce $380bn arms deal to Saudi Arabia – one of the largest in history|date=May 17, 2017 |work=The Independent |access-date=May 21, 2017}} The transfer was widely seen as a counterbalance against the influence of Iran in the region{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-21/what-do-we-know-about-saudi-arabias-arms-deal-with-america/8544892 |title=What's the goal of America's arms deal with Saudi Arabia?|date=May 21, 2017 |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=May 21, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/president-donald-trump-arrives-in-saudi-arabia-as-overseas-trip-starts-1495263979|title=Donald Trump, Saudi Arabia Sign Agreements in Move to Counterbalance Iran|last1=Lee|first1=Carol E.|last2=Stancati|first2=Margherita|date=May 20, 2017|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=May 21, 2017|issn=0099-9660}} and a "significant" and "historic" expansion of United States relations with Saudi Arabia.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-latest-saudi-arabia-billions-arms-deal-military-sales-a7746601.html |first=Alexandra |last=Wilts |title=Trump signs $110bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia|date=May 20, 2017|work=The Independent|access-date=May 21, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.vox.com/2017/5/20/15626638/trump-saudi-arabia-arms-deal |first=Alex |last=Ward |title=What America's new arms deal with Saudi Arabia says about the Trump administration|date=May 20, 2017|website=Vox|access-date=May 21, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/20/rex-tillerson-saudi-arabia-arms-deal-investment-historic-moment-238637 |title=Tillerson hails 'historic moment' in U.S.-Saudi relations |work=Politico |date=May 20, 2017 |first=Hanna |last=Trudo |access-date=May 21, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/05/20/Trump-signs-110B-defense-deal-receives-warm-welcome-in-Saudi-Arabia/8291495280862/ |date=May 20, 2017 |title=Trump signs $110B defense deal, receives warm welcome in Saudi Arabia|work=UPI|access-date=May 21, 2017}} By July 2019, two of Trump's three vetoes were to overturn bipartisan congressional action related to Saudi Arabia.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/us/politics/trump-veto-arms-saudi-arabia.html|title=Trump Vetoes Bipartisan Resolutions Blocking Arms Sales to Gulf Nations|last1=Shear|first1=Michael D.|last2=Edmondson|first2=Catie|date=July 24, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 25, 2019|issn=0362-4331}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/world/middleeast/pompeo-saudi-arabia-turkey.html |date=October 16, 2018 |first1=Ben |last1=Hubbard |first2=Rick |last2=Gladstone |first3=Mark |last3=Landler |newspaper=The New York Times|title=Trump Jumps to the Defense of Saudi Arabia in Khashoggi Case|access-date=October 17, 2018}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-brushes-aside-cia-assertion-that-crown-prince-ordered-killing-defends-him-and-saudi-arabia/2018/11/22/d3bdf23c-ee70-11e8-96d4-0d23f2aaad09_story.html |first=Josh |last=Dawsey |date=November 22, 2018 |title=Trump brushes aside CIA assertion that crown prince ordered killing, defends him and Saudi Arabia|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=November 23, 2018}}

{{Main|Israel–United States relations|Palestine–United States relations|Israeli–Palestinian conflict|Gaza–Israel conflict|Israeli–Palestinian peace process}}

File:President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Joint Press Conference, February 15, 2017 (02).jpg, February 15, 2017]]

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{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50468025 |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Jewish settlements no longer illegal – US|date=November 18, 2019|work=BBC News}} declared "the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law."{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/secretary-of-state-mike-pompeo-announces-reversal-on-west-bank-settlements/ |access-date=November 8, 2021 |title=Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces reversal of Obama-era stance on Israeli settlements|website=CBS News |date=November 18, 2019}}

Trump unveiled his own peace plan to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict on January 28, 2020.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.dw.com/en/trump-reveals-israeli-palestinian-peace-plan/a-52179629|title=Trump reveals Israeli-Palestinian peace plan|date=January 28, 2020|publisher=Deutsche Welle|access-date=January 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129053628/https://www.dw.com/en/trump-reveals-israeli-palestinian-peace-plan/a-52179629|archive-date=January 29, 2020|url-status=live}} 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".{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=The Israel-UAE Deal Is Trump's First Unambiguous Diplomatic Success|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/14/israel-uae-peace-trump-success/ |first=Josh |last=Hannah |access-date=November 8, 2020 |work=Foreign Policy|date=August 14, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=UAE and Israel announce they're establishing ties; Israel suspending annexation|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-august-13-2020/ |access-date=November 11, 2021 |first=Joshua |last=Davidovich |work=The Times of Israel|date=August 13, 2020}} The following month, Israel and Bahrain agreed to normalize diplomatic relations in another deal mediated and brokered by the Trump administration.{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Trump announces 'peace deal' between Bahrain and Israel|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54124996 |access-date=November 11, 2021 |work=BBC News |date=September 11, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/world/middleeast/israel-uae-annexation.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Netanyahu Drops Troubled Annexation Plan for Diplomatic Gain |first=David M. |last=Halbfinger |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 13, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/world/middleeast/trump-peace-plan-explained.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=What to Know About Trump's Middle East Plan |first=Megan |last=Specia |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 29, 2020}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Levine|first=Marianne|title=Inhofe slams Trump administration on Western Sahara policy|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/10/inhofe-slams-trump-administration-on-western-sahara-policy-444459 |date=December 10, 2020 |website=Politico |access-date=November 11, 2021}}

{{Main|United Arab Emirates–United States relations}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-emirates-drones-exclusive/exclusive-trump-administration-advances-29-billion-drone-sale-to-uae-sources-idUSKBN27M06L |date=November 5, 2020 |title= Trump administration advances $2.9 billion drone sale to UAE – sources|access-date=November 5, 2020|website=Reuters |first2=Patricia |last2=Zengerle |first1=Mike |last1=Stone}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-emirates-ordnance/trump-administration-advances-10-billion-defense-sale-to-uae-source-idINL1N2HT026 |date=November 6, 2020 |first1=Patricia |last1=Zengerle |first2=Mike |last2=Stone |title=Trump administration advances $10 billion defense sale to UAE – source|access-date=November 6, 2020 |website=Reuters}}

{{See also|Links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies|Business projects of Donald Trump in Russia|Operation Crossfire Hurricane}}

File:Robert Mueller, 2012.jpg

American intelligence sources found the Russian government attempted to intervene in the 2016 presidential election to favor the election of Trump,{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=U.S. government officially accuses Russia of hacking campaign to interfere with elections|newspaper=The Washington Post|first=Ellen|last=Nakashima|date=October 7, 2016|access-date=January 25, 2017|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-government-officially-accuses-russia-of-hacking-campaign-to-influence-elections/2016/10/07/4e0b9654-8cbf-11e6-875e-2c1bfe943b66_story.html}} and that members of Trump's campaign were in contact with Russian government officials both before and after the election.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Schmidt|first1=Michael S.|author1-link=Michael S. Schmidt|last2=Mazzetti|first2=Mark|author2-link=Mark Mazzetti|last3=Apuzzo|first3=Matt|author3-link=Matt Apuzzo|title=Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/politics/russia-intelligence-communications-trump.html |access-date=November 13, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 14, 2017}} 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".{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/17/us/politics/document-Robert-Mueller-Special-Counsel-Russia.html|title=Rod Rosenstein's Letter Appointing Mueller Special Counsel|last=Rosenstein|first=Rod|author-link=Rod Rosenstein|date=May 17, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|url-status=live|access-date=May 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518015032/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/17/us/politics/document-Robert-Mueller-Special-Counsel-Russia.html|archive-date=May 18, 2017}}

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".{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Entous|first1=Adam|last2=Nakashima|first2=Ellen|last3=Miller|first3=Greg|date=March 1, 2017|title=Sessions met with Russian envoy twice last year, encounters he later did not disclose|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html|access-date=March 7, 2017}} Following his amended statement, Sessions recused himself from any investigation regarding connections between Trump and Russia.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Jarrett|first=Laura|title=Sessions recusal: What's next?|url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/02/politics/special-counsel-jeff-sessions-recusal/|access-date=March 7, 2017|work=CNN|date=March 3, 2017}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Rosenberg|first1=Matthew|last2=Schmitt|first2=Eric|title=Trump Revealed Highly Classified Intelligence to Russia, in Break With Ally, Officials Say|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/us/politics/trump-russia-classified-information-isis.html|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=May 15, 2017|date=May 15, 2017|archive-date=May 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170515224247/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/us/politics/trump-russia-classified-information-isis.html|url-status=dead}} A Middle Eastern ally{{efn|Revealed to be Israel the day after publication in the press.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/world/middleeast/israel-trump-classified-intelligence-russia.html?_r=0 |title=Israel Said to Be Source of Secret Intelligence Trump Gave to Russians |last1=Goldman |first1=Adam |date=May 16, 2017 |work=The New York Times |last2=Rosenberg |first2=Matthew |last3=Apuzzo |first3=Matt |last4=Schmitt |first4=Eric |author-link=Adam Goldman |author-link2=Matthew Rosenberg |author-link3=Matt Apuzzo |author-link4=Eric P. Schmitt |archive-date=May 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517045515/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/world/middleeast/israel-trump-classified-intelligence-russia.html?_r=0}}}} provided the intelligence which had the highest level of classification and was not intended to be shared widely. 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." The White House, through National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster, issued a limited denial, saying the story "as reported" was incorrect{{#invoke:Cite|news|first1=Jack |last1=Goldsmith |author-link=Jack Goldsmith |first2=Susan |last2=Hennessey |first3=Quinta |last3=Jurecic |first4=Matthew |last4=Kahn |first5=Benjamin |last5=Wittes |author-link5=Benjamin Wittes |first6=Elishe Julian |last6=Wittes |url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/bombshell-initial-thoughts-washington-posts-game-changing-story |access-date=November 13, 2021 |title=Bombshell: Initial Thoughts on the Washington Post's Game-Changing Story |work=Lawfare |date=May 15, 2017}} and that no "intelligence sources or methods" were discussed.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Mason |first1=Jeff |last2=Zengerle |first2=Patricia |title=Trump revealed intelligence secrets to Russians in Oval Office: officials |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKCN18B2MX |access-date=November 13, 2021 |work=Reuters|date=May 16, 2017}} McMaster did not deny that information had been disclosed.{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Aaron |last=Blake |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/15/the-white-house-isnt-denying-that-trump-gave-russia-classified-information-not-really/ |access-date=November 13, 2021 |title=The White House isn't denying that Trump gave Russia classified information{{snd}}not really |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=May 15, 2017}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/333550-trump-i-had-absolute-right-to-share-facts-with-russia |title=Trump: I have 'absolute right' to share facts with Russia |last=Savransky |first=Rebecca |date=May 16, 2017 |newspaper=The Hill |access-date=May 16, 2017}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/09/politics/russia-us-spy-extracted/index.html|title=US extracted top spy from inside Russia in 2017 |first=Jim |last=Sciutto |access-date=November 13, 2021 |website=CNN|date=September 9, 2019}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|first1=Matt|last1=Apuzzo|author1-link=Matt Apuzzo|first2=Michael S.|last2=Schmidt|author2-link=Michael S. Schmidt|title=Trump Campaign Adviser Met With Russian to Discuss 'Dirt' on Clinton|work=The New York Times|date=October 30, 2017|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/us/politics/george-papadopoulos-russia.html |access-date=November 13, 2021}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-has-concealed-details-of-his-face-to-face-encounters-with-putin-from-senior-officials-in-administration/2019/01/12/65f6686c-1434-11e9-b6ad-9cfd62dbb0a8_story.html |title=Trump has concealed details of his face-to-face encounters with Putin from senior officials in administration |newspaper=The Washington Post |last=Miller |first=Greg |date=January 13, 2019|access-date=December 18, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Samuels |first=Brett |date=January 29, 2019 |title=Trump, Putin talked at G20 without US translator, note-taker: report |access-date=November 13, 2021 |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/427505-trump-putin-talked-at-g20-without-us-translator-note-taker-report |website=The Hill}}

