During a Fox News interview, Trump said that the problem with the US’ handling of the war against ISIS was that “we’re fighting a very politically correct war,” and so “the other thing is with the terrorists, you have to take out their families.”
The check didn’t arrive until a few months later, after the Washington Post ran a story that made the offer public for the first time. The family received the personal check a few days later, which was dated the same day as when the story was released. The White House explained that “the check has been in the pipeline since the president’s initial call with the father,” and that there were just several processes that needed to first be navigated.
Nevertheless, the family received their promised check.
During the primaries, Trump attacked Republican Senator Linsdey Graham, who had recently called Trump a “jackass.” Aside from calling Graham an “idiot” and “lightweight,” Trump also gave out Graham’s personal cell phone number.
Amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran following the drone strike of a senior official, Trump threatened to destroy a variety of targets including “some at a very high level & important to Iran & Iranian culture.” The deliberate destruction of cultural sites constitutes a war crime. The Pentagon immediately contradicted Trump by ruling out any such targets.
….targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!
While many NATO members house US nuclear weapons, according to Pentagon spokesman Air Force Lt. Col. Uriah Orland “it is U.S. policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence or absence of nuclear weapons at any general or specific location.” During a meeting with the Italian President, Trump confirmed the presence of US nuclear weapons at a specific Turkish air force base.
During a news conference, Trump invited a foreign power to intervene in the election while referring to the emails missing from the private server Hillary Clinton had used as Secretary of State. He said, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
The remark was immediately met with condemnation. When later challenged on his remark, he replied, “I’m not going to tell Putin what to do. Why should I tell Putin what to do?”
The Mueller Report later revealed attempts by Russian hackers to breach associated email accounts on the same day. However, the report did not find proof of conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
On January 3, 2020 Qassem Soleimani, leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force and a senior political figure in the Iranian government, was killed by a drone strike, along with several others in his motorcade. The Quds Force was designated a state sponsor of terrorism in 2007, as it supported militant proxy groups like Hezbollah. Iran claimed that Soleimani was in Iraq at time to meet with officials to deescalating regional tensions. However, officials believed that he was working to target US military forces in the region to instigate reprisals and galvanize public support for the government, which had been facing domestic protests.
Trump received criticism of the unilateral action for escalating tensions by assassinating a political figure. While Israel and Saudi Arabia were briefed ahead of the move, and Trump reportedly made mention to patrons at his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago, no briefing was given to Congress. He had similarly briefed Russia on another airstrike before Congress. Instead, he asserted that his tweets constitute official notice. Tensions were further inflamed by his threat to target and destroy Iranian cultural sites, a war-crime, and a claim which the Pentagon ruled out.
While the White House had originally claimed that Soleimani posed an imminent threat, requiring the strike, little information was offered to Congress or the American people. His intelligence briefing was derided even by Republicans. Instead, Trump cited his “horrible past” as sufficient cause.
The Iran Nuclear Deal was an agreement reached between the United States, Iran, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and China. It strictly limited the amount of enriched uranium and enrichment equipment Iran could have for a period of 15 years. In exchange, sanctions on Iran were to be lifted, and Iranian funds frozen after the 1979 revolution were to be returned.
Trump described the Obama administration’s “embarrassing” treaty with Iran to be “decaying and rotten.” He withdrew the United States from the deal unilaterally in 2018 and restored prior sanctions. The European Union sought to maintain the agreement, and passed a blocking statute to ban all EU citizens and business with complying with US sanctions on Iran. Iran continued to take part in the agreement until January of 2020, when a US drone strike killed a senior Iranian official.
