Trump, Donald J. (1946-…), served as president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump, a Republican, had previously been best known as a billionaire real estate developer and reality television personality. In the 2016 presidential election, Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, a former first lady, U.S. senator, and secretary of state. Four years later, in the 2020 election, Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden, a former vice president. Trump won the Republican nomination for president again in 2024. He prepared to face Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in the November election.
Trump’s tenure as president was frequently marked by controversy. Supporters and opponents displayed stark differences in assessing Trump’s performance in office. The president’s backers admired his outspoken views, his indifference toward the news media, and his efforts to reduce federal regulations. They listed his achievements, including the appointment of numerous conservative federal judges, the passage of major tax cut legislation, and presiding over a low unemployment rate and robust job creation numbers. His critics, by contrast, highlighted Trump’s divisive rhetoric and executive actions. They claimed he showed a lack of interest in policy and procedure and promoted his personal interests over those of the country as a whole. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump often dismissed advice from experts and indicated approval of protests against restrictions issued to contain the disease.
In several ways, Trump deviated from conventional norms of behavior established by past presidents of both political parties. Unlike his predecessors, he at times condemned such long-standing U.S. allies as the United Kingdom and Canada while attempting to establish relationships with the autocratic leaders of Russia, China, and North Korea. Trump also attacked the credibility of American intelligence agencies and federal law enforcement figures amid official investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. In addition, he employed a communication style defined by frequent Twitter posts rather than by careful strategic messaging.
Some of Trump’s acts resulted in widespread criticism even by prominent Republican politicians and sympathetic media outlets. In 2017, for example, Trump suggested that white supremacists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, were of equal moral standing. Officials of both parties questioned the Trump administration’s practice of separating undocumented immigrant children from their parents at the nation’s southern border. Some observers were surprised when Trump appeared to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s position over that of experts in his own government regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Prior to the launch of his political career, Trump’s success and love of publicity made him one of the best-known figures in business. As the president, chairman, and chief executive officer of the Trump Organization, Trump bought and sold many major buildings, primarily in New York City. He gained wider fame while hosting the popular reality television series “The Apprentice.”
During a hard-fought campaign for the 2016 Republican nomination, Trump outlasted Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Governor John Kasich of Ohio, and former Florida governor Jeb Bush. From the start, Trump withstood strong criticism from political figures representing a wide range of views. He defied the advice of media consultants who suggested that he control his fiery public image. Ultimately, the candidate’s advisers came to accept the plan to “Let Trump Be Trump.” Trump selected Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, as his vice presidential running mate.
The opponents in the 2016 general election contrasted sharply in policy, tone, and experience. Clinton had lived in the White House as first lady, served in the Senate, and managed the nation’s international relationships while heading the U.S. Department of State. Although even opponents admitted that Clinton was tough and deeply qualified, she polled low on measures of trustworthiness.
Trump, on the other hand, had held no elective office. During his campaign, he used particularly blunt language to attack his opponents and to describe his policy proposals. He frequently attacked his detractors with off-the-cuff pronouncements on the social media site Twitter (now called X). He made headlines with his promises to build a “huge” wall on the Mexican border to prevent people from entering the United States illegally. He drew protests after broadly categorizing Mexicans as criminals and Muslim immigrants as terrorists.
Trump’s campaign, with its slogan “Make America Great Again,” appealed to Americans who feared the country’s best days were behind it. Opinion polls showed that his strongest support came from white, male voters, particularly those without a college degree. He drew crowds of people who opposed the “political correctness” of modern society. His supporters believed that free trade agreements had denied ordinary Americans an opportunity to fairly compete with lesser-paid workers overseas. In this context, political correctness refers to policies that critics believe reflect attitudes that are overly tolerant, permissive, and sensitive. Free trade agreements reduce tariffs between countries.
Trump won the 2016 election even while losing the nationwide popular vote by about 3 million votes. He narrowly defeated Clinton in a number of states to claim victory in the Electoral College. In 2020, the spread of COVID-19 rapidly slowed the economy, and shootings of African Americans by police led to sustained protests. Biden argued that Trump had failed to unite the nation during a historic period of unrest and uncertainty. Trump portrayed himself as the candidate of law and order. On November 7, major news outlets called the election for Biden. President Trump refused to concede the election, however, and he contested the results in court. On November 23, following a series of legal defeats, the Trump administration authorized the start of the formal transition to an administration under President-elect Biden. The Electoral College formally confirmed Biden’s victory on December 14. Both Biden, with about 81 million votes, and Trump, with about 74 million, received more votes for president than any other candidate in U.S. history.
Early life and family
Family background.
Donald John Trump was born in New York City on June 14, 1946. He was the fourth of five children. His brothers and sisters were Maryanne (1937-2023), who became a federal judge; Freddy, Jr. (1938-1981); Elizabeth (1942- …); and Robert (1948-2020). Their parents were Frederick Christ Trump (1905-1999) and Mary Anne MacLeod (1912-2000).
Donald’s father, Frederick Trump, was born in the United States to German immigrants. Donald’s paternal grandfather, Friedrich Trump (1869-1918), was born in Germany and first traveled to the United States during the 1880’s. He started several restaurants and hotels in the western United States and Canada to serve miners heading for the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon region of Canada. He became a U.S. citizen in 1892. In 1901, he returned to Kallstadt, Germany, where he met Elizabeth Christ (1880-1966), a neighbor. The couple married in 1902, just prior to moving to the United States. The couple had three children, including Donald Trump’s father, Frederick Christ Trump.
Donald’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born in Scotland. In 1930, she came to New York City and moved in with a sister who had immigrated earlier. She met Frederick “Fred” Trump at a dance, and the couple married in 1936.
In the eyes of his children, Fred Trump was a stern and domineering presence. Beginning in the 1920’s, the hardworking Trump began building a fortune by developing single-family homes in the New York City borough of Queens. His eldest son, Freddy, was in line to succeed him as head of the family business. Freddy had difficulty adjusting to the stressful environment of business, however, and developed an addiction to alcohol. He left the real estate business to become a commercial pilot, but his struggles continued. Freddy Trump died in 1981 at the age of 42. Donald would later say that he avoided intoxicants because of his brother’s alcoholism.
Boyhood.
With their father’s business soaring, Donald and his siblings grew up in an atmosphere of privilege. They lived in a 23-room house in the wealthy Queens neighborhood of Jamaica Estates. A chauffeur drove the children to private school.
By his own admission, Donald was not always on his best behavior at school. “As an adolescent, I was mostly interested in creating mischief,” he later wrote. In 1959, when Donald was 13, his parents sent him to the New York Military Academy in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York. Trump became a student leader at the all-boys military school, and he stood out as a first baseman on the baseball team. Classmates liked him, and in a yearbook poll they voted him the title “Ladies’ Man.” He graduated in 1964.
College and early career.
After completing military school, Trump enrolled at Fordham University in New York City. After two years, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School. He prepared for his future career by studying real estate. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1968.
Also in 1968, Trump officially joined the Trump Management Corporation, the family business developing and maintaining low- and middle-income housing. He copied his father’s working style, and by the early 1970’s, he had bypassed his brother Freddy to become his father’s successor at the company.
In 1973, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Trump Management for discriminating against African Americans in the firm’s rental housing. The Trumps settled the lawsuit without admitting any wrongdoing. Under the terms of the settlement, the company changed its renting policies.
In 1976, a New York Times profile featured Trump as an up-and-coming businessman and society figure. “He is tall, lean and blond, with dazzling white teeth,” the piece read. “He rides around town in a chauffeured silver Cadillac with his initials, DJT, on the plates. He dates slinky fashion models, and, at only 30 years of age, estimates that he is worth ‘more than $200 million.’” Later evidence suggested that Trump had probably overstated his wealth at the time, though he did stand to inherit great sums from his father.