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).{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Yourish|first1=Karen|last2=Buchanan|first2=Larry|last3=Parlapiano|first3=Alicia|title=Everyone Who's Been Charged in Investigations Related to the 2016 Election|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/21/us/mueller-trump-charges.html |work=The New York Times|access-date=March 23, 2019|date=March 13, 2019}} As of December 2020, Stone, Papadopoulos, Manafort, and Flynn have been pardoned by Trump, but not Cohen or Gates.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Brown |first=Pamela |title=Trump issues 26 new pardons, including for Stone, Manafort and Charles Kushner |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/23/politics/trump-pardons-stone-manafort-kushner/index.html |date=December 24, 2020 |website=CNN |access-date=December 28, 2020}}

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'{{snd}}oh, I think I'd want to hear it." Both Democrats and Republicans repudiated the remarks.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Baker |first=Peter |date=June 12, 2019 |title=Trump Says 'I'd Take It' if Russia Again Offered Dirt on Opponent |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/us/politics/trump-russia-fbi.html |access-date=November 13, 2021}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Baker|first1=Peter|last2=Fandos|first2=Nicholas|date=June 13, 2019|title=Trump Assailed for Saying He Would Take Campaign Help From Russia|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/us/politics/trump-russia-campaign-help.html |access-date=November 13, 2021}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Everett|first1=Burgess|last2=Levine|first2=Marianne|title=Republicans lash Trump for being open to foreign oppo|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/13/republicans-trump-foreign-interference-remarks-1364220 |date=June 13, 2019 |access-date=November 8, 2021 |website=Politico}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|title='Absolutely unprecedented': Trump upends long-held views with openness to foreign assistance|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/absolutely-unprecedented-trump-upends-long-held-views-with-openness-to-foreign-assistance/2019/06/13/13f94f66-8df6-11e9-b08e-cfd89bd36d4e_story.html |first1=Rosalind S. |last1=Helderman |first2=Tom |last2=Hamburger |first3=Josh |last3=Dawsey |date=June 13, 2019 |access-date=November 8, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/us/politics/justice-department-leaks-trump-administration.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/us/politics/justice-department-leaks-trump-administration.html |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |url-access=limited |access-date=November 13, 2021 |title=Hunting Leaks, Trump Officials Focused on Democrats in Congress|first1=Katie|last1=Benner|first2=Nicholas|last2=Fandos|first3=Michael S.|last3=Schmidt|first4=Adam|last4=Goldman|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 11, 2021}}{{cbignore}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-donald-trump-5b6f6bf0daf8bccf106a90d2ff52686c |access-date=November 13, 2021 |first1=Mary Clare |last1=Jalonick |first2=Michael |last2=Balsamo |title=Trump DOJ seized data from House Democrats in leaks probe|website=Associated Press|date=June 11, 2021}} Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced an inquiry into the matter the day after the Times report.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.axios.com/deputy-ag-doj-watchdog-trump-house-subpoenas-8306e261-456d-4adb-827e-3770130c9efc.html |date=June 11, 2021 |access-date=November 8, 2021 |title=Justice Department watchdog opens internal probe into House Dems data subpoenas |first=Jacob |last=Knutson |website=Axios}}

{{Main|Mueller report}}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".{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Baker|first=Peter|date=February 17, 2018|title=Trump's Conspicuous Silence Leaves a Struggle Against Russia Without a Leader|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/us/politics/trump-russia.html|access-date=February 18, 2018|issn=0362-4331}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|title=Read: Mueller indictment against twelve Russian spies for DNC hack|url=https://www.vox.com/2018/7/13/17568806/mueller-russia-intelligence-indictment-full-text |first=Alex |last=Ward |access-date=July 28, 2018|website=Vox|date=July 13, 2018}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Sanger|first1=David E.|last2=Rosenberg|first2=Matthew|date=July 18, 2018|title=From the Start, Trump Has Muddied a Clear Message: Putin Interfered|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/world/europe/trump-intelligence-russian-election-meddling-.html|access-date=July 28, 2018}}

File:Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election.pdf version of the Mueller report was released to the public by the Department of Justice on April 18, 2019]]

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,{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/mueller-told-barr-weeks-ago-he-wouldnt-reach-conclusion-on-obstruction-charge-11553548191|title=Mueller Told Barr Weeks Ago He Wouldn't Reach Conclusion on Obstruction Charge|last=Gurman|first=Sadie|date=March 25, 2019|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=April 18, 2019|issn=0099-9660}} this "leaves it to the Attorney General to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime".{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/24/us/politics/barr-letter-mueller-report.html|title=Read Attorney General William Barr's Summary of the Mueller Report|date=March 24, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 22, 2019|issn=0362-4331}} 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."{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/17/attorney-general-william-barr-will-hold-a-press-conference-to-discuss-mueller-report-at-930-am-et-thursday.html|title=Attorney General William Barr will hold a press conference to discuss Mueller report at 9:30 am ET Thursday|last1=Calia|first1=Mike|last2=El-Bawab|first2=Nadine|date=April 17, 2019|access-date=April 18, 2019|website=CNBC}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2019/03/mueller-concludes-investigation/ |date=March 2019 |title=Mueller finds no collusion with Russia, leaves obstruction question open|website=American Bar Association|access-date=April 18, 2019}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/18/mueller-report-recounts-10-episodes-involving-trump-and-questions-of-obstruction.html|title=Mueller report recounts 10 episodes involving Trump and questions of obstruction|last=Pramuk|first=Jacob|date=April 18, 2019|work=CNBC|access-date=April 18, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.justice.gov/sco|title=Special Counsel's Office|date=October 16, 2017|publisher=United States Department of Justice|access-date=April 18, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/mueller-report-release-latest-news/card/1555613011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418230152/https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/mueller-report-release-latest-news/card/1555613011 |access-date=November 11, 2021 |archive-date=April 18, 2019 |url-status=dead |title=The Mueller Report by the Numbers |work=The Wall Street Journal|date=April 18, 2019}}

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".{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Inskeep|first1=Steve|last2=Detrow|first2=Scott|last3=Johnson|first3=Carrie|last4=Davis|first4=Susan|last5=Greene|first5=David|title=Redacted Mueller Report Released; Congress, Trump React |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/04/18/714667960/redacted-mueller-report-is-released |date=April 18, 2019 |work=NPR|access-date=April 22, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|title=The Mueller Report|url=https://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/mueller-report |work=YaleGlobal Online |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422030201/https://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/mueller-report |archive-date=April 22, 2019 |date=May 19, 2021 |publisher=MacMillan Center |access-date=November 11, 2021}} 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",{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Main points of Mueller report|url=https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/main-points-mueller-report-doc-1fr5vv1|agency=Agence France-Presse|access-date=April 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420143436/https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/main-points-mueller-report-doc-1fr5vv1|archive-date=April 20, 2019}} and to "provoke and amplify political and social discord in the United States".{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Harris |first1=Shane |last2=Nakashima |first2=Ellen |last3=Timberg |first3=Craig |title=Through email leaks and propaganda, Russians sought to elect Trump, Mueller finds |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/through-email-leaks-and-propaganda-russians-sought-to-elect-trump-mueller-finds/2019/04/18/109ddf74-571b-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_storyy.html|date=April 18, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 23, 2019|archive-date=May 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506074701/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/through-email-leaks-and-propaganda-russians-sought-to-elect-trump-mueller-finds/2019/04/18/109ddf74-571b-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_storyy.html |url-status=dead}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Mackey|first1=Robert|last2=Risen|first2=James|last3=Aaronson|first3=Trevor|title=Annotating special counsel Robert Mueller's redacted report|url=https://theintercept.com/2019/04/18/annotating-special-counsel-robert-muellers-redacted-report/|work=The Intercept|date=April 18, 2019|access-date=April 23, 2019}}[https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf Mueller Report], vol. I, p. 4: At the same time the IRA operation began to focus on supporting candidate Trump in early 2016, the Russian government employed a second form of interference: cyber intrusions (hacking) and releases of hacked materials damaging to the Clinton Campaign. The Russian intelligence service known as the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Army (GRU) carried out these operations. In March 2016, the GRU began hacking the email accounts of Clinton Campaign volunteers and employees, including campaign chairman John Podesta. In April 2016, the GRU hacked into the computer networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The GRU stole hundreds of thousands of documents from the compromised email accounts and networks. Around the time the DNC announced in mid-June 2016 the Russian government's role in hacking its network, the GRU began disseminating stolen materials through the fictitious online personas "DCLeaks" and "Guccifer 2.0". The GRU later released additional materials through the organization WikiLeaks. 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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Morais|first=Betsy|title=Collusion by any other name|url=https://www.cjr.org/first_person/trump-mueller-collusion.php|date=April 18, 2019|work=Columbia Journalism Review|access-date=April 23, 2019}}[https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf Mueller Report], vol. I, p. 2: In evaluating whether evidence about collective action of multiple individuals constituted a crime, we applied the framework of conspiracy law, not the concept of "collusion". In so doing, the Office recognized that the word "collud[e]" was used in communications with the Acting Attorney General confirming certain aspects of the investigation's scope and that the term has frequently been invoked in public reporting about the investigation. But collusion is not a specific offense or theory of liability found in the United States Code, nor is it a term of art in federal criminal law. For those reasons, the Office's focus in analyzing questions of joint criminal liability was on conspiracy as defined in federal law.

