On October 13, 2020, Trump retweeted a QAnon conspiracy that claimed that Barack Obama and Joe Biden faked Osama bin Laden’s death in 2011. The account he retweeted was soon after deleted.
Trump also retweeted a video that claimed Iran was paid off to safely transfer bin Laden to Pakistan for Obama’s “trophy kill.”
Since 1978, first-term presidents held ceremonies in the East Room to unveil the portraits of their immediate predecessors. Trump, who long accused the Obama administration of illegally spying, broke the four-decade-long tradition and refused to unveil Obama’s presidential portrait. Reports said that the Obama family also had little interest in attending any such event.
2012 unveiling ceremony of Bush’s portrait. Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Throughout his presidency, Trump claimed multiple times that he was responsible for the Veteran’s Choice Program, which allows veterans to seek care outside of VA medical facilities. The bill as part of a bipartisan effort signed into law in 2014 by Barack Obama. Trump signed the Mission Act in 2018, which expanded on the Veteran’s Choice Program
During an October, 2018 rally in Tennessee, Trump said,
We just passed choice. That was 44 years, they’ve been trying to pass choice. They’ve been trying to pass that one for many many decades. They couldn’t do it. We got it passed.
At a May, 2019 rally in Pennsylvania, Trump reiterated his claims:
We passed VA Choice and VA Accountability to give our veterans the care that they deserve and they have been trying to pass these things for 45 years.
Dr. Richard Stone, Executive in Charge of the Veterans Health Administration, said Trump’s expansion was to “almost be a non-event,” as wait times were longer in private hospitals than VA facilities, and the use of private hospitals by veterans had begun to decline in response.
Trump again made the claim in an August, 2020 press conference, but when pressed on the inaccuracy of the claim, left abruptly.
In March of 2019, Trump signed an Executive Order that ended reporting for the number of strikes and casualties, both civilian and military, by drones outside of the direct purview of the military. This includes all those conducted by non-military agencies like the CIA, effectively allowing the President to deploy drones against any target, civilian or military, in secret.
Since 2017, the Trump administration has given the CIA broader scope and less restrictions on drone strikes abroad. The move has actively counteracting former President Obama’s efforts to increase transparency and transition the authority for drone strikes to the military, where the National Defense Authorization Act still requires reporting. While Obama’s 2013 Presidential Policy Guidance sought to tighten restrictions on drone strikes in areas not designated as an active battlefield with American troop presence, the Trump administration expanded the definition of battlefields, rendering the distinction useless.
With the implementation of the Affordable Healthcare Act, the Obama administration determined that its anti-discrimination measures included matters of gender identity, which it defined as “male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female.”
In 2019, the Trump administration eliminated the provision, allowing for gender discrimination by federal law. The same week, the Trump administration also eliminated anti-discriminatory measures based on gender for federal housing.
The new healthcare rules were finalized in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
On May 10, 2020, Trump tweeted 125 times between 6:02:49 AM and 9:54:57 PM. That is a tweet on average of every 7.6 minutes.
Most were retweets related to the Justice Department’s recent dropping of charges against Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Trump also alleged that Obama had targeted Flynn and his administration, though no details were specified.
Trump also boasted of his ratings in handling COVID-19, and attacked Obama’s handling of H1N1. On May 10, the US had suffered over 80,000 COVID-19 deaths. 93 Americans died as a result of H1N1.
We are getting great marks for the handling of the CoronaVirus pandemic, especially the very early BAN of people from China, the infectious source, entering the USA. Compare that to the Obama/Sleepy Joe disaster known as H1N1 Swine Flu. Poor marks, bad polls – didn’t have a clue!
Michael Flynn is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General who served as National Security Advisor for Trump from January to February 2017.
Retired United States Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn / Wikipedia
As part of the wider Mueller probe into Russian election interference, a phone call from 2016 was unearthed between Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. After speaking with Trump’s Presidential Transition Team, Flynn had reached out to Kislyak after Obama’s passing of Russian sanctions as punishment for 2016 election interference. Flynn urged Russia to refrain from retaliatory measures, as Trump was already President-elect and could eventually undo the sanctions. The following day, the Russian government announced they would not retaliate. Trump tweeted praise for the decision:
Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!
In his recounting of the phone call to the FBI, Flynn denied anything substantive was discussed, including sanctions. Nonetheless, Trump asked Flynn for his resignation in February 2017. He had served as National Security Advisor for a record 24 days.
Trump still defended Flynn, claiming that his lies to the FBI were not about anything illegal, and so he should not be prosecuted for them.
I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!
Flynn was charged with perjury for his false explanation to the FBI, and in December 2017, pleaded guilty.
Flynn had also failed to register as a foreign agent for lobbying work he had done on behalf of the Turkish government. Through his Flynn Intel Group Inc, an organization that provides intelligence services to businesses and governments, Flynn worked to defend Turkish hardliner President Recep Erdoğan from anti-government elements. He also failed to disclose income from Russian companies in his financial disclosure forms.