Trump’s family.
In 1976, Donald met Ivana Winklmayr (1949-2022), a model who was visiting New York City from Montreal, Canada. She had been born Ivana Zelníčková in an area of Czechoslovakia that is now part of the eastern European nation the Czech Republic. The couple married in 1977. They had three children: Donald, Jr., (1977- …), Ivanka (1981- …), and Eric (1984- …). At the time of their father’s presidential election, Donald and Ivana’s three children all served as vice presidents in the Trump Organization.
Ivana and Donald Trump completed a highly publicized divorce in 1991. In 1993, Trump married Marla Maples, an American actress. The couple had a daughter, Tiffany (1993- …). Trump and Maples separated in 1997 and divorced in 1999. While separated from Maples, Trump began dating Melania Knauss (1970- …), who worked internationally as a model. Knauss was born Melanija Knavs in a part of Yugoslavia that is now the eastern European nation of Slovenia. She married Trump in 2005. The couple have a son, Barron (2006- …).
Real estate tycoon
Donald Trump took control of Trump Management, the multimillion-dollar family business, in the early 1970’s. He later renamed the business the Trump Organization. Although his father had made his fortune building modest homes in Brooklyn and Queens, the younger Trump set his sights instead on the New York City borough of Manhattan. While networking with many of his father’s associates, Trump began acquiring and developing properties.
Trump’s first major project was the Grand Hyatt Hotel, which opened in 1980 near the Grand Central railroad terminal. Construction of Trump Tower, a 58-story Manhattan skyscraper, was completed in 1983. The tower served as Trump’s primary residence and as the headquarters of the Trump Organization.
A growing real estate empire.
Trump’s real estate empire came to include the Plaza Hotel and a share of the Empire State Building. He developed a number of other major buildings, including the 92-story Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. In 1985, the Trump Organization purchased the historic Mar-A-Lago Estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump later upgraded and expanded the 1920’s-era mansion, establishing it as an exclusive members-only club. Through the years, Trump set aside part of the estate as his private living quarters.
Trump also developed a number of casinos and hotels, including several in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The properties—together with the casino industry as a whole—struggled in the early 1990’s. In 1995, Trump and his associates created a new, publicly traded company—Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts—to manage his resort properties. A publicly traded company has shares of stock bought and sold on a stock exchange. Trump became the chairman and largest shareholder of the new company. Following a fairly common business practice, Trump established the company in such a way that he was able to shield his personal assets from the risks of corporate bankruptcy. The firm underwent bankruptcy reorganization in 2004, and Trump gave up his position as the firm’s majority owner. The company changed its name to Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump stepped down as the company’s chairman after it filed for bankruptcy again in 2009.
The Trump Organization also developed a number of golf courses, including ones in Dubai, Ireland, Scotland, and across the United States. In addition, the organization sells a wide variety of Trump-brand merchandise. Over the years, its wares have included neckties and other menswear, mattresses, cologne, and spring water. In 2004, Trump founded Trump University, a for-profit real estate training program. The program folded in 2010 in the wake of a lawsuit accusing its managers of illegal business practices.
Throughout Trump’s business career, he contributed money to both Democratic and Republican candidates for public office. He followed the example of his father, who often contributed to officials who might sway decisions affecting his business interests. During the first decade of the 2000’s, Trump and his wife and children even donated multiple times to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaigns for senator and for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
Team owner.
In 1983, Trump purchased the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League (USFL), a professional league aiming to compete with the long-established National Football League (NFL). The team achieved a winning record in the 1984 and 1985 seasons. Trump, who by this time had already become a celebrity, helped bring attention to the young league, which played its games in the spring. He received criticism, however, after convincing fellow USFL owners to play league games in the fall, thereby competing directly against the NFL. The league suspended play prior to the 1986 season.
Bankruptcy filings.
Trump filed for corporate bankruptcy six times: once in 1991, three times in 1992, and once each in 2004 and 2009. However, he has never filed for personal bankruptcy.
Trump’s first corporate bankruptcy came a year after the Trump Organization financed—with risky, high-interest “junk bonds”—the construction of the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. With his casino almost $3 billion in debt, Trump filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Under Chapter 11, a company’s managers continue to operate the company while negotiating with creditors over how the debts will be repaid. The company then proposes a reorganization plan, which must be approved by creditors and then a bankruptcy court. Trump’s 1992 bankruptcy filings included Trump Castle and the Trump Plaza and Casino in Atlantic City, and the Plaza Hotel in New York. In 2004, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, nearly $2 billion in debt, filed for bankruptcy. Trump Entertainment Resorts received bankruptcy protection in 2009.
Television personality and author
From 2004 to 2015, Trump hosted the reality television series “The Apprentice.” In the series, he offered prospective young executives a chance to win a position in his company. In 2008 and 2009, celebrities began competing as “apprentices.” The show went back to its original format in 2010 but returned to the celebrity format in 2011, airing under the name “The Celebrity Apprentice.” Trump’s participation in the show ended in 2015 shortly after he announced his bid for the presidency. Several organizations—including the NBC television network, which aired the series—severed their business relationship with Trump after he made controversial remarks about undocumented Mexican immigrants during his presidential campaign.
Also in 2015, Trump sold the Miss Universe Organization, which he had owned or co-owned since 1996. The organization included the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants. The sale followed decisions earlier in the year by NBC and the Spanish-language television network Univision to no longer air the pageants.
Trump has written or co-written many books about his life and his experiences in business, including Trump: The Art of the Deal (1987); Trump: The Art of the Comeback (1997); Trump: The America We Deserve (2000); Trump: How to Get Rich (2004); Trump: Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges Into Success (2007); Think Like a Champion (2009); and Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again (2015).
Political career
Political observers linked Trump’s name to possible political candidacies—including for governor of New York and president of the United States—beginning in the late 1980’s. However, Trump began his first official political campaign in June 2015, when he announced that he was seeking the 2016 Republican nomination for president. His campaign—using the slogan “Make America Great Again”—focused on such issues as illegal immigration and the U.S. trade deficit.
Questioning Obama’s qualifications.
In 2011, Trump gained attention for advancing conspiracy theories that President Barack Obama had been born not in Hawaii, but in Kenya. Some of the president’s harshest critics had embraced such theories as a way to discredit Obama as un-American and unqualified for office. People who questioned Obama’s citizenship came to be known as “birthers.” Obama later reluctantly instructed officials to release copies of his long-form birth certificate proving his U.S. citizenship from birth.
Republican nomination.
Following failed Republican presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012, party strategists embraced plans to speak more inclusively about race and avoid demonizing immigrants—that is, describing immigrants as evil. Trump defied such advice. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” Trump said early in the campaign. “They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” Trump proposed building a wall on the Mexican border and having Mexico pay for it.
Trump also called for a ban on Muslim refugees from areas touched by Islamist terrorism, particularly the Middle East. In pledging such a ban, he spoke to many Americans’ fears that welcoming refugees, particularly those fleeing Syria, which was engaged in a civil war, would allow terrorists into the country.
Trump showed voters who felt the two major political parties did not represent their interests that he had little affection for his own party’s leadership. He accused former president George W. Bush of lying while making the administration’s case for launching the Iraq War (2003-2011). He ridiculed Arizona Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee and former Navy airman who spent more than five years in a North Vietnamese prison. “I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump declared.