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."{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Ostriker|first1=Rebecca|last2=Puzzanghera|first2=Jim|last3=Finucane|first3=Martin|last4=Datar|first4=Saurabh|last5=Uraizee|first5=Irfan|last6=Garvin|first6=Patrick|title=What the Mueller report says about Trump and more|url=https://apps.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/graphics/2019/03/mueller-report/ |date=April 18, 2019 |website=The Boston Globe|access-date=April 22, 2019}}{{cite magazine |last = Law |first = Tara |title = Here Are the Biggest Takeaways From the Mueller Report |url = https://time.com/5567077/mueller-report-release/ |date = April 19, 2019 |magazine = Time |access-date = April 22, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Yen|first=Hope|title=AP Fact Check: Trump, Barr distort Mueller report findings|url=https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-lindsey-graham-politics-russia-f9c0ab20229140f18ea34e1f15a9f597 |date=May 1, 2019 |website=Associated Press |access-date=May 2, 2019}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.factcheck.org/2019/04/what-the-mueller-report-says-about-obstruction/|title=What the Mueller Report Says About Obstruction|last1=Farley|first1=Robert|last2=Robertson|first2=Lori|last3=Gore|first3=D'Angelo|last4=Spencer|first4=Saranac Hale|last5=Fichera|first5=Angelo|last6=McDonald|first6=Jessica|date=April 19, 2019|website=FactCheck.org|access-date=April 22, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Desjardins|first=Lisa|title=11 moments Mueller investigated for obstruction of justice|date=April 18, 2019|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/11-moments-mueller-investigated-for-obstruction-of-justice |work=PBS|access-date=April 22, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Schmidt|first1=Michael|last2=Savage|first2=Charlie|title=Mueller Rejects View That Presidents Can't Obstruct Justice|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/us/politics/special-counsel-trump-obstruction.html |date=April 18, 2019 |work=The New York Times|access-date=April 19, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/18/trump-barely-disrupted-russia-investigation-mueller-report-says.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Trump barely disrupted Russia investigation, Mueller report says|first=Jacob|last=Pramuk|date=April 18, 2019 |work=CNBC}} For that reason, no charges against the Trump's aides and associates were recommended "beyond those already filed". 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,{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Day|first1=Chad|last2=Gresko|first2=Jessica|title=How Mueller made his no-call on Trump and obstruction|url=https://www.apnews.com/d7830de6911b44d2afb3b180a6b54ad2|date=April 19, 2019|work=Associated Press|access-date=April 19, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Gajanan|first=Mahita|title=Despite Evidence, Robert Mueller Would Not Say Whether Trump Obstructed Justice. Here's Why|url=https://time.com/5573289/robert-mueller-trump-obstruction-charges/ |date=April 18, 2019 |magazine=Time|access-date=April 20, 2019}} and they feared charges would affect Trump's governing and possibly preempt his impeachment.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mueller-s-report-trump-sections-blacked-out-released-public-n990191|date=April 18, 2019|title=Mueller report found Trump directed White House lawyer to 'do crazy s|work=NBC News|access-date=April 19, 2019|first1=Dareh|last1=Gregorian|first2=Julia|last2=Ainsley}} 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, hence investigators "determined not to apply an approach that could potentially result in a judgment that the President committed crimes".{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Barrett|first1=Devlin|last2=Zapotosky|first2=Matt|title=Mueller report lays out obstruction evidence against the president|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/attorney-general-to-provide-overview-of-mueller-report-at-news-conference-before-its-release/2019/04/17/8dcc9440-54b9-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 17, 2019|access-date=April 20, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Mascaro |first=Lisa |title=Mueller drops obstruction dilemma on Congress |date=April 19, 2019|url=https://www.apnews.com/35829a2b010248f193d1efd00c4de7e5 |work=Associated Press|access-date=April 20, 2019}}[https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf Mueller Report], vol. II, p. 2: "Third, we considered whether to evaluate the conduct we investigated under the Justice Manual standards governing prosecution and declination decisions, but we determined not to apply an approach that could potentially result in a judgment that the President committed crimes."

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",{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Neuhauser|first=Alan|title=The Mueller Report: Obstruction or Exoneration?|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-04-18/the-mueller-report-obstruction-or-exoneration|access-date=May 6, 2019|work=US News|date=April 18, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Blake|first=Aaron|title=The 10 Trump actions Mueller spotlighted for potential obstruction|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/18/trump-actions-mueller-spotlighted-potential-obstruction/|date=April 18, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 19, 2019|archive-date=April 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418205553/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/18/trump-actions-mueller-spotlighted-potential-obstruction/|url-status=dead}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|date=April 18, 2019|title=Mueller report: Eight things we only just learned|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47983775|work=BBC News|access-date=April 18, 2019}} 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".

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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Day|first=Chad|title=Key takeaways from AG Barr's testimony, Mueller's letter|url=https://apnews.com/ec455a7ba1c846deaf8a2616f7754698|date=May 2, 2019|website=Associated Press|access-date=May 2, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/01/us/politics/william-barr-hearing.html|title=William Barr Hearing: Highlights of His Testimony|work=The New York Times|date=May 1, 2019|access-date=May 7, 2019|first1=Katie|last1=Benner|first2=Nicholas|last2=Fandos}} Barr also repeatedly{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-05-08/president-donald-trump-asserts-executive-privilege-over-mueller-report|title=Trump Asserts Executive Privilege Over Mueller Report|work=U.S. News & World Report|date=May 8, 2019|access-date=May 8, 2019|first=Alan|last=Neuhauser}} failed to give the unredacted special counsel's report to the Judiciary Committee by its deadline of May 6, 2019.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/us/politics/house-contempt-attorney-general-barr.html|title=Democrats Threaten to Hold Barr in Contempt as White House Guards Tax Returns|work=The New York Times|date=May 6, 2019|access-date=May 7, 2019|first1=Nicholas|last1=Fandos|first2=Alan|last2=Rappeport}} On May 8, 2019, the committee voted to hold Barr in contempt of Congress, which refers the matter to entire House for resolution.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://theweek.com/speedreads/840197/house-judiciary-committee-just-voted-hold-barr-contempt-heres-what-happens-next| title=The House Judiciary Committee just voted to hold Barr in contempt. Here's what happens next.| work=The Week| date=May 8, 2019| access-date=May 8, 2019| first=Brendan| last=Morrow}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/us/politics/congress-contempt-barr.html| title=Trump Asserts Executive Privilege Over Full Mueller Report| work=The New York Times| date=May 8, 2019| access-date=May 8, 2019| first=Nicholas| last=Fandos}} 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".{{#invoke:Cite|news|first1=Mary Clare |last1=Jalonick |first2=Lisa |last2=Mascaro |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/nadler-constitutional-crisis-over-mueller-report-dispute |title=Nadler: 'Constitutional crisis' over Mueller report dispute |work=PBS |date=May 8, 2019 |access-date=May 8, 2019}} Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump was "self-impeaching" by stonewalling Congress.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/09/us/politics/mueller-testify.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Trump Suggests Mueller May Testify; Pelosi Declares 'Constitutional Crisis'|first1=Annie|last1=Karni|first2=Sheryl Gay|last2=Stolberg|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 9, 2019}}

Following release of the Mueller report, Trump and his allies turned their attention toward "investigating the investigators".{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/investigate-the-investigators-is-new-trump-rallying-cry-to-counter-mueller-report/2019/05/04/9319b520-6db6-11e9-be3a-33217240a539_story.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |date=May 4, 2019 |first=Toluse |last=Olorunnipa |title='Investigate the investigators' is new Trump rallying cry to counter Mueller report|newspaper=The Washington Post}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/us/politics/trump-barr-intelligence.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Trump Gives Attorney General Sweeping Power in Review of 2016 Campaign Inquiry |first1=Maggie |last1=Haberman |first2=Michael S. |last2=Schmidt |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 23, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|access-date=November 11, 2021 |url=https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-russia-ap-top-news-europe-eb4c8e7b1a8c4a5d9d618464249a8be8 |title=Critics worry AG will reveal Russia probe info to help Trump |first=Deb |last=Riechmann |date=May 24, 2019 |website=Associated Press}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|access-date=November 11, 2021 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/24/trump-justice-department-intelligence-1344958 |date=May 24, 2019 |title=Trump puts DOJ on crash course with intelligence agencies |first=Natasha |last=Bertrand |website=Politico}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/barr-could-expose-secrets-politicize-intelligence-with-review-of-russia-probe-current-and-former-officials-fear/2019/05/24/58f822f8-7e2f-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html |first=Shane |last=Harris |date=May 24, 2019 |access-date=November 8, 2019 |title=Barr could expose secrets, politicize intelligence with review of Russia probe, current and former officials fear|newspaper=The Washington Post}}

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."{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/us/politics/mueller-special-counsel.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Mueller, in First Comments on Russia Inquiry, Declines to Clear Trump |first1=Sharon |last1=LaFraniere |first2=Eileen |last2=Sullivan |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 29, 2019 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126135207/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/us/politics/mueller-special-counsel.html |url-status=dead}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Thomsen |first=Jacqueline |title=Mueller: Trump could be charged with obstruction of justice after leaving office|url=https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/454502-mueller-trump-could-be-charged-with-obstruction-of-justice-after |website=The Hill |date=July 24, 2019 |access-date=July 24, 2019}}

{{Main|Russia investigation origins conspiracy theory}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/13/us/politics/russia-investigation-justice-department-review.html |title=Barr Assigns U.S. Attorney in Connecticut to Review Origins of Russia Inquiry |first1=Adam |last1=Goldman |first2=Charlie |last2=Savage |first3=Michael S. |last3=Schmidt |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 13, 2019 |access-date=November 13, 2019}} By September 2020, Durham's inquiry had expanded to include the FBI's investigation of the Clinton Foundation during the 2016 campaign.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/24/us/politics/durham-clinton-foundation-investigation.html |access-date=November 13, 2021 |title=In Politically Charged Inquiry, Durham Sought Details About Scrutiny of Clintons|first1=Adam|last1=Goldman|first2=William K.|last2=Rashbaum|first3=Nicole|last3=Hong|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 24, 2020}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Burr |first1=Thomas |last2=Manson |first2=Pamela |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/03/29/us-attorney-for-utah-huber-probing-gop-raised-concerns-about-the-fbi-surveilling-trump-aide-ignoring-clinton-uranium-ties/ |title=U.S. Attorney for Utah is investigating GOP-raised concerns about the FBI surveilling Trump aide and ignoring Clinton uranium ties |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |access-date=March 30, 2018}} The investigation ended in January 2020 after no evidence was found to warrant the opening of a criminal investigation.{{#invoke:Cite|news|date=January 9, 2020 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-dept-winds-down-clinton-related-inquiry-once-championed-by-trump-it-found-nothing-of-consequence/2020/01/09/ca83932e-32f9-11ea-a053-dc6d944ba776_story.html |access-date=November 10, 2021 |title=Justice Dept. winds down Clinton-related inquiry once championed by Trump. It found nothing of consequence. |first=Devlin |last=Barrett |newspaper=The Washington Post}} Special Counsel Robert Mueller's April 2019 report documented that Trump pressured Sessions and the Department of Justice to reopen the investigation into Clinton's emails.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/us/politics/jeff-sessions-hillary-clinton-donald-trump.html|title=Mueller Report Reveals Trump's Fixation on Targeting Hillary Clinton|last=Schmidt|first=Michael S.|date=April 24, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 25, 2019|issn=0362-4331}}

{{See also|Lobbying in the United States|Legal affairs of the first Donald Trump presidency|2019 Trump–Ukraine scandal|Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations}}

The Trump administration was characterized by a departure from ethical norms.{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Michael |last=Crowley |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/us/politics/trump-goya-ivanka.html |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=As Election Nears, Trump's White House Grows Bolder in Flouting Ethical Norms |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 16, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Tom |last=Scheck |url=https://www.marketplace.org/2018/02/16/ethics-be-damned-more-half-trumps-20-person-cabinet-has-engaged-questionable-or/ |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=Ethics Be Damned: More than half of Trump's 20-person Cabinet has engaged in questionable or unethical conduct |work=Marketplace |publisher=Minnesota Public Radio |date=February 16, 2018 |quote=every ethics professional interviewed for this story thinks the Trump administration has significantly undermined decades of ethical norms and standards.}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Melissa |last=Gomez |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-07-23/trump-hatch-act-ethics-campaign |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=Trump is 'hijacking' White House events for 'partisan, political' gain, experts say |work=Los Angeles Times |date=July 23, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|first1=Annie |last1=Karni |first2=Maggie |last2=Haberman |author-link2=Maggie Haberman |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/us/politics/trump-campaign-rallies.html |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=As Campaign Season Heats, Trump Has Turned the Official Into the Political |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 8, 2019}} Some critics went so far as to describe Trump as bringing kleptocracy to America.{{Cite web |last=Beauchamp |first=Zack |date=2017-07-31 |title=How Donald Trump's kleptocracy is undermining American democracy |url=https://www.vox.com/world/2017/7/31/15959970/donald-trump-authoritarian-children-corruption |access-date=2024-09-28 |website=Vox |language=en-US}}{{Cite magazine |last=Cassidy |first=John |date=2017-04-04 |title=Trump Kleptocracy Watch: An Update |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/trump-kleptocracy-watch-an-update |access-date=2024-09-28 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}{{Cite news |last=Telnaes |first=Ann |date=2021-10-23 |title=Opinion {{!}} The Trump kleptocracy |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/05/30/the-trump-kleptocracy/ |access-date=2024-09-28 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=David |date=2017-07-31 |title=Trump risks US being seen as 'kleptocracy', says ex-ethics chief Walter Shaub |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/31/trump-ethics-chief-walter-shaub-kleptocracy |access-date=2024-09-28 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |last=Foer |first=Franklin |date=2019-02-07 |title=Russian-Style Kleptocracy Is Infiltrating America |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/how-kleptocracy-came-to-america/580471/ |access-date=2024-09-28 |work=The Atlantic |language=en |issn=2151-9463}}{{Cite news |date=2017-05-22 |title=Trump and the Path Toward Kleptocracy |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-05-22/trump-and-the-path-toward-kleptocracy |access-date=2024-09-28 |work=Bloomberg.com |language=en}}