Trump had been warned about Flynn’s conflicts of interest at least 6 separate times, including by Obama during the post-election transition. Obama had himself fired Flynn in 2014.
Despite having pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, sentencing was deferred multiple times until May 7, 2020, when the Justice Department announced that it would be dropping all charges. The explanation provided in the motion to dismiss was that “Mr. Flynn’s statements were never ‘material’ to any FBI investigation.”
Trump defended the move, claiming that Flynn, and by extension himself, had been unfairly targeted by the Obama administration:
He is an innocent man. He is a great gentleman. He was targeted by the Obama administration and he was targeted in order to try and take down a president and what they’ve done is a disgrace and I hope a big price is going to be paid. A big price should be paid. There’s never been anything like this in the history of our country. What they did, the Obama administration did, is unprecedented, never happened, a thing like this has never happened before in the history of our country. And I hope a lot of people are going to pay a big price, because they’re dishonest crooked people, and they’re scum. I say it a lot, they’re scum. …Treason, it’s treason.
Throughout Flynn’s legal troubles, Trump has repeatedly defended him over Twitter:
Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!
So General Flynn lies to the FBI and his life is destroyed, while Crooked Hillary Clinton, on that now famous FBI holiday “interrogation” with no swearing in and no recording, lies many times…and nothing happens to her? Rigged system, or just a double standard?
For four months, Trump railed against Obama’s handling of Ebola during the 2014 crisis. Trump demanded that all travel from Western Africa be immediately halted, promising that the crisis will “ONLY GET WORSE.” Saying that the government’s handling of the crisis was “almost like he’s saying F-you to U.S. public,” he warned about how “All the governors are already backing off of the Ebola quarantines.”
There were 11 total American cases of Ebola, resulting in 2 deaths. Neither of those who died contracted Ebola from within the United States. The CDC announced the first diagnosis September 30, 2014, and the last infected person was released from the hospital November 11.
Ebola outbreak in the United States / Wikipedia
During his Presidency, Trump repeatedly downplayed the severity of COVID-19. His administration implemented limited travel bans that only extended to non-US citizens and residents, failed to implement travel checks and tracing for the disease, and continually pushed for states to reopen their economies. Trump claimed he had total authority over governors to make policy in their states.
Fox News also drew attention for the discrepancy between their reporting on the handling of Ebola under Obama and COVID-19 under Trump.
An incomplete list of Trump’s tweets about Obama’s handling of Ebola follows:
Ebola patient will be brought to the U.S. in a few days – now I know for sure that our leaders are incompetent. KEEP THEM OUT OF HERE!
In a 2004 interview, Trump said he identified more with Democrats because he believed that the economy does better under their leadership.
I’ve been around for a long time and it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump blamed Obama, Democratic presidential candidates, and the federal reserve for economic problems during his tenure.
….ever. Had to rebuild our military, which was totally depleted. Fed Rate UP, taxes and regulations WAY DOWN. If Dems won in 2016, the USA would be in big economic (Depression?) & military trouble right now. THE BEST IS YET TO COME. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!
I think the financial markets are very upset when they look at the Democrat candidates on that stage making fools out of themselves.
The Fed was not good, as far as I’m concerned, and that was a big blip that should not have taken place, should not have happened…that was just killer when they raised the rate, it was just a big mistake, and they admit to it.
On April 10, Trump’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) changed its COVID-19 reporting requirements to include only those in the healthcare industry. The loosening of requirements are not to apply if:
(1) There is objective evidence that a COVID-19 case may be work-related; and (2) the evidence was reasonably available to the employer.”
The OSHA statement explains that this is to allow employers to focus on prevention rather than making “difficult work-related decisions” amid community transmission:
This enforcement policy will help employers focus their response efforts on implementing good hygiene practices in their workplaces, and otherwise mitigating COVID-19’s effects, rather than on making difficult work-relatedness decisions in circumstances where there is community transmission.
David Michaels, epidemiologist and public health professor at The George Washington University who served as head of OSHA between 2009 and 2017, shared his disbelief on Twitter.
OSHA announces employers don't have to record Covid19 cases.
The reason: to "help employers focus their response efforts on implementing good hygiene practices in their workplaces, and otherwise mitigating COVID-19’s effects."
Jordan Barab, former OSHA Deputy Assistant Secretary between 2009 and 2017, also criticized the decision. Barab noted that the eased restrictions removes responsibility from employers on determining and managing COVID-19 infections, potentially jeopardizing worker’s compensation claims.
So, #OSHA says the employers outside of health care no longer have to determine whether employees' COVID infections may be work-related. So all you infected bus drivers, grocery store clerks, poultry processors — you didn't get it at work. https://t.co/3kjXjx7gaM