Trump faced a crowded field of competitors for the nomination, but he led opinion polls from the start of the campaign. Most experts believed that voters would soon tire of Trump and choose another candidate to be the Republican nominee for president. Many political observers predicted that former Florida governor Jeb Bush or Wisconsin governor Scott Walker would win the nomination. Trump’s other rivals included Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas; Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida; and John Kasich, the governor of Ohio.
Early in the campaign, few of Trump’s rivals directly attacked him, even though he often jeered at them. They believed that Republican voters would ultimately never select a candidate who seemed to enjoy offending large and varied groups of people. Trump exchanged harsh words with popular news presenter Megyn Kelly after she asked him pointed questions regarding his past statements about women. He also bestowed belittling nicknames on such competitors as “Little” Marco Rubio, “Lyin’” Ted Cruz, and “Low-energy” Jeb Bush.
Trump’s nomination campaign operated with few paid staffers and had little resemblance to a traditional political campaign. His opponents vastly outspent him in television advertising. The candidate seemed confident that his provocative persona would keep his name in the headlines. Television news programs interrupted scheduled programming to cover his speeches live. Media experts later estimated that television networks gave Trump more than $2 billion in free publicity, far more than any rival candidates.
Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, frequently expressed frustration with Trump’s statements during the campaign. He struggled to prod Trump to endorse the party’s policy goals on taxes and trade. A number of prominent Republicans began to distance themselves from the Trump campaign. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, supported a “Never Trump” movement. He urged primary voters to coordinate their selections in order to deny Trump a majority of delegates at the nominating convention.
From February to June 2016, however, Trump had great success in his party’s nominating contests. After Trump became the party’s presumptive (likely) nominee, he named Indiana Governor Mike Pence to be his vice presidential running mate. Pence, known for his mild manner, joked of Trump, “I guess he was just looking for some balance on the ticket.”
Republican National Convention.
In July 2016, the Republicans formally nominated Trump for president at their national convention in Cleveland, Ohio. The four-day gathering took place during a time when the nation was on edge in the days and weeks after a massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida; ambushes of police in Texas and Louisiana; and social unrest surrounding the shootings of African American men by police. Speakers at the convention—among them New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City—called Trump the “law and order” candidate. Speakers accused Trump’s Democratic rival of illegal acts involving her use of a private, unsecured email server while she was secretary of state. “Lock her up!” became a common chant at the convention.
On July 19, Trump officially claimed the nomination after a roll call vote pushed him over the 1,237-delegate threshold needed for the nomination. More than 700 delegates voted for candidates other than Trump, however, which suggested that the party still had rifts following a bruising nomination fight.
Trump spoke on the convention’s final night following a warm introduction by his daughter Ivanka. “We will be a country of generosity and warmth,” Trump promised, “but we will also be a country of law and order.” He spoke out about what he considered to be unfair trade agreements and what he claimed were crimes Hillary Clinton had committed. “Nobody knows the system better than me,” said Trump. “Which is why I alone can fix it.” To such promises, the crowd responded, “Yes you will!”
General election.
In late July, the Democrats nominated Hillary Rodham Clinton for president at their national convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. About 100 days remained until Election Day, November 8, and the contest between Trump and Clinton began in earnest.
Many Americans were concerned with national security and upset at the state of race relations. Some voters feared that the nation’s traditional identity was changing too quickly because of immigration. Many believed that the challenges of a modern, global economy were leaving American workers behind. In Trump, many saw a champion who would challenge the status quo. He promised to reconsider the nation’s relationships and treaties with its allies and pursue its enemies.
Both Clinton and Trump entered the general election contest with negative opinion poll numbers that were among the highest of any major party candidates since such polls were first conducted in the 1950’s. Weeks after the conventions, Trump’s election chances seemed to reach a low point after what many considered to be a series of missteps. For example, many people questioned why he decided to engage in a war of words with the Pakistani-American parents of a U.S. marine who had been killed in combat. Trump also faced criticism for not releasing his tax returns, a tradition candidates had followed since the 1970’s. He trailed Clinton by double digits in many national polls.
The man who had written The Art of the Comeback—detailing his emergence from bankruptcy and divorce—however, refused to quit. He reorganized his campaign staff in August and even said that he regretted some of his earlier, more intemperate statements. Nevertheless, he stuck with his platform of curbing immigration among Muslims and Latin Americans. He reassured party faithful with promises to appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court of the United States. He deviated from Republican orthodoxy on certain issues, committing to spending more on infrastructure (public services and facilities) projects than even Clinton had promised. Most of all, he kept his freewheeling nature, entertaining thousands of his supporters at rallies across the country. When Clinton’s campaign stumbled in the race’s closing months, Trump began to narrow the gap in the polls. Many poll respondents said they doubted Clinton’s honesty and appreciated Trump’s promises to shake up Washington.
During the fall of 2016, the two candidates participated in three debates. Clinton’s strong debate performances helped restore her polling lead in October. When media reports—detailing graphic statements Trump had made about women in the past—were made public, Trump’s election chances appeared to plummet again. Trump, however, explained that his comments had been mere “locker-room talk.” He kept up his attacks on Clinton’s trustworthiness. On November 8, Trump defeated Clinton. Polls had given Clinton a high chance of winning the presidency, but Trump won narrow victories in each of the swing states (states that do not vote predictably Democratic or Republican) en route to a victory in the Electoral College. However, Clinton captured the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.
Transition.
Following his electoral victory in November, Trump organized a series of “thank you” rallies, celebrating his breakthrough wins in such previously Democratic-leaning states as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. He caused concern among the U.S. intelligence community when he initially dismissed U.S. intelligence reports accusing Russian operatives of meddling in the election to damage the prospects of Clinton. During the campaign, Trump had supported closer ties with Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin. In January 2017, Trump acknowledged that Russia had engaged in cyberattacks (hostile actions to access and disrupt computer networks) against the Democratic Party. In the early months of Trump’s administration, the House, the Senate, and the U.S. Justice Department each began to investigate Russian involvement in the election. The investigations sought to discover whether any such interference involved collaboration with Trump or his associates.
Trump and his transition team interviewed a number of candidates for positions in his Cabinet and on his White House staff. He selected Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions for U.S. attorney general—the nation’s chief law officer. Elaine Chao, a former secretary of labor under President George W. Bush, was chosen to lead the Department of Transportation. Rex Tillerson, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the oil company Exxon-Mobil, was Trump’s pick for secretary of state. James Mattis, a former Marine Corps general, was nominated for secretary of defense. Trump nominated Steven Mnuchin, who had served as Trump’s campaign finance chairman, for Treasury secretary. All nominations required confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
Trump’s presidential administration
On Jan. 20, 2017, Trump was sworn in as the nation’s 45th president by Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court of the United States. In his inaugural address, Trump said that “a new vision will govern our land,” one that will be guided by the idea of “America First.” He pledged, “Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families.” He promised to make America “start winning like never before.”
Trump’s first month in office was, as he had promised, eventful. A hostile relationship soon developed between Trump and the news media. Trump claimed that much of the news coverage of his administration was inaccurate. The news media denied the charge.
Travel restrictions.
On January 27, the administration issued an executive order that temporarily forbade refugees and other travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Trump said that the order was necessary to protect the nation from Islamist militants. The ban stranded travelers and sparked protests in a number of U.S. airports and cities. A federal judge soon blocked the order, however, saying that it violated the Constitution’s guarantees of due process. An appeals court upheld the judge’s decision. Justice Department lawyers later crafted travel restrictions to satisfy the court’s concerns, and a travel ban limiting travel from six Muslim-majority nations went into effect in June. In July, the Supreme Court upheld a federal judge’s order expanding the number of immigrants allowed to bypass the ban.
