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Trump mulled replacing attorney general over election results: US media
Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump considered replacing then-acting US attorney general Jeffrey A. Rosen with a Justice Department lawyer who would help him force Georgia officials to overturn the state's election result, US media reported late Friday. The New York Times said Trump only decided against the move when told that all remaining top officials at the Justice Department would resign en masse if the plan went ahead. The news, also reported in the Washington Post, comes as Trump is set to face a Senate trial for "incitement of insurrection" over his role in whipping up supporters with unfo...
AFP
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Trump leaves icy Washington for loving Florida home
Palm Beach (United States) (AFP) - Donald Trump wanted a hero's send-off Wednesday, but had to go all the way to his right-wing Florida heartland to get one after an icy and sparsely attended official departure from Washington. The soon to be ex-president's motorcade slowed almost to a stop outside his fancy Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, allowing Trump to bathe in the adulation of hundreds of fans. They stretched all the way down the road, cheering and waving Trump 2020 reelection campaign flags. "We love you!" chanted one knot of people. "Welcome Home," said a homemade sign. Another read "Tr...
AFP
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Greta Thunberg wishes 'old man' Trump a 'wonderful future'
Stockholm (AFP) - Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on Wednesday renewed a feud with Donald Trump, saying the outgoing US president "seems like a very happy old man looking forward to a bright and wonderful future". The teenager was reversing a barb that Trump -- who frequently disputes the science behind climate change -- had aimed at her in 2019 when he wrote on Twitter that "she seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future". The tweet was a sarcastic response to a fiery speech given by Thunberg at the United Nations where she told world leaders: ...
AFP
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Trump arrives at home in Mar-a-Lago: AFP
Palm Beach (United States) (AFP) - President Donald Trump arrived Wednesday at his resort home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, after leaving the White House for the last time, AFP observed. As Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony was under way in Washington, an event Trump snubbed, he flew to Palm Beach aboard Air Force One and then traveled in a motorcade to his home. Hundreds of fans lined the road waving Trump campaign flags, US flags and one that had an insulting word for Biden. The motorcade slowed down to a crawl, apparently so that Trump could engage with them. One woman holding a homemade "Trump ...
AFP
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Donald Trump left a letter for Joe Biden: spokesman
Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump left a letter to his successor Joe Biden before leaving the White House, spokesman Judd Deere told AFP minutes after the outgoing president's departure. Trump, who refused to accept his defeat for more than two months, never congratulated Biden on his victory. "We are just temporary occupants of this office," Barack Obama wrote in his own note to Trump four years ago, left in the Oval Office in line with presidential tradition. "That makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions... that our forebears fought and bled for. Regardless of the p...
AFP
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Trump heads for Florida, says he 'will be back in some form'
Joint Base Andrews (United States) (AFP) - US President Donald Trump left Washington on Wednesday just three hours ahead of the inauguration of his successor Joe Biden, saying it had been an "incredible four years" and promising to be "back in some form." "I just want to say goodbye but hopefully it's not a long-term goodbye," Trump said in remarks to reporters at the White House before he and First Lady Melania Trump walked a short red carpet and boarded Marine One for the helicopter ride to Joint Base Andrews. Speaking to a small crowd of supporters, staff and family members at Andrews after...
AFP
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Trump leaves White House, skipping Biden inauguration
Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump left the White House for the final time on Wednesday, heading by helicopter to a nearby military base where he will fly to Florida, skipping the inauguration of successor Joe Biden in an extraordinary break with tradition. Trump, 74, and First Lady Melania Trump walked a short red carpet and boarded Marine One on the White House lawn on a sunny but chilly day in Washington for the short flight to Joint Base Andrews, where he will board Air Force One. In brief remarks to reporters, Trump said it had been an "amazing four years" and the "honor of a li...
AFP
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Steve Bannon and Lil Wayne among 73 pardoned on Trump's last day
Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday pardoned 73 people, including his former aide Steve Bannon and the rapper Lil Wayne, just hours before he was due to leave office. The list of those pardoned -- as well as 70 people whose sentences were commuted -- was likely to draw allegations of cronyism, at the end of a term during which the president promised to "drain the swamp" of Washington politics. However, neither Trump nor his relatives were listed, amid speculation he could use the legally dubious tactic of a preemptive pardon to fend off future charges. Bannon -- who was ...
AFP
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Hollywood actor union threatens to expel Trump
Los Angeles (AFP) - Hollywood's actors union launched disciplinary action against outgoing US President Donald Trump on Monday, which could lead to the former "Apprentice" star's expulsion. SAG-AFTRA "voted overwhelmingly to find probable cause of a violation" of its constitution by long-time member Trump, whose screen credits include "Home Alone 2." The guild's disciplinary committee will now examine Trump's role in the January 6 mob attack on the US Capitol. Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Washington building following a speech by the president in which he repeated his false claims...
AFP
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Leaving office, Trump has lowest approval rating of his presidency
Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump will leave the White House this week with the lowest approval rating of his presidency, with just 34 percent of Americans supporting the job he has done, a Gallup poll showed Monday. Gallup noted that Trump's average approval rating during his one-term presidency was 41 percent, four points lower than any of his predecessors since the polling group has been gathering data. Trump's job approval had dipped to 35 percent in previous polls, most notably after he failing to condemn a violent gathering of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2...
AFP
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