During the 2016 campaign, Trump promised to "drain the swamp"{{snd}}a phrase that usually refers to entrenched corruption and lobbying in Washington, D.C.{{snd}}and he proposed a series of ethics reforms.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/trump-proposes-ethics-reform-229911 |title=Trump proposes ethics reforms|date=October 17, 2016|newspaper=Politico|last=Schrekinger|first=Ben|access-date=November 18, 2016}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pence-turns-vps-office-into-gateway-for-lobbyists-to-influence-the-trump-administration/2018/06/14/75675bfa-6424-11e8-a69c-b944de66d9e7_story.html|title=Pence turns VP's office into gateway for lobbyists to influence the Trump administration|first1=Michael|last1=Scherer|first2=Josh|last2=Dawsey|first3=Anu|last3=Narayanswamy|date=June 15, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 22, 2018}} About twice as many lobbying firms contacted Pence, compared to previous presidencies, among them representatives of major energy firms and drug companies. 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.

Among the administration's first policies was a five-year ban on serving as a lobbyist after working in the executive branch. However, as one of his final acts of office, Trump rolled back that policy, thus allowing administration staff to work as lobbyists.{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Trump Revokes Administration Ethics Rules On His Way Out The Door|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958710562/trump-revokes-administration-ethics-rules-on-his-way-out-the-door|access-date=January 20, 2021|website=NPR|date=January 20, 2021|last1=Keith|first1=Tamara}}

File:Donald_Trump_number_of_companies_by_country_worldwide_map.svg}} that are operating in each country:{{legend|#FD9BA0|1-3}}{{legend|#E0161F|4-8}}{{legend|#A50F16|9-15}}{{legend|#710006|Over 15}}]]

File:Trump AVM opening ceremony.jpg, then the prime minister of Turkey, attended the opening of the Trump Towers Istanbul AVM in 2012]]

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/us/politics/trump-press-conference-transcript.html|title=Donald Trump's News Conference: Full Transcript and Video|date=January 11, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=April 30, 2017}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/24/eric-trump-business-conflicts-of-interest|title=Eric Trump says he will keep father updated on business despite 'pact'|first=Alan|last=Yuhas|date=March 24, 2017|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=April 30, 2017}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/08/donald-trump-conflicts-of-interests/508382/ |date=August 9, 2017 |title=Donald Trump's Conflicts of Interest: A Crib Sheet|first=Jeremy|last=Venook |work=The Atlantic |access-date=April 30, 2017}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|first1=Karen |last1=Yourish |first2=Larry |last2=Buchanan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/12/us/politics/ethics-experts-trumps-conflicts-of-interest.html |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=It 'Falls Short in Every Respect': Ethics Experts Pan Trump's Conflicts Plan |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 12, 2017}} 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". In January 2018, a year into his presidency, Trump owned stakes in hundreds of businesses.{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Trump Ethics Monitor: Has The President Kept His Promises?|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/02/17/513724796/trump-ethics-monitor-has-the-president-kept-his-promises|newspaper=NPR|date=February 17, 2017|access-date=January 20, 2018|last1=Selyukh|first1=Alina|last2=Sullivan|first2=Emily|last3=Maffei|first3=Lucia}} 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.{{Cite news |last=Applebaum |first=Anne |date=August 30, 2024 |title=The kleptocrats aren't just stealing money. They're stealing democracy |url=https://www.ft.com/content/0876ef7a-bf88-463e-b8ca-bd9b4a11665c |work=Financial Times}}

After Trump took office, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, represented by a number of constitutional scholars, sued him{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/23/why-trumps-business-conflicts-cant-and-wont-just-be-swept-aside-commentary.html |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=Why Trump's business conflicts can't – and won't – just be swept aside|first=Chris|last=Riback|date=January 23, 2017|work=CNBC}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/liberal-watchdog-group-sues-trump-alleging-he-violated-constitutional-ban/2017/01/22/5e8b35c2-e113-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html |access-date=November 7, 2021|title=Liberal watchdog group sues Trump, alleging he violated constitutional ban|first1=David A.|last1=Fahrenthold|author1-link=David Fahrenthold|first2=Jonathan|last2=O'Connell|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 23, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|first1=David A.|last1=Fahrenthold|author1-link=David Fahrenthold|first2=Jonathan|last2=O'Connell|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/what-is-the-emoluments-clause-does-it-apply-to-president-trump/2017/01/23/12aa7808-e185-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=What is the 'Emoluments Clause'? Does it apply to President Trump?|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 23, 2017}} 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".{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Julia |last=Horowitz |url=https://money.cnn.com/2017/01/20/news/trump-conflicts-inauguration/ |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=President Trump hit immediately with ethics complaint |work=CNN |date=January 20, 2017}} The GSA said it was "reviewing the situation". By May 2017, the CREW v. Trump lawsuit had grown with additional plaintiffs and alleged violations of the Domestic Emoluments Clause.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/us/politics/trump-crew-lawsuit-constitution.html |title=Watchdog Group Expands Lawsuit Against Trump |date=April 18, 2017|last=LaFraniere|first=Sharon |newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=June 11, 2017}} 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{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/09/532302106/trump-administration-calls-for-lawsuit-about-his-businesses-to-be-dismissed|title=Trump Administration Calls For Lawsuit About His Businesses To Be Dismissed|first=Marilyn|last=Geewax|date=June 9, 2017|access-date=June 10, 2017|work=NPR}} and that the described conduct was not illegal.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-emoluments-foreign-government-payments-2017-6 |title=Justice Department argues it's fine for Trump to take payments from foreign governments, citing George Washington |website=Business Insider |date=June 10, 2017 |access-date=June 10, 2017 |first=Allan |last=Smith}} Also in June 2017, two more lawsuits were filed based on the Foreign Emoluments Clause: D.C. and Maryland v. Trump,{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=LaFrainere|first=Sharon|title=Maryland and D.C. Sue Trump Over His Private Businesses|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/12/us/trump-lawsuit-private-businesses.html|access-date=June 12, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 12, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Davis|first=Aaron C.|title=D.C. and Maryland sue President Trump, alleging breach of constitutional oath|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-and-maryland-to-sue-president-trump-alleging-breach-of-constitutional-oath/2017/06/11/0059e1f0-4f19-11e7-91eb-9611861a988f_story.html|access-date=June 12, 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 12, 2017}} and Blumenthal v. Trump, which was signed by more than one-third of the voting members of Congress.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Bykowicz|first=Julie|title=Democrats in Congress are the latest to sue President Trump|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/06/13/democrats-congress-are-latest-sue-president-trump/1tG7Mqk5tO4kxjHDh94ABO/story.html|access-date=June 14, 2017|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=June 14, 2017|archive-date=June 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170614054544/http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/06/13/democrats-congress-are-latest-sue-president-trump/1tG7Mqk5tO4kxjHDh94ABO/story.html|url-status=dead}} United States District Judge George B. Daniels dismissed the CREW case on December 21, 2017, holding that plaintiffs lacked standing.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-alleging-trump-violated-constitution/2017/12/21/31011510-e697-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html |first1=David A. |last1=Fahrenthold |first2=Jonathan |last2=O'Connell |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=Judge dismisses lawsuit alleging Trump violated Constitution|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=December 21, 2017}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/EmolumentsDismissal.pdf |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Trump |quote=17 Civ. 458 |publisher=S.D.N.Y. |date=December 21, 2017 |via=courthousenews.com}} D.C. and Maryland v. Trump cleared three judicial hurdles to proceed to the discovery phase during 2018,{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/us/trump-emoluments-lawsuit.html|title=Lawsuit Over Trump's Ties to His Businesses Is Allowed to Advance|first=Sharon|last=LaFraniere|date=March 28, 2018|newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=January 3, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/25/us/politics/trump-emoluments-lawsuit.html|title=In Ruling Against Trump, Judge Defines Anticorruption Clauses in Constitution for First Time|first=Sharon|last=LaFraniere|date=July 25, 2018|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=January 3, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/us/politics/trump-emoluments-lawsuit-evidence.html|title=Judge Orders Evidence to Be Gathered in Emoluments Case Against Trump|first=Sharon|last=LaFraniere|date=November 2, 2018|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=January 3, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-attorneys-general-subpoena-trump-irs-20181204-story.html|title=2 attorneys general issue subpoenas to Trump entities in Washington hotel case|first1=Jonathan |last1=O'Connell |first2=Ann E. |last2=Marimow |date=December 4, 2018 |first3=David A. |last3=Fahrenthold |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |access-date=January 4, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/us/politics/justice-department-trump-emoluments.html|title=Justice Department Asks Court to Halt Emoluments Case Against Trump|first=Sharon|last=LaFraniere|date=December 17, 2018|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=January 4, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-emoluments-idUSKCN1OJ30R |first=Jan |last=Wolfe |title=U.S. appeals court grants Trump request for halt to emoluments case|date=December 21, 2018|work=Reuters|access-date=January 3, 2019}} NBC News reported that by June 2019 representatives of 22 governments had spent money at Trump properties.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/reps-22-foreign-governments-have-spent-money-trump-properties-n1015806 |access-date=November 7, 2021 |date=June 12, 2019 |first1=Shelby |last1=Hanssen |first2=Ken |last2=Dilanian |title=Reps of 22 foreign governments have spent money at Trump properties|website=NBC News}} In January 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuits as Trump was no longer president.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/25/politics/emoluments-supreme-court-donald-trump-case/index.html |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=Supreme Court dismisses emoluments cases against Trump|first1=Ariane|last1=de Vogue|first2=Devan|last2=Cole |work=CNN|date=January 25, 2021}}

{{See also|Saudi Arabia lobby in the United States}}

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{{spaces}}... High on the agenda of the two men{{spaces}}... 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".{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/politics/george-nader-elliott-broidy-uae-saudi-arabia-white-house-influence.html |first1=David D. |last1=Kirkpatrick |first2=Mark |last2=Mazzetti |author-link2=Mark Mazzetti |title=How 2 Gulf Monarchies Sought to Influence the White House |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 21, 2018 |access-date=November 7, 2021}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/under-trump-inconvenient-data-is-being-sidelined/2017/05/14/3ae22c28-3106-11e7-8674-437ddb6e813e_story.html |first=Juliet |last=Eilperin |date=May 14, 2017 |title=Under Trump, inconvenient data is being sidelined|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=May 15, 2017}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-on-taxes-and-visitor-logs-white-house-1492471167-htmlstory.html|title=On taxes and visitor logs, White House grapples with transparency questions|last=Memoli|first=Michael A.|date=April 17, 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=May 15, 2017}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Collins |first1=Kaitlan |title=Exclusive: White House stops announcing calls with foreign leaders |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/24/politics/foreign-leaders-call-white-house/index.html |website=CNN |date=July 24, 2018 |accessdate=July 25, 2018}}