In September, following the expiration of the previous, temporary policy, the administration crafted another travel ban. The new policy barred almost all travel to the United States by citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. It also increased restrictions on travel by residents of Iraq and Venezuela. In October, federal judges temporarily blocked the new travel policy, stating that the blocking of entire nationalities from entry did not meet the ban’s goals of enhancing public safety and preventing terrorism. The Trump administration appealed the decision. In December, the Supreme Court allowed Trump’s full ban to take effect while legal challenges were heard by a federal appeals court. In June 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the travel ban in a 5-4 ruling. The court ruled that the president had significant authority to make immigration policy decisions on a national security basis. In early 2020, the administration moved to restrict travel by citizens of Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania.
National security adviser.
In February 2017, Michael Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, resigned from his appointed position of national security adviser. Flynn acknowledged that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about his telephone discussions with Russian officials about U.S. anti-Russian sanctions. The conversations between Flynn and the Russian officials had occurred before Trump took office. Some legal experts said that Flynn’s actions violated a law prohibiting private citizens from interfering with foreign diplomacy. Later in February, Trump appointed Army Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster to replace Flynn as national security adviser. In December, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI regarding his contacts with Russian officials during the period between Trump’s election and inauguration.
Nominees confirmed.
In January, Trump nominated federal appellate judge Neil Gorsuch to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States left open since the death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016. The Republican-controlled Senate confirmed Gorsuch’s nomination in April 2017 after maneuvering to bypass a Democratic filibuster opposing the nomination. In July 2018, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, a frequent swing vote on the court, retired from his position. Trump then nominated federal judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as his replacement. The Senate narrowly confirmed Kavanaugh’s nomination in October.
In September 2020, Trump nominated conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill a Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg days earlier. The Republican-led Senate moved quickly to hold confirmation hearings for Barrett. Democrats accused Republicans of hypocrisy in their moves to confirm Barrett because four years earlier, Republicans had argued that a Supreme Court vacancy should not be filled in a presidential election year. In late October, the Senate confirmed Barrett by a vote of 52-48.
In early 2017, the U.S. Senate confirmed a number of Trump’s Cabinet picks, including Chao, Mattis, Mnuchin, Sessions, Tillerson, and others. Pence, whose role as vice president allowed him to cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate, broke a 50-50 deadlock to confirm businesswoman Betsy DeVos as secretary of education. Pence’s vote marked the first time in U.S. history that a vice president cast a tie-breaking vote for a Cabinet nominee. DeVos’s confirmation had faced strong opposition from Democrats and teachers’ groups. Matters of particular concern to DeVos’s opponents were her promotion of charter schools, her support for redirecting public funds to private schools, and her lack of experience with the public school system.
Environmental policy.
In March 2017, Trump signed an executive order directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to begin the process of withdrawing from Obama administration commitments to curb pollution that contributes to climate change. Trump’s action fulfilled a campaign promise to make energy industry jobs a priority over concerns about global climate change.
In June, Trump announced that the United States would begin the three-year process to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The 2015 agreement, reached by negotiators from 196 countries in Paris, France, required participating countries to limit greenhouse emissions in efforts to reduce global warming. Trump’s move to withdraw the United States from the agreement, like his earlier environmental actions, fulfilled a campaign pledge. He called it a “reassertion of America’s sovereignty.” His supporters hailed the move, agreeing with his claim that the accord was unfair to the United States and that withdrawal from it would save jobs in such industries as coal mining.
In 2019, the administration stated that it was changing the way the Endangered Species Act is interpreted. Economic factors would now be considered when deciding whether certain wildlife species warranted protection.
Striking Syria.
On April 6, 2017 (April 7 in Syria), the United States carried out a missile strike against a Syrian air base. U.S. Navy personnel aboard destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea fired dozens of cruise missiles at the base in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack conducted three days earlier by the Syrian government against its own people. The chemical weapons attack had killed about 80 civilians.
On April 13, 2018 (April 14 in Syria), United States, French, and British warships and aircraft fired cruise missiles at suspected chemical weapons facilities near Damascus and Homs. Trump announced that the attack by the multinational force was to punish the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for its suspected chemical attack in Douma a week earlier. About 2,000 U.S. troops were stationed in Syria, primarily to fight Islamic State forces in the northeastern part of the country. Russian troops and forces backed by Iran—each supporting Assad—were operating in other parts of Syria. See Syrian Civil War.
Relations with Russia.
Trump’s dealings with Russia and his praise for Putin were the subject of ongoing news coverage during Trump’s administration. Many of Russia’s leaders and institutions had been sanctioned by the U.S. government for Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, human rights abuses, and other crimes. United States intelligence agencies produced evidence of thousands of Russia-based cyberattacks on U.S. voting systems and political campaigns before and after the 2016 elections. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency, and National Security Agency testified that groups tied to Russian intelligence services hacked into Democratic National Committee (DNC) computers and released the contents to the public. Russian-led groups also conducted extensive influence campaigns on social media websites to increase partisanship and steer the election toward Trump. Trump said that any claims of Russia’s connection to his campaign were “a total fabrication.”
In March 2017, Attorney General Sessions recused (withdrew) himself from the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Sessions believed his involvement in the case would be improper because he had worked on Trump’s campaign. In May 2017, Trump fired James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Trump offered a number of explanations for Comey’s dismissal. Most observers, however, believed the firing was related to the FBI’s investigations into possible collaboration between Russian operatives and Trump’s associates during the 2016 presidential election.
Later in May 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department’s second-ranking official, appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian election interference. The Mueller probe operated independently from investigations conducted by the House and Senate.
In July 2017, Congress passed legislation leveling additional sanctions against Russia for its interference in the 2016 elections. The law also limited Trump, who had sought better relations with Russia, from taking steps to lift sanctions on his own. Trump signed the bill but issued a statement calling the legislation “significantly flawed.” In response, Russia then ordered the U.S. embassy in Russia to cut its staff by 755 people.
Also in July 2017, federal agents raided the home of Paul Manafort, a former campaign manager of Trump’s. Manafort would later be found guilty of eight charges, including money laundering, tax and bank fraud, and “conspiracy against the United States” for his work for Russian-allied Ukrainian political interests. Manafort was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison. In 2018, Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and business associate, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the details of a Russian real estate deal that Trump had been negotiating during his presidential campaign in 2016. He also pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws by making payments to two women to conceal details of extramarital affairs they had had with Trump. Cohen admitted he had made the payments to conceal stories of affairs that might have derailed Trump’s 2016 election bid. Cohen received a sentence of 38 months in prison. Several other campaign associates, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Prosecutors also filed charges against 25 Russian nationals for hacking the DNC and using social media to influence the 2016 election. Flynn withdrew his guilty plea in January 2020, and the Justice Department dropped all charges against him in May. In November, Trump pardoned Flynn for “any and all possible offenses” committed in matters connected to the Mueller investigation. Trump pardoned Manafort a month later.
In July 2018, Trump met with Putin at a summit in Helsinki, Finland. The summit came just after federal prosecutors had indicted 12 Russian agents for election interference. Trump drew the rebuke of numerous legislators of both parties after he said that he believed the Russian president when Putin told him that Russia had not meddled in the election.
In August 2020, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a lengthy report regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election. It determined that Russia had interfered in numerous campaign matters. It also stated that members of Trump’s campaign had shared campaign strategies with people connected to Russian intelligence.
Violence in Charlottesville.
In August 2017, a large group of white supremacists (also called white nationalists) gathered in a Charlottesville, Virginia, park to protest the city’s planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Many of those gathered were heavily armed and carried flags with symbols representing Nazism or the Ku Klux Klan—organizations that have carried out race-based terror campaigns against African Americans, Jews, and other minority groups.
The white nationalist group was opposed by a counterprotest consisting of students, church groups, and antifascist demonstrators. Numerous skirmishes occurred between the two sides. On August 12, an Ohio man who had marched with the white supremacists drove his car into a crowd of antiracist demonstrators. One woman was killed and many other people were injured. President Trump’s initial comments on the incident—which blamed “many sides” for the violence and did not specifically denounce white supremacists—drew condemnation from many political leaders, including a sizable number of Republicans. On August 14, Trump stated that “Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs—including KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups—that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.” The following day, he asserted, “You had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent.” He went on to say, “There are two sides to a story.”
Hurricane response.
In late August 2017, Hurricane Harvey caused extensive flooding in southeastern Texas. In September 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth, and its citizens are U.S. citizens. The storms caused widespread damage and knocked out electric power throughout the island. Officials stated that 64 people were killed as a direct result of Hurricane Maria. Many experts believed, however, that damage to the island’s electrical, water, and medical infrastructure contributed to the deaths of thousands more. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) led the government’s responses to each disaster. Trump also visited hurricane-damaged sites in the weeks after the storms.
Cuts to national monuments.
In December 2017, Trump announced that he was reducing the size of two national monuments in the Western state of Utah. His administration decreased the size of Bears Ears National Monument, designated by President Obama in late 2016, by about 85 percent. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, designated in 1996, was trimmed to half its earlier size. The announcement was criticized by environmentalists and Native American groups. Trump claimed that his predecessors had overreached in setting aside such federal lands for environmental and cultural purposes. He said that local authorities should have the right to decide whether to open areas to mining, logging, or other economic activities.
Government shutdown.
On January 20, 2018, so-called nonessential work in many federal government agencies ceased after the Senate failed to pass a short-term spending bill to fund the government. Many Democrats, and some Republicans, had refused to vote for a bill that did not address such issues as the uncertain status of the undocumented immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program or the renewal of the Children’s Health Insurance Program for millions of low-income children. Most federal agencies temporarily furloughed (laid off) workers during the three-day shutdown period. On January 22, the Senate and House passed, and Trump signed, a short-term spending bill to reopen the government. In negotiations prior to the vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised that he would allow a vote to address the status of DACA recipients in the following weeks. But immigration bills remained stalled in Congress through early 2018 and for the remainder of Trump’s presidency.
Staff turnover.
Personnel changes among Trump’s staff made numerous headlines from the early months of his administration. White House communications directors during that time included Sean Spicer, Mike Dubke, Anthony Scaramucci, Hope Hicks, and Bill Shine. Spicer also served several months as press secretary. Sarah Huckabee Sanders served as press secretary from July 2017 to June 2019. Sanders was succeeded by Stephanie Grisham, a former aide to Melania Trump. Grisham was also named communications director. She served in both roles until April 2020, when she returned to work for the first lady. Trump named Kayleigh McEnany, a spokesperson for his presidential campaign, as press secretary. Hicks, who had resigned in 2018, returned to the White House to work as an adviser in March 2020.
Former Marine Corps general John Kelly replaced Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff in July 2017. Kelly, who had earlier served as Trump’s secretary of homeland security, was succeeded in that role by Kirstjen Nielsen. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned in September after facing criticism for using costly private and government planes for both personal and official travel. Price was succeeded by Alex Azar in January 2018. Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, who had replaced Michael Flynn as national security adviser in 2017, stepped down from the position in March 2018. John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, replaced McMaster the following month. Bolton served in the position until Trump fired him in September 2019. Trump soon named hostage negotiator Robert O’Brien as Bolton’s successor. Also in March 2018, Gary Cohn—the director of the White House National Economic Council—resigned during a disagreement with the president over tariffs on imported aluminum and steel. Trump also forced out Rex Tillerson from his position as secretary of state and David Shulkin from his position as head of the Department of Veterans Affairs. In April, the Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as Tillerson’s successor at the State Department. Pompeo had previously served as the head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In July, Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt resigned amid a series of federal investigations into possible legal and ethical violations during his tenure.
On the day after the November 2018 elections, Trump asked for, and received, Sessions’s resignation. Trump had expressed displeasure with Sessions over the attorney general’s recusal (disqualifying himself) from the Justice Department’s Russia investigation. In December 2018, Trump announced that John Kelly, his White House chief of staff, would resign by the end of the year. Trump named Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, the acting chief of staff. Trump also announced the departure of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Zinke faced numerous ethics investigations into his time as head of the Department of the Interior. Also in December, James Mattis resigned as defense secretary. The announcement came soon after Trump announced that he was withdrawing all U.S. forces from Syria and thousands of troops from Afghanistan. Mattis had strongly disagreed with the president about the troop withdrawals.
In February 2019, the Senate confirmed William P. Barr, who led the Justice Department under President George H. W. Bush in the early 1990’s, as Sessions’s replacement as attorney general. In April 2019, Kirstjen Nielsen resigned as homeland security secretary. Also in April, the Senate confirmed David Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist, as Zinke’s successor at the Interior Department. In July, Alexander Acosta resigned his position as labor secretary. That same month, the Senate confirmed Mark Esper as defense secretary. Trump fired Esper days after the November 2020 election. Barr resigned in December. Cabinet members DeVos, Chao, and Azar submitted their resignations in January 2021, after a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.
In March 2020, Trump removed Mulvaney from his position as acting chief of staff. He named Mark Meadows, a North Carolina congressman, to fill the role. Meadows resigned from his congressional seat later in the month.
International affairs.
In May 2017, Trump took the first international trip of his presidency. He visited Saudi Arabia and Israel before meeting with a number of world leaders at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) gathering in Brussels, Belgium. He also met Pope Francis during a visit to Vatican City. In addition, Trump attended a meeting of the G-7 (Group of Seven) countries. The G-7 countries are leading industrialized countries that have democratic governments: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In August, the United Nations Security Council issued further sanctions on North Korea for the country’s continuing pursuit of an intercontinental nuclear missile program. North Korea threatened to retaliate militarily against the United States. Trump, in turn, said, “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
In June 2018, Trump attended an annual meeting of the G-7 countries in Charlevoix, Quebec, in Canada. Trump and his aides criticized G-7 countries—all modern-day U.S. allies—for what he called unfair trading practices. He also called for the group to reinstate Russia. Russia had been suspended from membership in the group following its illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Trump then flew to the Asian nation of Singapore, where he participated in a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The meeting signaled a departure from aggressive statements the two leaders had made in the past. Trump and Kim signed a statement that called for the eventual denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In February 2019, Trump and Kim met in Hanoi, in the Southeast Asian country of Vietnam, for a second summit meeting. Negotiations centered around North Korea’s hopes of having economic sanctions lifted and Trump’s desire to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs. Trump and Kim left the summit meeting without reaching an agreement. In June, the pair attended a meeting in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the neutral area between North Korea and South Korea. 
In November 2018, Trump attended the Group of Twenty (G-20) international summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the meeting, Trump and the leaders of Canada and Mexico signed an agreement revising a North American trade pact. The new trade agreement—called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)—was to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which took effect in 1994. Trump, who had long regarded NAFTA as unfair to U.S. interests, called the USMCA a “wonderful new trade deal.” In January 2020, the U.S. Senate approved a bill implementing the USMCA.