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/01/16/ineligible-white-house-staffers-got-free-care-military-hospitals-free-prescription-drugs-watchdog.html |title=Free Surgeries and Prescriptions: White House Staff Got Access to Military Health Care Despite Being Ineligible |last=Kime |first=Patricia |publication-date=January 16, 2024 |publisher=Military.com |access-date=January 26, 2024}}{{cite web |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/24/health/white-house-medical-unit-report/index.html |title=White House clinic handed out medications with little oversight during past administrations, new investigation shows |last=Goodman |first=Brenda |publication-date=January 24, 2024 |publisher=CNN |access-date=January 25, 2024}}{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-white-house-pharmacy-improperly-provided-drugs-misused-funds-pentagon-2024-01-28/ |title=Trump White House pharmacy improperly provided drugs and misused funds, Pentagon report says |last=Aboulenein |first=Ahmed |work=Reuters |publication-date=January 28, 2024 |publisher=Reuters |access-date=January 30, 2024}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Karni |first1=Annie |title=Meet the guys who tape Trump's papers back together |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/10/trump-papers-filing-system-635164 |work=Politico |date=June 10, 2018 |accessdate=June 13, 2018}} He also took boxes of documents and other items with him when he left the White House; the National Archives later retrieved them.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/trump-records-mar-a-lago/|title=National Archives had to retrieve Trump White House records from Mar-a-Lago|newspaper=Washington Post|date=February 7, 2022|accessdate=February 8, 2022}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Amiri |first=Farnoush |date=April 12, 2022 |title=DOJ Denies Jan. 6 Panel Details In Trump Records Probe |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/doj-jan-6-panel-trump-records-probe_n_625609bde4b052d2bd5b76a5 |access-date=April 13, 2022 |website=HuffPost |language=en}} Some of the documents he took with him were discovered to be classified, including some at the "top secret" level.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/10/trump-records-classified/|title=Some Trump records taken to Mar-a-Lago clearly marked as classified, including documents at 'top secret' level|date=February 10, 2022|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=February 12, 2022}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Some records taken by Trump so sensitive they may not be described in public |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/25/trump-oversight-records/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 25, 2022|first1=Jacqueline|last1=Alemany|first2=Tom|last2=Hamburger}} Trump sometimes used his personal cellphone to converse with world leaders so that there would be no record of the conversation.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Choi |first1=David |title=Trump reportedly gave out his personal cell phone number to world leaders and US officials 'had no idea' he was making calls |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-personal-cellphone-call-canada-justin-trudeau-2018-7 |work=Business Insider |accessdate=July 7, 2018}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Prosecutors Pursue Inquiry Into Trump's Handling of Classified Material |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/12/us/politics/justice-department-trump-classified.html |work=The New York Times |date=May 12, 2022|first1=Maggie|last1=Haberman|first2=Michael S.|last2=Schmidt}}

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). By comparison, CREW stated that it was aware of only two findings of Hatch Act violations during the eight years of the Obama administration.

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Rein |first1=Lisa |title=At least 13 Trump officials illegally campaigned while in office, federal investigation finds |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-violations-hatch-act/2021/11/09/b3d4c764-4108-11ec-a88e-2aa4632af69b_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=November 9, 2021 |access-date=November 10, 2021}}{{cite report |url = https://osc.gov/Documents/Hatch%20Act/Reports/Investigation%20of%20Political%20Activities%20by%20Senior%20Trump%20Administration%20Officials%20During%20the%202020%20Presidential%20Election.pdf |title = Investigation of Political Activities by Senior Trump Administration Officials During the 2020 Presidential Election |work = United States Office of Special Counsel |date = November 9, 2021 |access-date = November 10, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211109192325/https://osc.gov/Documents/Hatch%20Act/Reports/Investigation%20of%20Political%20Activities%20by%20Senior%20Trump%20Administration%20Officials%20During%20the%202020%20Presidential%20Election.pdf |archive-date = November 9, 2021 |url-status = live}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-panel-interviews-whistleblower-tricia-newbold-about-white-house-security-clearances/|title=Whistleblower says 25 people given White House clearance despite rejections|last=Kaplan|first=Rebecca|date=April 1, 2019|work=CBS News|access-date=April 3, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-whistleblower-says-she-felt-humiliated-after-retaliation-boss-n990171|title=White House whistleblower says she felt humiliated after retaliation from boss|last1=Strickler|first1=Laura|last2=Alexander|first2=Peter|last3=Schapiro|first3=Rich|date=April 2, 2019|work=NBC News|access-date=April 3, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/us/politics/tricia-newbold-whistle-blower-white-house.html|title=White House Whistle-Blower Did the Unexpected: She Returned to Work|last=Rogers|first=Katie|date=April 1, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 3, 2019|issn=0362-4331}}

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".{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=White House instructs official to ignore Democratic subpoena over security clearances|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 23, 2019|date=April 22, 2019|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/23/white-house-instructs-official-ignore-democratic-subpoena-over-security-clearances/|first=Tom|last=Hamburger|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423070501/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/23/white-house-instructs-official-ignore-democratic-subpoena-over-security-clearances/| archive-date=April 23, 2019| url-status=live}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=White House tells official not to comply with Democratic subpoena over security clearances|work=CNN Politics|access-date=April 23, 2019|date=April 22, 2019|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/22/politics/carl-kline-subpoena/index.html|first1=Manu|last1=Raju|first2=Sara|last2=Murray|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423032920/https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/22/politics/carl-kline-subpoena/index.html|archive-date=April 23, 2019|url-status=live}} 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".{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Caldwell|first=Leigh|title=House Democrats not satisfied with Kline answers on security clearances|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-democrats-not-satisfied-kline-answers-security-clearances-n1000911 |date=May 2, 2019 |work=NBC News|access-date=May 2, 2019}}

{{Main|Impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump|First impeachment of Donald Trump}}

{{See also|2019 Trump–Ukraine scandal}}

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).{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Esteban|first1=Chiqui|last2=Rabinowitz|first2=Kate|last3=Meko|first3=Tim|last4=Uhrmacher|first4=Kevin|title=Who's who in the whistleblower complaint|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/27/whos-who-whistleblower-complaint/|access-date=October 1, 2019|date=September 27, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Korte|first=Gregory|title=The Whistle-Blower Complaint Against Trump, Annotated|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-trump-ukraine-whistleblower-complaint-transcript/|access-date=October 1, 2019|work=Bloomberg News|date=September 27, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.apnews.com/cdd0d1da48e045c39c383d589ad919f6|title=6 takeaways from the whistleblower complaint, including Rudy Giuliani's central role|work=Associated Press|date=September 27, 2019|access-date=October 1, 2019|first1=Michael|last1=Balsamo|first2=Colleen|last2=Long}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/26/politics/whistleblower-complaint-released/index.html|title=Whistleblower says White House tried to cover up Trump's abuse of power |work=CNN|date=September 26, 2019|access-date=September 26, 2019|first1=Marshall|last1=Cohen|first2=Katelyn|last2=Polantz|first3=David|last3=Shortell}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Olorunnipa|first1=Toluse|last2=Parker|first2=Ashley|title=Pence seeks to dodge impeachment spotlight as his Ukrainian moves attract notice|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pence-seeks-to-dodge-impeachment-spotlight-as-his-ukrainian-moves-attract-notice/2019/09/26/d397bdea-e07a-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html|access-date=October 1, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 27, 2019}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Kiely|first1=Eugene|last2=Roberston|first2=Lori|last3=Gore|first3=D'Angelo|title=The Whistleblower Complaint Timeline|url=https://www.factcheck.org/2019/09/the-whistleblower-complaint-timeline/|access-date=October 1, 2019|work=Factcheck.org|date=September 27, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Bump|first1=Philip|last2=Blake|first2=Aaron|title=The full Trump-Ukraine timeline – as of now|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/24/full-trump-ukraine-timeline-now/|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=October 1, 2019|date=September 27, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Harris|first1=Shane|last2=Demirjian|first2=Karoun|last3=Nakashima|first3=Ellen|title=Acting intelligence chief Maguire defends his handling of whistleblower complaint in testimony before Congress|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/intelligence-chief-maguire-will-testify-to-congress-about-whistleblower-complaint/2019/09/25/ee98ae7c-dfb4-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html|access-date=October 1, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 26, 2019}} Maguire also testified: "I think the whistleblower did the right thing. I think he followed the law every step of the way."{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Knutson|first=Jacob|title=Acting DNI Joseph Maguire: Whistleblower "did the right thing"|url=https://www.axios.com/joseph-maguire-whistleblower-complaint-house-hearing-6434fe93-a19e-421a-8db5-8992ca5319ab.html|access-date=October 1, 2019|work=Axios|date=September 26, 2019}}

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."{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Baker|first=Peter|title=Trump Acknowledges Discussing Biden in Call With Ukrainian Leader|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/22/us/politics/trump-ukraine-biden.html|access-date=October 1, 2019|work=The New York Times|date=September 23, 2019}} Trump also confirmed that he had indeed temporarily withheld military aid from Ukraine, offering contradicting reasons for his decision on September 23 and 24.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Forgey|first=Quint|title=Trump changes story on withholding Ukraine aid|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/24/donald-trump-ukraine-military-aid-1509070|access-date=October 1, 2019|work=Politico|date=September 24, 2019}}

File:Open Hearing with Dr. Fiona Hill and David Holmes.jpg and David Holmes on November 21, 2019]]

On September 24, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the start of a formal impeachment inquiry.{{#invoke:Cite|news|work=The New York Times|date=September 24, 2019|first=Nicholas|last=Fandos|author-link=Nicholas Fandos|title=Nancy Pelosi Announces Formal Impeachment Inquiry of Trump|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/24/us/politics/democrats-impeachment-trump.html |access-date=November 7, 2021}} 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. On September 26, the White House declassified the whistleblower's complaint, so Schiff released the complaint to the public. The non-verbatim transcript corroborated the main allegations of the whistleblower's report about the Trump–Zelensky call.{{#invoke:Cite|news|first1=Hope |last1=Yen |first2=Calvin |last2=Woodward |url=https://apnews.com/article/ap-fact-check-donald-trump-ca-state-wire-politics-impeachments-817c0c285bc9485d88608635e0fef3e3|title=AP Fact Check: Trump's flawed 'read the transcript' defense|date=November 11, 2019|website=Associated Press|access-date=December 30, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Bump|first=Philip|title=Trump wanted Russia's main geopolitical adversary to help undermine the Russian interference story|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/25/trump-wanted-russias-main-geopolitical-adversary-help-him-undermine-russian-interference-story/|access-date=October 1, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 25, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Santucci|first1=John|last2=Mallin|first2=Alexander|last3=Thomas|first3=Pierre|last4=Faulders|first4=Katherine|title=Trump urged Ukraine to work with Barr and Giuliani to probe Biden: Call transcript|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/transcript-trump-call-ukraine-includes-talk-giuliani-barr/story?id=65848768|access-date=October 1, 2019|work=ABC News|date=September 25, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Brown|first=Pamela|title=White House says lawyers directed moving Ukraine transcript to highly secure system|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-transcript-white-house/index.html|access-date=October 1, 2019|work=CNN|date=September 27, 2019}}