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
In December 2017, Congress passed, and Trump signed, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The act reduced the top corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. Trump called the bill a “historic victory for the American people.” The bill, which passed with no support from the opposition Democrats, was designed to cut $1.4 trillion in taxes over 10 years. Republican proponents of the bill said they expected that corporations would reinvest their tax savings by building better facilities and paying their workers higher wages. Democrats called the bill a gift to large corporations and the wealthy. They noted that independent budget analyses of the tax plan predicted that it would raise the national debt by more than $1 trillion.
The tax bill also temporarily cut tax rates for many individuals. Absent future legislation to address the issue, the cuts for individuals were to expire in the mid-2020’s to comply with Senate budget rules. The bill also simplified some aspects of the tax code. Furthermore, the plan eliminated the so-called individual mandate—the requirement under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly called Obamacare) that all citizens obtain health coverage. Prior to the tax bill’s passage, people who refused to comply with the mandate were obliged to pay a penalty. Most of the other key components of the act remained in place. In 2017, even as the Republican Party controlled the House and Senate, legislative efforts to repeal the policy fell short. Still, the Trump administration took several actions that health care policy experts predicted could undermine and destabilize the act’s provisions and programs.
Economy.
The growth in the U.S. economy that began under President Obama continued into Trump’s administration. Stock market indexes reached historic highs, and unemployment continued to fall. In 2019, the unemployment rate reached 3.7 percent—the lowest since 1969. Economic experts attributed some of the continued growth to Trump’s signature tax cut legislation. But some observers noted that average workers had realized only small gains in real earnings, and many corporations had used their tax windfall to buy back their own stock. Federal budget deficits expanded.
In April 2018, Trump—citing a $375-billion trade deficit with China—announced that the United States would place 25 percent tariffs on 1,300 Chinese products. The move followed tariff hikes on imported steel and aluminum announced weeks before. China soon responded by raising tariffs on such U.S. goods as aircraft, automobiles, and agricultural products. A few months later, and again in 2019, Trump announced yet further tariffs on Chinese imports.
Economists expressed concern that a trade war between the United States and China would make financial markets more unstable, decrease trade volume, and increase prices for consumers. To appease American farmers suffering from retaliatory Chinese tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods, the administration provided tens of billions of dollars in aid to farmers. In January 2020, Trump and China agreed to a trade pact that aimed to increase intellectual property protections for U.S. firms working in China. The agreement, which also called for China to increase spending on U.S. agricultural and energy exports, left many of the earlier tariffs in place. Trump said that the deal was “phase one” of a hoped-for multipart trade agreement.
The nation’s economy remained strong into early 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which tracks stock prices, reached an all-time high in February. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent, influenced in part by a large increase in the numbers of part-time and gig workers—that is, people in jobs arranged through short-term contracts. In March, a nationwide outbreak of the contagious respiratory disease COVID-19 sent markets tumbling and unemployment soaring. Congress passed major economic-relief legislation to fight the outbreak and limit damage to American industries and workers. Millions of Americans returned to work in late spring and summer, but the unemployment rate remained over 8 percent. The unemployment rate fell below 7 percent in October.
Tensions with Iran.
In May 2018, Trump announced that he was withdrawing the United States from a 2015 multinational agreement designed in part to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The agreement had reduced economic sanctions on Iran while allowing the country to pursue nuclear technologies for civilian use. Trump called the agreement a “horrible, one-sided deal” and instructed Treasury Department officials to explore additional sanctions against Iran.
In June 2019, the Trump administration blamed Iran for attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz. All oil exported by ship from the Persian Gulf must pass through the strait. American troops were sent to the Middle East for use in defense and surveillance. In January 2020, Trump authorized an American drone strike that killed Qassim Suleimani, a top Iranian general, in Baghdad, Iraq. The strike occurred on January 3. Administration officials had accused Suleimani of orchestrating numerous militia attacks on U.S. targets throughout the Middle East. Iranian leaders called for “forceful revenge” against the United States and its interests. On January 8, Iran retaliated by launching missiles at two military bases in Iraq that housed American troops. No U.S. soldiers were killed, though more than 100 suffered concussion symptoms from the blasts.
2018 elections.
During the autumn of 2018, Trump and Pence held numerous rallies for Republican candidates campaigning for governor, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrats, for their part, sought to make the elections a referendum on Trump’s policies. On Nov. 6, 2018, Republican candidates retained control of the Senate, winning a number of races that experts had regarded as toss-ups. Democrats, however, gained control of the House and made electoral gains in governorships and state legislatures. Trump hailed the Republicans who won their races and vowed to take a “warlike posture” against Democrats who might seek to use their majority in the House to investigate his administration.
Shutdown over border funding.
Congress funded the government with a series of spending bills in 2018. One bill, passed by the Senate, provided $1.6 billion for border security. Funding talks stalled, however, after Trump increased his request to $5 billion, to be used to pay for a border wall. In December, the Senate passed a short-term spending bill that would fund border security at its current levels, but Trump refused to sign it. On Dec. 22, 2018, the federal government entered a partial shutdown of its operations—the second such stalemate to occur in 2018. During the shutdown, more than 800,000 federal workers were furloughed (temporarily laid off) or forced to work without pay. On Jan. 25, 2019, Trump announced that he and congressional leaders had reached a temporary, three-week agreement to reopen the government while discussions on funding his proposed border wall continued. The 35-day shutdown was the longest in U.S. history.
Border wall.
The building of a high wall along America’s southern border was a primary theme of Trump’s 2016 campaign. In February 2019, Congress passed a funding bill that included about $1.4 billion in border security funds. Trump, who had sought upward of $6 billion in wall funding, declared a national emergency, claiming that the nation’s border was dangerously insecure. The declaration allowed the administration to repurpose billions of dollars—previously designated for military expenditures—for use in wall construction.
Immigration policy.
In September 2017, Attorney General Sessions announced that the administration was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy that shielded from deportation hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. Sessions said he believed the policy was unconstitutional. The policy had started under President Obama in 2012. It had allowed such immigrants, who came to be known as dreamers, to avoid deportation if they met certain conditions. The conditions included earning a high school diploma or having a history of U.S. military service, and having no criminal record. In early 2018, federal judges issued court orders temporarily blocking the administration’s plans to end the DACA program.
The administration also instituted a “zero tolerance” stance regarding undocumented immigrants crossing into the United States. Adult migrants were sent to detention centers to await further processing. Many of their children were held separately. In June 2018, a federal judge ordered an end to the family separations and required the government to reunite families that were affected. But thousands of migrant children remained separated from their parents.
Trump’s declaration of a border emergency in early 2019 was met with skepticism by his political opponents. Many believed that the president was exaggerating the severity of the problem in order to build political support for wall construction. But from late 2018 to mid- 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) workers took into custody more than 700,000 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border—nearly double the figure from the same period a year earlier. The migrants came primarily from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Most of the migrants, fleeing areas beset by poverty and gang violence, sought asylum (official protection) in the United States. Other migrants, mainly young men, attempted to cross into the country illegally.
Officials were surprised by the migrant influx, and many detention centers soon became overcrowded and unsanitary. In early 2019, the administration implemented a “remain in Mexico” policy for many people seeking asylum. Thousands of asylum seekers were made to stay in Mexico while awaiting a judge’s ruling on their immigration status.
Impeachment.
In September 2019, the House of Representatives began an impeachment inquiry into some of Trump’s actions. A whistleblower alleged that Trump, who formally began his reelection campaign in June, had violated U.S. law by asking Ukraine to investigate a Democratic political rival in the 2020 election campaign. Whistleblowers are people who call out illegal activity within their organization. According to the whistleblower’s report and partial transcripts of telephone conversations held with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in July, Trump had repeatedly urged Ukraine to investigate what Trump declared were corrupt dealings in Ukraine involving former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter. A conspiracy theory involving the Bidens had developed among some right-wing commentators. The elder Biden, a harsh critic of Trump, was actively seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. The whistleblower report also claimed that Trump had instructed aides to withhold the transfer to Ukraine of about $400 million in military aid that Congress had approved. The report charged that Trump may have used the funds as leverage while insisting that Ukraine investigate the Bidens. Ukraine had been involved in an ongoing military conflict with Russian-backed separatists.
The next step in the impeachment process took place in the Republican-controlled Senate. Proceedings in the Senate began on Jan. 16, 2020, when Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was sworn in to preside over Trump’s impeachment trial. According to the Constitution, a two-thirds vote by the Senate is required to convict and remove a president. Democrats attempted to introduce new evidence and include witness testimony in the impeachment trial, but the Republican Senate majority denied their efforts. On Feb. 5, 2020, the Senate acquitted President Trump on the abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges. All Senate Democrats voted “guilty” on both charges. All Republicans voted “not guilty” on the obstruction charge, and only one Republican—Utah Senator Mitt Romney—joined with Democrats to declare Trump guilty of abuse of power.
Coronavirus response.
In early 2020, the spread of the contagious respiratory disease COVID-19 became a matter of urgent concern around the world. The disease, caused by a type of coronavirus, first caused an outbreak in Wuhan, China, late in 2019. It quickly spread to other nations. In Iran and Italy, for example, tens of thousands of residents became infected, and thousands died. In January 2020, cases of the virus occurred in such states as California, Illinois, and Washington. In the following weeks, infections occurred in communities across the country. Trump temporarily banned entry into the United States for non-U.S. citizens who had recently visited China. In late February, he appointed Vice President Pence to lead a White House task force on the coronavirus. U.S. immunologist Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), became an important member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Trump initially downplayed media reports about the virus, considering the coverage alarmist. But on March 11, the World Health Organization labeled the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic—that is, a global epidemic. New York City became the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. As the virus spread overseas, Trump issued restrictions on travel from Europe.
Months after the start of the outbreak, public health experts noted that the United States lagged behind other countries in making tests for COVID-19 available. Many state and local leaders called for residents to take extra precautions, including the frequent washing of hands and avoiding public gatherings. Many schools closed, and sports leagues and other entertainment businesses canceled or postponed events. On March 13, Trump declared a national emergency—a step that enabled the government to utilize more than $40 billion to fight the outbreak. Health officials across the country reported shortages of virus tests, protective masks and gowns, and other medical supplies. In state after state, governors declared a “state of emergency,” imploring residents to stay at home and closing all businesses declared “nonessential.”
On March 27, Trump signed a $2-trillion economic stimulus bill to help the nation during the sharp downturn in economic activity caused by the spread of COVID-19. The House had passed the bill—known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act—by voice vote hours earlier. The Senate had unanimously approved the measure on March 25. The measure, the largest stimulus package in U.S. history, contained more than $350 billion in loans to small businesses; $500 billion in loans to distressed companies, including airlines and hotels; $100 billion to health care facilities to fight COVID-19; and $150 billion for state and local governments. The act also extended unemployment benefits and included one-time payments to millions of low- and middle-income Americans.
In April, Congress passed, and Trump signed, another relief measure. The $484-billion package contained more than $300 billion to replenish a small business loan program created under the CARES Act. It also contained funds for hospitals and the expansion of virus testing. Conservative demonstrators began holding protests against coronavirus restrictions in Michigan, Oregon, Virginia, and a number of other states. Trump signaled his support of the protests in his comments on Twitter. By the end of the month, more than 30 million American workers—nearly one-fifth of the U.S. labor force—were unemployed.
From April to June, many states began to lift restrictions on business activity and social gatherings. COVID-19 infection rates, however, remained high in many parts of the country. In early summer, Arizona, California, Florida, Texas, and other states experienced a sharp rise in infections. State and local authorities in many areas were forced to pause or reverse some of their reopening plans. Trump suggested increased testing was the reason for the rise in cases. Republican officeholders in affected states urged the president to endorse the wearing of face masks to limit the spread of the virus. Trump did so in July, when he posted a masked photo on Twitter.
Coronavirus infection rates remained at relatively low levels throughout the summer but spiked again in the autumn months. In December, the Food and Drug Administration authorized, for emergency use, the first COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. Later that month, Congress passed, and Trump signed, a $900-billion measure that included emergency funds for hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and businesses. The package also provided for the purchase and distribution of vaccines, extended unemployment benefits, and authorized $600 payments to millions of Americans. By the time Trump’s presidency ended in January 2021, the pandemic had claimed the lives of some 400,000 Americans.
Protests against police violence.
In late May 2020, the death of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man, while in police custody sparked demonstrations in Minneapolis and dozens of other major U.S. cities. Graphic video footage had shown a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes following Floyd’s arrest on a forgery charge. Most of the demonstrations were peaceful, but a number of protests were exploited by criminal groups and looters and turned violent. Protests against what demonstrators called systemic racism continued through the summer. The public response to the protests and looting fell along political lines, exposing anew the racial divisions in the United States. Trump called Floyd’s killing “a terrible thing,” but in his tweets, he promoted aggressive tactics against protesters. In June, the president signed an executive order encouraging police reform.
Reelection campaign.
Trump filed paperwork to officially seek reelection in 2019. He had no substantial opposition during the Republican primaries and secured the required number of delegates in March 2020. Concerns about COVID-19 led to the cancellation of traditional campaign rallies, but the president raised millions for his reelection through private fundraising dinners and various online efforts. In June, Trump held a rally at an indoor arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma—his first large-scale campaign event in months. Critics, such as supporters of Democratic nominee Joe Biden, called the staging of the Tulsa rally amid the health crisis a reckless act. Trump ignored the criticism and defended the administration’s handling of the pandemic.
The Republican National Convention took place in a scaled-down format in late August in Charlotte, North Carolina. Trump accepted the party’s nomination during a televised rally held on the White House lawn. During the general election campaign, Trump and Biden sparred over economic issues, the administration’s record on COVID-19, policy toward strategic rivals China and Russia, and the intent of the protests against racial injustice.
In late September, Biden and Trump participated in their first presidential debate. Days later, on October 2, Trump announced that he and Melania had both tested positive for COVID-19. Barron Trump and a number of White House aides also tested positive for the virus. President Trump received treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for about three days before returning to the White House. He resumed public events several days later. Organizers proposed that a second debate, scheduled for October 15, be held virtually because of concerns about Trump’s possible contagiousness. The president declined to participate in such a debate, however, and the two candidates appeared separately in televised “town hall”-style forums. A final in-person debate took place on October 22.
Election day was November 3. That evening, election tallies looked favorable for the president. Many states had urged voting by mail as a precaution during the pandemic, however, and millions of voters had returned mail-in ballots that remained to be counted. In the following days, Biden pulled ahead of Trump in several key states. On November 7, major news outlets called the election for Biden, though election results had yet to be certified. Trump refused to concede, however, and challenged several state results via dozens of lawsuits. He and his campaign alleged fraud in the election but failed to prove such charges in court to the judges’ satisfaction. On November 23, following a string of legal defeats, the Trump administration authorized the start of the formal transition to a Biden administration. In the national popular vote, Biden held a lead of about 7 million votes over Trump. Both Biden—with about 81 million votes—and Trump—with 74 million—received more votes for president than any candidate in U.S. history. The Electoral College confirmed Biden’s victory on December 14. Biden received 306 electoral votes, and Trump received 232.