Following these revelations, members of congress largely divided along party lines, with Democrats generally in favor of impeachment proceedings and Republicans defending the president.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/23/politics/senate-republicans-ukraine-whistleblower-reaction/index.html |access-date=November 7, 2021 |first1=Ted |last1=Barrett |first2=Manu |last2=Raju |first3=Lauren |last3=Fox |first4=Ellie |last4=Kaufman |first5=Clare |last5=Foran |title=Senate Republicans skip criticizing Trump over handling of whistleblower: 'It's a lot of hysteria over very little'|website=CNN |date=September 27, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2019/09/27/trump-ukraine-kurt-volker-rudy-giuliani-007212|title=Ukraine envoy resigns amid scandal consuming Trump's presidency|work=Politico|date=September 27, 2019|access-date=September 28, 2019|first=Nahal|last=Toosi}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/463436-pompeo-subpoenaed-by-house-committees-over-ukraine-documents|title=Democrats subpoena Pompeo for Ukraine documents|work=The Hill|date=September 27, 2019|access-date=September 28, 2019|first1=Rachel|last1=Frazin|first2=Scott|last2=Wong|first3=Mike|last3=Lillis}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/white-house-restricted-trump-calls-putin-saudi/index.html |access-date=November 7, 2021 |first1=Pamela |last1=Brown |first2=Jim |last2=Sciutto |first3=Kevin |last3=Liptak |title=White House restricted access to Trump's calls with Putin and Saudi crown prince|website=CNN |date=September 27, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-told-russian-officials-in-2017-he-wasnt-concerned-about-moscows-interference-in-us-election/2019/09/27/b20a8bc8-e159-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html |first1=Shane |last1=Harris |first2=Josh |last2=Dawsey |first3=Ellen |last3=Nakashima |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=Trump told Russian officials in 2017 he wasn't concerned about Moscow's interference in U.S. election|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 26, 2019}}

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.{{cite magazine |title = If Trump Is Allowed to Turn the Justice Department Into a Political Weapon, No One Is Safe |access-date = November 7, 2021 |url = https://time.com/5783007/donald-trump-doj-resignations/ |magazine = Time |first = Joyce White |last = Vance |date = February 12, 2020 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201221160526/https://time.com/5783007/donald-trump-doj-resignations/ |archive-date = December 21, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Chong|first=Jane|title=The Justice Department Has Had to Twist Itself in Knots to Defend Trump on Emoluments|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/dojs-about-face-emoluments/612004/|work=The Atlantic|date=May 26, 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209183624/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/dojs-about-face-emoluments/612004/ |access-date=November 7, 2021 |archive-date=December 9, 2020}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Mazzetti|first1=Mark|last2=Benner|first2=Katie|title=Trump Pressed Australian Leader to Help Barr Investigate Mueller Inquiry's Origins|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/us/politics/trump-australia-barr-mueller.html |access-date=November 7, 2021 |work=The New York Times|date=September 30, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107224640/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/us/politics/trump-australia-barr-mueller.html|archive-date=January 7, 2021}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Rohde|first=David|title=William Barr, Trump's Sword and Shield|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/20/william-barr-trumps-sword-and-shield|magazine=The New Yorker|date=January 13, 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201219020714/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/20/william-barr-trumps-sword-and-shield |access-date=November 7, 2021 |archive-date=December 19, 2020}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|title=Trump Urged Top Aide to Help Giuliani Client Facing DOJ Charges|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-09/trump-urged-top-aide-to-help-giuliani-client-facing-doj-charges|last1=Wadhams|first1=Nick|last2=Mohsin|first2=Saleha|last3=Baker|first3=Stephanie|last4=Jacobs|first4=Jennifer|publisher=Bloomberg News|date=October 9, 2019|access-date=December 18, 2019}}

Trump attempted to host the 2020 G7 Summit at his Doral Golf Resort, from which he could have made significant profits.{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Trump Florida golf course to host next G7 summit|access-date=November 7, 2021 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50087836 |work=BBC News|date=October 17, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101000009/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50087836|archive-date=November 1, 2020}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Fahrenthold |first1=David A. |last2=Dawsey|first2=Josh|date=September 17, 2020|title=Trump's businesses charged Secret Service more than $1.1 million, including for rooms in club shuttered for pandemic |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-service-spending-bedminster/2020/09/17/9e11e1c2-f6a0-11ea-be57-d00bb9bc632d_story.html |url-status=live |newspaper=The Washington Post|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109083253/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-service-spending-bedminster/2020/09/17/9e11e1c2-f6a0-11ea-be57-d00bb9bc632d_story.html|archive-date=January 9, 2021|access-date=January 10, 2021}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Baker|first=Jean H.|title=Trump just admitted he's stalling pandemic relief to make it harder to vote|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-14/donald-trump-hampers-us-postal-service-2020-election-coronavirus/12554960 |access-date=August 14, 2020 |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=August 13, 2020|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030212920/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-14/donald-trump-hampers-us-postal-service-2020-election-coronavirus/12554960|archive-date=October 30, 2020}}

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,{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=James Comey's Attacks on Trump May Hurt a Carefully Cultivated Image |access-date=November 7, 2021 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-book.html |first1=Julie Hirschfeld |last1=Davis |first2=Jonathan |last2=Martin |work=The New York Times|date=April 16, 2018}} Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions,{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Baker|first1=Peter|last2=Benner|first2=Katie|last3=Shear|first3=Michael D.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/us/politics/sessions-resigns.html|title=Jeff Sessions Is Forced Out as Attorney General as Trump Installs Loyalist|date=November 7, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 25, 2020|issn=0362-4331}} and Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.{{#invoke:Cite|news|author=Editorial Board |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-is-trumps-vilest-act-of-retribution-yet/2020/04/06/c685cb0a-781f-11ea-b6ff-597f170df8f8_story.html|title=This is Trump's vilest act of retribution yet|date=April 7, 2020|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=April 25, 2020}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner |work=BBC News |date=December 24, 2020 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55433522 |access-date=March 9, 2021}} 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 failed to register as a lobbyist for a foreign individual.Executive Grant of Clemency (Jan. 19, 2021), https://www.justice.gov/media/1117706/dl?inline Broidy also lobbied the US government to end the investigations in the 1MDB scandal.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/20/donald-trump-pardons-steve-bannon-amid-last-acts-of-presidency-report |first1=Martin |last1=Pengelly |first2=Julian |last2=Borger |title=Donald Trump pardons Steve Bannon amid last acts of presidency|access-date=January 20, 2021|website=The Guardian|date=January 20, 2021}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-costs-trips-security-taxpayer-barack-obama-month-year-a7586261.html |access-date=November 7, 2021 |first=Peter |last=Walker |title=In a month, the Trump family has cost taxpayers almost as much as the Obamas did in a year|date=February 17, 2017|newspaper=The Independent}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-familys-elaborate-lifestyle-a-logistical-nightmare--at-taxpayer-expense/2017/02/16/763cce8e-f2ce-11e6-a9b0-ecee7ce475fc_story.html |first1=Drew |last1=Harwell |first2=Amy |last2=Brittain |first3=Jonathan |last3=O'Connell |date=February 16, 2017 |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=Trump family's elaborate lifestyle is a 'logistical nightmare' – at taxpayer expense|newspaper=The Washington Post}}

A June 2019 analysis by the Washington Post found that federal officials and GOP campaigns had spent at least $1.6{{spaces}}million at businesses owned by Trump during his presidency.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/when-trump-visits-his-clubs-government-agencies-and-republicans-pay-to-be-where-he-is/2019/06/20/a4c13c36-8ed0-11e9-adf3-f70f78c156e8_story.html |first1=David A. |last1=Fahrenthold |first2=Josh |last2=Dawsey |first3=Jonathan |last3=O'Connell |first4=Michelle Ye Hee |last4=Lee |date=June 20, 2019 |title=When Trump visits his clubs, government agencies and Republicans pay to be where he is|access-date=November 7, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} This was an undercount, as most of the data on spending by government officials covered only the first few months of Trump's presidency.

{{Main|2018 United States elections}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Cillizza|first=Chris|date=November 10, 2018|title=2018 was a WAY better election for Democrats than most people seem to think|work=CNN|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/09/politics/2018-democrats-midterms/index.html|access-date=November 12, 2018}}

{{Main|Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign|2020 United States presidential election}}

{{Further|2020 United States elections|2020 Republican Party presidential primaries|2020 Republican National Convention}}

Trump officially announced his reelection campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2020 presidential election on June 18, 2019.{{#invoke:Cite|web|title=Donald Trump formally launches 2020 re-election bid|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48681573|last=Staff|work=BBC News |date=June 19, 2019|access-date=August 10, 2020}} Trump did not face any significant rivals for the 2020 Republican nomination, with some state Republican parties cancelling the presidential primaries in the states.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/06/republicans-cancel-primaries-trump-challengers-1483126 |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=Republicans to scrap primaries and caucuses as Trump challengers cry foul |date=September 6, 2019 |first=Alex |last=Isenstadt |work=Politico}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/07/business/media/presidential-election-tv-networks-call.html|title=Tension, Then Some Tears, as TV News Narrates a Moment for History|last1=Koblin|first1=John|last2=Grynbaum|first2=Michael M.|last3=Hsu|first3=Tiffany|date=November 7, 2020|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 27, 2021}}

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.Blake, Aaron (January 6, 2021). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/06/trump-set-be-first-president-since-1932-lose-reelection-house-senate/ "Trump set to be first president since 1932 to lose reelection, the House and the Senate"]. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 11, 2021.

{{main|Presidential transition of Joe Biden|Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election|Trump fake electors plot}}

File:ElectoralCollege2020 with results.svg defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election]]

Trump refused to concede, and the administration did not begin cooperating with president-elect Biden's transition team until November 23.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-transition-agencies-biden/2020/11/09/ad9f2ba2-22b7-11eb-952e-0c475972cfc0_story.html|title=White House, escalating tensions, orders agencies to rebuff Biden transition team|last1=Rein|first1=Lisa|last2=Viser|first2=Matt|last3=Miller|first3=Greg|last4=Dawsey|first4=Josh|date=November 9, 2020|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=March 27, 2021}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Holmes|first1=Kristen|last2=Herb|first2=Jeremy|date=November 23, 2020|title=First on CNN: Key government agency acknowledges Biden's win and begins formal transition|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/23/politics/transition-biden-gsa-begin/index.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123232709/https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/23/politics/transition-biden-gsa-begin/index.html|archive-date=November 23, 2020|access-date=November 24, 2020|website=CNN}} 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{{snd}}in personnel, capacity and in morale.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Kaplan|first=Thomas|date=December 28, 2020|title=Biden Admonishes Trump Administration Over 'Obstruction'|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/28/us/politics/biden-trump-transition.html|access-date=November 7, 2021}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Forgey|first=Quint|date=December 30, 2020|title=Biden transition chief blasts 'obstruction' by political appointees at OMB, Pentagon|work=Politico|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/30/abraham-blasts-trump-omb-pentagon-452354|access-date=November 7, 2021}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2021-01-06/trump-supporters-crowd-into-washington-to-protest-congress-certifying-bidens-victory|title=Trump Summoned Supporters to 'Wild' Protest, and Told Them to Fight. They Did|last1=Holland|first1=Steve|last2=Mason|first2=Jeff|last3=Landay|first3=Jonathan|date=January 6, 2021|agency=Reuters|publisher=U.S. News|access-date=March 27, 2021}} Although most resulting lawsuits were either dismissed or ruled against by numerous courts,{{Cite news |last=Borter |first=Brad Brooks, Gabriella |date=2021-01-19 |title=Trump fraud claims open Republican rift in Texas and other red states |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-texas-republicans-insigh-idUSKBN29O1XV |access-date=2021-01-19 |work=Reuters |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Carney |first1=Jordain |last2=Chalfant |first2=Morgan |date=January 13, 2021 |title=Security concerns mount ahead of Biden inauguration |url=https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/533938-security-concerns-mount-ahead-of-biden-inauguration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114194247/https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/533938-security-concerns-mount-ahead-of-biden-inauguration |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |access-date=January 13, 2021 |website=The Hill}}{{Cite news |last1=Fandos |first1=Nicholas |last2=Shear |first2=Michael D. |date=2019-12-18 |title=Trump Impeached for Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress (Published 2019) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/us/politics/trump-impeached.html |access-date=2021-01-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Trump nonetheless conspired with his campaign team to submit documents in several states (all of which had been won by Biden) which falsely claimed to be legitimate electoral certificates for President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.{{Cite web |last=Breuninger |first=Kevin |date=June 22, 2022 |title=Trump had a direct role in plan to install fake electors. Key takeaways from the fourth Jan. 6 hearing |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/22/jan-6-probe-takeaways-trump-had-a-direct-role-in-plan-to-install-fake-electors.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622151510/https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/22/jan-6-probe-takeaways-trump-had-a-direct-role-in-plan-to-install-fake-electors.html |archive-date=June 22, 2022 |access-date=July 29, 2022 |website=CNBC}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Trump campaign officials, led by Rudy Giuliani, oversaw fake electors plot in 7 states|url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/20/politics/trump-campaign-officials-rudy-giuliani-fake-electors/index.html|publisher=CNN|date=January 20, 2022|first1=Marshall|last1=Cohen|first2=Zachary|last2=Cohen|first3=Dan|last3=Merica}} After the submission of these documents, the Trump campaign intended that the presiding officer of the United States Senate, either President of the Senate Pence or President pro tempore Chuck Grassley, would claim to have the unilateral power to reject electors during the January 6, 2021 vote counting session; the presiding officer would reject all electors from the several states in which the Trump campaign had submitted false documents, leaving 232 votes for Trump and 222 votes for Biden, thereby overturning the election results in favour of Trump.{{cite news |last1=Haberman |first1=Maggie |last2=Savage |first2=Charlie |last3=Broadwater |first3=Luke |date=August 8, 2023 |title=Previously Secret Memo Laid Out Strategy for Trump to Overturn Biden's Win - The House Jan. 6 committee's investigation did not uncover the memo, whose existence first came to light in last week's indictment. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/08/us/politics/trump-indictment-fake-electors-memo.html |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230809142035/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/08/us/politics/trump-indictment-fake-electors-memo.html |archivedate=August 9, 2023 |accessdate=August 10, 2023 |work=The New York Times}}{{Cite web |last=Chesebro |first=Kenneth |date=December 13, 2020 |title=Brief notes on 'President of the Senate' strategy |url=https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000189-db0d-d1b8-adff-fb4f5ae70000 |access-date=September 29, 2023 |website=Politico}}{{Cite news |title=John Eastman's second memo on 'January 6 scenario' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/john-eastman-s-second-memo-on-january-6-scenario/b3fd2b0a-f931-4e0c-8bac-c82f13c2dd6f/ |access-date=2024-07-03 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|title=Memos Show Roots of Trump's Focus on Jan. 6 and Alternate Electors|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/us/politics/trump-jan-6-memos.html|work=The New York Times|date=February 2, 2022|first1=Alan|last1=Feuer|first2=Maggie|last2=Haberman|first3=Luke|last3=Broadwater}} The plans for January 6 failed to come to fruition after Pence refused to follow the campaign's proposals.{{Cite web |last1=Swan |first1=Betsy Woodruff |last2=Cheney |first2=Kyle |date=March 30, 2022 |title=Inside Pence-world's preparation for a Jan. 6 legal showdown |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/30/pence-jan-6-legal-showdown-00021864 |access-date=2022-06-10 |website=Politico |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Glantz, Aaron |last2=The Center for Investigative Reporting |date=January 6, 2021 |title=Read Pence's full letter saying he can't claim 'unilateral authority' to reject electoral votes |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-pences-full-letter-saying-he-cant-claim-unilateral-authority-to-reject-electoral-votes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106190245/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-pences-full-letter-saying-he-cant-claim-unilateral-authority-to-reject-electoral-votes |archive-date=January 6, 2021 |access-date=January 8, 2021 |work=PBS NewsHour |agency=Associated Press}}

{{Main|2021 United States Electoral College vote count|January 6 United States Capitol attack}}

File:Trump remarks on Capitol storming, January 6 2021 0417PM EST.webm

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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2021/jan/06/georgia-election-latest-news-senate-ossoff-warnock-democrats-republicans-trump-biden|title=Schumer calls pro-Trump mob 'domestic terrorists' as Senate resumes election certification{{snd}}live|last1=McCarthy|first1=Tom|last2=Ho|first2=Vivian|last3=Greve|first3=Joan E.|date=January 7, 2021|newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=January 6, 2021|archive-date=January 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106230506/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2021/jan/06/georgia-election-latest-news-senate-ossoff-warnock-democrats-republicans-trump-biden|url-status=live}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Blake|first=Aaron|title=Analysis {{!}} 'Let's have trial by combat': How Trump and allies egged on the violent scenes Wednesday|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/06/lets-have-trial-by-combat-how-trump-allies-egged-violent-scenes-wednesday/ |date=January 6, 2021 |access-date=January 7, 2021|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=January 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107013645/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/06/lets-have-trial-by-combat-how-trump-allies-egged-violent-scenes-wednesday/|url-status=live}} Subsequently, pro-Trump attendees marched to the Capitol building, joined other protesters, and stormed the building.{{#invoke:Cite|web|first1=Ted|last1=Barrett|first2=Manu|last2=Raju|first3=Peter|last3=Nickeas|title=Pro-Trump mob storms US Capitol as armed standoff takes place outside House chamber|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/politics/us-capitol-lockdown/index.html |date=January 7, 2021 |access-date=January 6, 2021|website=CNN|archive-date=January 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106211203/https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/politics/us-capitol-lockdown/index.html|url-status=live}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/buildings-in-us-capitol-complex-evacuated-amid-pro-trump-protests.html|title=U.S. Capitol secured hours after pro-Trump rioters invade Congress|first=Amanda Macias, Dan|last=Mangan|date=January 6, 2021|website=CNBC|access-date=January 7, 2021|archive-date=January 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107030000/https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/buildings-in-us-capitol-complex-evacuated-amid-pro-trump-protests.html|url-status=live}} Later that evening, after the Capitol was secured, Congress went back into session to discuss the Electoral College vote, finally affirming at 3:41{{spaces}}a.m. that Biden had won the election.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=King, Ledyard |last2=Groppe, Maureen |last3=Wu, Nicholas |last4=Jansen, Bart |last5=Subramanian, Courtney |last6=Garrison, Joey |date=January 6, 2021 |title=Pence confirms Biden as winner, officially ending electoral count after day of violence at Capitol |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/01/06/congress-count-electoral-college-votes-biden-win/6556555002/ |url-status=live |access-date=January 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107100543/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/01/06/congress-count-electoral-college-votes-biden-win/6556555002/ |archive-date=January 7, 2021}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Safdar |first1=Khadeeja |last2=Ailworth |first2=Erin |last3=Seetharaman |first3=Deepa |date=January 8, 2021 |title=Police Identify Five Dead After Capitol Riot |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/police-identify-those-killed-in-capitol-riot-11610133560 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112023512/https://www.wsj.com/articles/police-identify-those-killed-in-capitol-riot-11610133560 |archive-date=January 12, 2021 |access-date=January 24, 2021 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal}} At least 138 police officers were injured.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Schmidt |first1=Michael S. |last2=Broadwater |first2=Luke |title=Officers' Injuries, Including Concussions, Show Scope of Violence at Capitol Riot |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/us/politics/capitol-riot-police-officer-injuries.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/us/politics/capitol-riot-police-officer-injuries.html |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |url-access=limited |access-date=February 12, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=February 12, 2021}}{{cbignore}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Shallwani|first=Pervaiz|date=January 6, 2021|title=At least two real explosive devices in DC rendered safe by law enforcement|work=CNN|url=https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/congress-electoral-college-vote-count-2021/h_a8427f16f5c09d46e0dcff011e3d48c0|url-status=live|access-date=January 6, 2021|archive-date=January 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106224546/https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/congress-electoral-college-vote-count-2021/h_a8427f16f5c09d46e0dcff011e3d48c0}}

{{Main|Aftermath of the January 6 United States Capitol attack}}

Following the Capitol attack, several cabinet-level officials and White House staff resigned, citing the incident and Trump's behavior.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Chamlee|first=Virginia|title=All the Trump Administration Officials Who Have Resigned Following the Capitol Riot He Incited|url=https://people.com/politics/trump-administration-officials-resign-following-riot-capitol/ |access-date=January 7, 2021|work=PEOPLE.com|date=January 7, 2021}}

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."{{#invoke:Cite|web|last=Knowles|first=David|date=January 7, 2021|title=Trump finally admits defeat: 'A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20'|url=https://news.yahoo.com/trump-finally-admits-defeat-a-new-administration-will-be-inaugurated-on-january-20-011501284.html|access-date=January 8, 2021|website=Yahoo! News}} The State Department subsequently told diplomats to affirm Biden's victory.{{#invoke:Cite|web|access-date=November 7, 2021 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/politics/state-department-social-media-biden/index.html|title=State Department tells diplomats to affirm Biden's victory after Capitol riot|first1=Kylie|last1=Atwood|first2=Jennifer|last2=Hansler|website=CNN |date=January 7, 2021}}

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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last=Gambino|first=Lauren|date=January 13, 2021|title=Stage set for impeachment after Pence dismisses House call to invoke 25th amendment|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/12/house-vote-resolution-pence-invoke-25th-amendment-remove-trump|access-date=January 13, 2021|issn=0261-3077}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Wagner|first1=Meg|last2=Macaya|first2=Melissa|last3=Hayes|first3=Mike|display-authors=etal|date=January 13, 2021|title=House votes on Trump impeachment|url=https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/house-trump-impeachment-vote-01-13-21/|access-date=January 13, 2021|website=CNN}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Fandos|first1=Nicholas|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/13/us/politics/trump-impeachment.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/13/us/politics/trump-impeachment.html |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |url-access=limited |access-date=November 7, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 13, 2021|title=Trump Acquitted of Inciting Insurrection, Even as Bipartisan Majority Votes 'Guilty'}}{{cbignore}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-56054136|title=Donald Trump impeachment trial: Ex-president acquitted of inciting insurrection|website=BBC News |access-date=February 14, 2021|archive-date=February 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214225754/https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-56054136|url-status=live}}