Hundreds of pro-Trump protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while Congress was in session to certify the Electoral College result. Lawmakers, including Vice President Pence, were ushered to safety as some protesters looted offices and caused other damage. Many police officers suffered injuries. Dozens of the protesters were arrested, and one protester was shot and killed by police. Hours before, Trump had held a rally near the White House in which he repeated unsubstantiated claims of election fraud. Under pressure from Republican lawmakers, Trump later issued a video message requesting protesters “go home in peace.” Washington, D.C., issued a nightly curfew, and National Guard troops were deployed in the city. Congress reconvened later in the evening after law enforcement personnel secured the Capitol. After some debate—including condemnations of the mob that entered the Capitol—members voted to certify the electoral vote. At about 3:30 a.m. on January 7, Pence formally confirmed Biden’s victory in the election. Twitter suspended Trump’s account the following day, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.” 
A second impeachment.
On January 13—one week after the mob attack on the Capitol and a week before the president was due to leave office—the House impeached Trump for a second time. Representatives, voting 232 to 197, approved a single article of impeachment—incitement of insurrection—for “inciting violence against the government of the United States.” In contrast to the party-line impeachment vote of December 2019, a number of House Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach. The vote set the stage for a trial to occur in the Senate. Trump left the White House by helicopter on the morning of Jan. 20, 2021, and later traveled to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Biden was inaugurated as the nation’s 46th president later that day.
Trump’s second impeachment trial took place in the Senate from February 9 to February 13. Seven Republican senators joined Democrats in voting to convict the former president on the charge of incitement of insurrection. The 57-to-43 vote fell 10 votes short, however, of the 67 votes required for a conviction. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, said he believed it unconstitutional to impeach a former president and voted to acquit Trump. But he condemned the former president for inciting the Capitol riot. “There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” he said.
Later years
Trump remained active in politics after leaving the White House. Banned from Twitter, he helped launch a new social networking website called Truth Social. He held rallies in which he expressed support for like-minded candidates in Republican primaries. He also continued to assert that the 2020 election had been stolen from him. In November 2022, Trump announced that he would campaign for his party’s 2024 nomination for president. Twitter, under new ownership, restored Trump’s account a few days later.
Criminal investigations and civil trials.
Trump’s actions as president led to multiple investigations after he left office. In Georgia, where Trump and his associates had undertaken efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, Fulton County prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into potential electoral interference. In Congress, the House formed a select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The Justice Department conducted investigations into 2020 election interference, the Capitol attack, and Trump’s handling of classified documents after he left the presidency. After Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign announcement, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed long-time prosecutor Jack Smith as a special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s investigations. Trump said that he was innocent of all allegations. He accused prosecutors of conducting a “political witch hunt.” 
Trump’s businesses also faced legal scrutiny. New York City prosecutors charged the Trump Organization, which controls hundreds of corporate entities, with tax fraud. In December 2022, a jury found two Trump businesses guilty of 17 counts of tax fraud and falsifying business records.
In a Manhattan court in April 2023, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges brought against him by a New York grand jury. Prosecutors claimed that Trump had organized an illegal scheme to cover up a story about an extramarital affair with an actress that, if made public, might have prevented him from winning the 2016 presidential election. They accused him of falsifying business records to hide a “hush money” payment made to the actress just before the election. According to the charges, Trump directed his attorney Michael Cohen to pay the actress $130,000 to stay silent about the affair she claimed to have had with Trump, and Trump later reimbursed Cohen for the payment. Trump denied that the affair ever occurred and insisted the charges were politically motivated. A trial began in April 2024. In May, a jury convicted Trump of all the charges against him. Trump called the trial “rigged” and “a disgrace,” and his lawyers were expected to appeal the verdict.
In May 2023, a federal jury in Manhattan found the former president liable for defamation and sexual abuse in a civil trial. The abuse accusation centered on an encounter between Trump and writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990’s. The lawsuit for defamation—that is, damaging someone’s reputation—resulted from statements Trump had made in denying Carroll’s allegations against him. Trump was ordered to pay Carroll damages of $5 million. His lawyers appealed the verdict. A second civil trial weighing separate defamation charges brought by Carroll against Trump took place in January 2024. In this trial, a jury ruled that Trump had acted with malice (an intention to hurt) when defaming Carroll and denying her allegations. It ordered Trump to pay Carroll additional damages of $83 million. Trump said he would appeal the jury’s decision.
In June 2023, federal prosecutors charged the former president with 37 felony counts related to his handling of classified U.S. government documents. Prosecutors accused Trump of unlawfully taking hundreds of classified documents from the White House to his Florida residence when he left office. A number of the documents allegedly included highly sensitive national security information. The charges also accused Trump of obstructing government efforts to recover the documents. In July, prosecutors added three more felonies to the classified documents charges against Trump. Trump pleaded not guilty to all the charges brought against him in the case. In July 2024, however, a judge dismissed the case, ruling that special counsel Jack Smith, who was overseeing its prosecution, had been appointed unlawfully.
In August 2023, Smith filed yet another indictment against Trump. The indictment charged Trump with four felonies related to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The charges accused Trump of (1) conspiracy to defraud the United States, (2) conspiracy to obstruct an official government proceeding, (3) actually obstructing an official government proceeding, and (4) conspiracy to deprive people of rights provided by federal law. The charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States accused Trump of knowingly spreading false information in attempts to overturn legitimate election results in states where he had lost. The charge included a claim that Trump participated in an illegal effort to recruit fake electors who would sign documents falsely claiming Trump had been the winner in their state. The two obstruction charges referred to actions Trump took to disrupt—on Jan. 6, 2021—the official certification of the election results. The fourth charge alleged that Trump’s efforts to overturn legitimately cast votes violated federal laws that guarantee people the right to vote and to have their votes counted. Trump pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Later in August 2023, Georgia prosecutors filed a criminal indictment that accused Trump and 18 other people of illegal actions in their attempts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in the state. The indictment presented a total of 41 criminal charges against individuals in the group, which included Trump, members of his legal team, and others. All of the 19 people indicted were accused of violating the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Such laws against racketeering are often used to target groups involved in organized crime. Trump himself faced 13 felony charges, including soliciting (pressuring) public officers to violate their oaths of office, and conspiracy to file false documents in a fake-elector scheme. Other prominent figures to face charges under the indictment included Rudolph Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer and former mayor of New York City; Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff; and Sidney Powell, an attorney who worked for Trump’s reelection.
In February 2024, a judge in a New York civil trial found Trump responsible for illegally conspiring to inflate his net worth to obtain favorable terms on bank loans. The judge ordered Trump to pay penalties of $355 million plus interest, for a total of about $450 million. The ruling also barred Trump from serving, for three years, in a substantial role for any of his New York-based companies, including parts of the Trump Organization. The judge also issued penalties for Trump’s sons Eric and Donald, Jr. The former president’s lawyers appealed the ruling.
Another bid for the presidency.
Despite his many legal predicaments, Trump faced little competition for the 2024 Republican nomination. He defeated his closest rival, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, in the race for delegates. By the spring of 2024, Trump was poised to become his party’s presidential nominee for a third time. He prepared to face President Biden, who had become the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party.
Trump became the target of an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. A bullet grazed Trump’s right ear before he was shielded by Secret Service agents. Agents quickly shot and killed the shooter.
Two days later, Trump was formally named his party’s nominee for president at the Republican National Convention, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Trump announced that J. D. Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio, would be his vice presidential running mate. 
Later in July, Biden ended his reelection campaign amid widespread concern about his age and health. In early August, Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party’s official nominee for president. She named Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, as her vice presidential running mate.