File:Farewell Address of President Donald J. Trump (2021).webm

Trump gave a first 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".{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/19/trump-stresses-economy-foreign-policy-farewell-address-nation/4217614001/|title=Farewell address: Trump stresses record, condemns Capitol riot, does not name Biden|last1=Jackson|first1=David|last2=Collins|first2=Michael|date=January 19, 2021|work=USA Today|access-date=March 29, 2021}} Trump did not attend Biden's inauguration, becoming the first departing president in 152 years to refuse to attend his elected successor's inauguration,{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/us/politics/presidents-who-skipped-inaugurations.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/us/politics/presidents-who-skipped-inaugurations.html |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |url-access=limited |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=Trump Is Not the First President to Snub an Inauguration|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 20, 2021|first=Jacey|last=Fortin}}{{cbignore}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Joey|last=Garrison|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/01/08/trump-first-outgoing-president-skip-inauguration-152-years/6596286002/ |access-date=November 7, 2021 |title=A president hasn't refused to attend the inauguration of his successor in 152 years. Donald Trump will change that|newspaper=USA Today|date=January 8, 2021}} but he did honor another tradition by leaving Biden a letter on the Resolute desk in the White House.{{#invoke:Cite|web|access-date=November 7, 2021 |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-farewell-address-nation/ |date=January 19, 2021 |title=Remarks by President Trump In Farewell Address to the Nation |website=trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|last1=Jackson|first1=David|last2=Fritze|first2=John|date=January 20, 2021|title=Donald Trump leaves letter for Joe Biden ahead of inauguration|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/20/donald-trump-leaves-letter-joe-biden-inauguration-day/4228139001/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120152944/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/20/donald-trump-leaves-letter-joe-biden-inauguration-day/4228139001/|archive-date=January 20, 2021|access-date=January 20, 2021|website=USA Today}}

{{Main|Historical rankings of presidents of the United States#2018–present|}}

In the 2018 presidential rankings by the Siena College Research Institute, Trump ranked as the third-worst president in history.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Cummings |first1=William |title=Survey of scholars places Trump as third worst president of all time |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2019/02/13/siena-presidential-ranking-survey/2857075002/ |access-date=October 19, 2021 |work=USA Today |date=February 13, 2019}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|news|last1=Choi |first1=Joseph |title= Trump ranked fourth from worst in C-SPAN's 2021 presidential rankings |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/media/560926-trump-ranked-fourth-from-worst-in-c-spans-2021-presidential-rankings |access-date=July 1, 2021 |work=The Hill |date=June 30, 2021}} 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.{{Cite news |last=Chappell |first=Bill |date=February 19, 2024 |title=In historians' Presidents Day survey, Biden vs. Trump is not a close call |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/02/19/1232447088/historians-presidents-survey-trump-last-biden-14th |work=NPR}}

{{Main article|Opinion polling on the first Donald Trump administration|United States presidential approval rating}}

[[File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-Donald Trump.svg|thumb|left|Gallup approval polling, Jan. 2017{{snd}}Jan. 2021

{{Legend|#FF1919|Disapprove}}

{{Legend|#FFFF19|Unsure}}

{{Legend|#3AFC3A|Approve}}]]

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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|title=Presidential Election 2016: Key Indicators|date=March 6, 2016|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/189299/presidential-election-2016-key-indicators.aspx |work=Gallup|access-date=November 15, 2016}} 2016 was the first election cycle in modern presidential polling in which both major-party candidates were viewed so unfavorably.{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/03/us/elections/trump-and-clinton-favorability.html |first=Karen |last=Yourish |title=Clinton and Trump Have Terrible Approval Ratings. Does It Matter? |access-date=November 13, 2021 |date=June 3, 2016|website=The New York Times}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-distaste-for-both-trump-and-clinton-is-record-breaking/ |access-date=November 13, 2021 |first=Harry |last=Enten |title=Americans' Distaste For Both Trump And Clinton Is Record-Breaking|date=May 5, 2016|work=FiveThirtyEight}}{{#invoke:Cite|news|first=Aaron|last=Blake|date=August 31, 2016|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/31/a-record-number-of-americans-now-dislike-hillary-clinton/ |access-date=November 13, 2021 |title=A record number of Americans now dislike Hillary Clinton |newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/MonmouthPoll_US_082916/ |date=August 29, 2016 |title=Clinton Holds Lead Amid Record High Dislike of Both Nominees |access-date=November 7, 2021 |work=Monmouth University}} 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;{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/us/politics/donald-trump-obama-approval-rating.html|title=Trump Entering White House Unbent and Unpopular|last=Baker|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Baker (author)|date=January 17, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=January 20, 2017}} during his term it was an "incredibly stable (and also historically low)" 36 percent to 40 percent.{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html |title=President Trump Job Approval |work=Real Clear Politics|access-date=May 6, 2019}}{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/21/politics/family-separation-midterms-analysis/index.html |access-date=November 8, 2021 |title=Separated immigrant children move people's hearts, but will it move their votes?|last=Enten|first=Harry|date=June 21, 2018|website=CNN}} 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.{{#invoke:Cite|web|first=Jeffrey M.|last=Jones|title=Last Trump Job Approval 34%; Average Is Record-Low 41%|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/328637/last-trump-job-approval-average-record-low.aspx|work=Gallup|date=January 18, 2021|access-date=October 3, 2021}}

{{Main article|Democratic backsliding in the United States#Indicators}}

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]{{spaces}}... attributable to weakening constraints on the executive."{{#invoke:Cite|web|url=https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/3f/19/3f19efc9-e25f-4356-b159-b5c0ec894115/v-dem_democracy_report_2018.pdf|title=Democracy for All? V-Dem Annual Democracy Report 2018|date=May 28, 2018|website=Varieties of Democracy Project (V-DEM)|pages=5–6, 16, 19–22, 27–32, 36, 46, 48, 54, and 56|access-date=February 20, 2019|archive-date=January 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117202642/https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/3f/19/3f19efc9-e25f-4356-b159-b5c0ec894115/v-dem_democracy_report_2018.pdf|url-status=dead}} 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.{{Cite news |last=Morello |first=Carol |date=2019-02-05 |title=Freedom House downgrades U.S. on its freedom index, rebukes Trump |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/freedom-house-downgrades-us-on-its-freedom-index-rebukes-trump/2019/02/04/9637a27c-2648-11e9-ad53-824486280311_story.html |access-date=2024-06-18 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} 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.{{Cite news |last1=Sundaresan |first1=Mano |last2=Isackson |first2=Amy |date=December 1, 2021 |title=Democracy is declining in the U.S. but it's not all bad news, a report finds |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/12/01/1059896434/united-states-backsliding-democracy-donald-trump-january-6-capitol-attack |work=NPR}}

{{Portal|2010s|2020s|COVID-19|United States|Politics|Conservatism}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Bibliography of Donald Trump
• Efforts to impeach Donald Trump
• {{section link|List of United States presidential vetoes|Donald Trump}}
• Make America Great Again
• Political positions of Donald Trump
• List of federal political scandals in the United States (21st century)
• Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia
• Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
• Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections (July 2016–election day)
• Second presidency of Donald Trump

{{div col end}}

Footnotes

{{notelist}}

Citations

{{reflist}}

• Albrecht, Don E. "Donald Trump and changing rural/urban voting patterns." Journal of Rural Studies 91 (2022): 148–156.
• Zelizer, Julian E. ed. The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: A First Historical Assessment (2022) [https://www.amazon.com/Presidency-Donald-Trump-Historical-Assessment/dp/0691228949/ excerpt]
• Locatelli, Andrea, and Andrea Carati. "Trump's Legacy and the Liberal International Order: Why Trump Failed to Institutionalise an Anti-global Agenda." International Spectator (2022): 1–17.
• Löfflmann, Georg. "'Enemies of the people': Donald Trump and the security imaginary of America First." British Journal of Politics and International Relations 24.3 (2022): 543–560. [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/13691481211048499 online]
• Alexandre, Ilo, Joseph Jai-sung Yoo, and Dhiraj Murthy. "Make Tweets Great Again: Who Are Opinion Leaders, and What Did They Tweet About Donald Trump?." Social Science Computer Review 40.6 (2022): 1456–1477. [https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1177/08944393211008859 online]
• Baker, Joseph O., and Christopher D. Bader. "Xenophobia, Partisanship, and Support for Donald Trump and the Republican Party." Race and Social Problems 14.1 (2022): 69–83.
• Pfiffner, James P. "President Trump and the Shallow State: Disloyalty at the Highest Levels." Presidential Studies Quarterly 52.3 (2022): 573–595. [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/psq.12792 online]
• Baker, Peter, and Susan Glasser. The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017–2021 (2022) [https://www.amazon.com/Divider-Trump-White-House-2017-2021/dp/038554653X/ excerpt]
• Phipps, E. Brooke, and Fielding Montgomery. "'Only YOU Can Prevent This Nightmare, America': Nancy Pelosi As the Monstrous-Feminine in Donald Trump's YouTube Attacks." Women's Studies in Communication 45.3 (2022): 316–337.
• Ruisch, Benjamin C., and Melissa J. Ferguson. "Changes in Americans' prejudices during the presidency of Donald Trump." Nature Human Behaviour 6.5 (2022): 656–665. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Benjamin-Ruisch/publication/358756248_Changes_in_Americans'_prejudices_during_the_presidency_of_Donald_Trump/links/62cc234fcab7ba7426e4c085/Changes-in-Americans-prejudices-during-the-presidency-of-Donald-Trump.pdf online]
• Dubinsky, Yoav. "Sports, Brand America and US public diplomacy during the presidency of Donald Trump." in Place Branding and Public Diplomacy (2021) pp: 1–14.
• Pfiffner, James P. "Donald Trump and the Norms of the Presidency." Presidential Studies Quarterly 51.1 (2021): 96–124. [https://pfiffner.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Donald-Trump-and-the-Norms-of-the-Presidency-Jim-Pfiffner.pdf online]
• Holzer, Harold. The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle Between the White House and the Media – from the Founding Fathers to Fake News (Dutton, 2020) pp. 402–443. [https://books.google.com/books?id=siY6EAAAQBAJ&dq=HOLZER+PRESS+Harold&pg=PR15 online]
• Mercieca, Jennifer. Demagogue for president: The rhetorical genius of Donald Trump (Texas A&M University Press, 2020).
• Barrett-Fox, Rebecca. "A King Cyrus president: How Donald Trump's presidency reasserts conservative Christians' right to hegemony." Humanity & Society 42.4 (2018): 502–522.
• Jacobs, Nicholas; Milkis, Sidney. Subverting the Republic: Donald J. Trump and the Perils of Presidentialism. (University Press of Kansas, 2025)

• Conway III, Lucian G., and Alivia Zubrod. "Are US Presidents becoming less rhetorically complex? Evaluating the integrative complexity of Joe Biden and Donald Trump in historical context." Journal of Language and Social Psychology 41.5 (2022): 613–625.
• Fischer, Fritz. "Teaching Trump in the History Classroom." Journal of American History 108.4 (2022): 772–778; in college courses [https://academic.oup.com/jah/article/108/4/772/6564991?login=false online]
• Karpman, Hannah E., and Rory Crath. "Teaching Note – Teaching Trumpism." Journal of Social Work Education (2022): 1–8. [https://scholarworks.smith.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=ssw_facpubs online]
• Bauer, A. J. "The alternative historiography of the Alt-Right: Conservative historical subjectivity from the tea party to Trump." in Far-right revisionism and the end of history (Routledge, 2020) pp. 120–137.
• {{cite book |last = Lozada |first = Carlos |date = 2020 |title = What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era |location = New York |publisher = Simon & Schuster |isbn = 978-1-982145-62-0 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Nl4BEAAAQBAJ }} Pulitzer Prize winning critic evaluates 150 recent books on Trump Administration.

{{Commons category|First presidency of Donald Trump}}

{{Scholia|topic}}

• [https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/ Trump White House Archives] - includes remarks, briefings and statements
• [https://media.cq.com/docs/index.php?uid=39 "The Trump Cabinet"] (2017). Congressional Quarterly reports on Trump's cabinet activity

{{First presidency of Donald Trump}}

{{Donald Trump}}

{{Mike Pence}}

{{US Presidential Administrations}}

{{Republican Party (United States)}}

{{Mueller special counsel investigation}}

{{Authority control}}

Trump, Donald

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