Donald Trump

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American businessman, media personality and politician. He was the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump was the chairman and president of The Trump Organization. Much of his money was made in real estate in New York City, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City. He used to own the Miss Universe pageant. He was the star in his own reality show The Apprentice. In October 2019, Trump changed the state he officially lived in from New York to Florida.
In June 2015, Trump said that he would run for President of the United States in the 2016 presidential election. Starting mid-July, polls showed that Trump was the front-runner for the Republican Party, ahead of Ted Cruz. This was true even after much criticism from his party because of what he said about illegal immigration, Muslims, and ISIS. His campaign was supported by mostly middle-class and rural working class families. It gained opposition from Democrats, some Republicans, business people, some world leaders and the pope.
On May 4, 2016, Trump became the expected Republican Party nominee for president. Trump then was in the general election against Democrat Hillary Clinton (former Secretary of State, U.S. Senator, and First Lady of the United States). He won this election on November 9, 2016, after a close race with Clinton. Each of them needed 270 electoral votes to win. Trump had 304 while Clinton had 227. He was inaugurated as the 45th president on January 20, 2017, at 70 years old.
On September 24, 2019, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that the House of Representatives would start an impeachment inquiry into Trump. On October 31, 2019, the House voted 232-196 to start the impeachment process. On December 16, the House Judiciary Committee released a report saying that criminal bribery and wire fraud was the reason to charge Trump with abuse of power. The house voted to impeach Trump in December 2019, making him the third president in American history to be impeached. He was acquitted by the Senate in February 2020.
In November 2020, Trump lost his re-election to former Vice President Joe Biden after the 2020 election. He became the first president since George H. W. Bush in 1992 to lose his re-election. However, he refused to agree with the result and said he won the election by a big amount. He also sued states where Biden won. In January 2021, Trump controversially made a telephone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In the call, he was reported to have tried to change the election results. A few days later, his supporters rioted at the United States Capitol, which killed five people. This caused the United States House of Representatives to impeach Trump again. This made Trump the only president to be impeached twice. The United States Senate voted to acquit him of all charges.
In November 2022, Trump announced another presidential campaign for the 2024 presidential election. In March 2023, a Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump, making him the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges. In August 2023, Trump was indicted a second time for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Early life
Donald John Trump was born at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, New York City. He is the son of Fred Trump and his wife Mary Anne (nee MacLeod). They married in 1936. His mother was born on the Isle of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland. Donald was one of five children. Donald's oldest brother, Fred Jr., died in 1981 at the age of 43, due to an alcohol addiction. Trump's sister, Maryanne, is a judge in New York. Trump's father's parents were German immigrants.
His grandfather, Frederick Trump, immigrated to the United States in 1885. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1892. Frederick married Elisabeth Christ (October 10, 1880 - June 6, 1966) at Kallstadt, State of Bavaria, Germany, on August 26, 1902. They had three children. He studied at Fordham University until transferring to the University of Pennsylvania.
Trump was not drafted during the Vietnam War. This was due to four college deferments and one medical deferment. In an interview with The New York Times, he said his medical deferment was because of heel spurs.
Career
Hotel developments
Trump began his career at his father's real estate company, Elizabeth Trump & Son. He later renamed the company The Trump Organization, which has its headquarters at 40 Wall Street. The company focused on middle-class rental housing in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. One of Trump's first projects, while he was still in college, was the revitalization of the foreclosed Swifton Village apartment complex in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father had purchased it for $5.7 million in 1962. Trump became closely involved in the project. With a $500,000 investment, he turned the 1200-unit complex with a 66 percent vacancy rate to 100 percent occupancy within two years. In 1972, the Trump Organization sold Swifton Village for $6 million.
Trump has developed many real estate projects. They include Trump International Hotel and Tower in Honolulu, Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto, and Trump Tower in Tampa. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, one Trump construction project was put on hold in favor of another (Trump International Hotel and Tower in Fort Lauderdale). Trump Towers in Atlanta was being developed in the housing market, however the project fell after the 2008 recession and instead buildings that didn't belong to Trump were built.
In its October 7, 2007 Forbes 400 issue, "Acreage Aces", Forbes valued Trump's wealth at $3 billion. Since 2011, his net worth has been estimated from $2 billion to $7 billion. Forbes estimated his net worth at $3.1 billion in 2019.
Beauty pageants
From 1996 until 2015, Trump owned part or all of the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA beauty pageants.
Wrestling support
Trump is a WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) fan, and a friend of WWE owner Vince McMahon. In 1988-89 he hosted WrestleMania IV and V at Boardwalk Hall (dubbed "Trump Plaza" for storyline purposes) and has been an active participant in several of the shows. Trump was inducted into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013 at Madison Square Garden for his contributions to the promotion. He made his sixth WrestleMania appearance the next night.
The Apprentice
In 2003, Trump became the executive producer and host of the NBC reality show The Apprentice, in which a group of competitors battled for a high-level management job in one of Trump's commercial enterprises. In 2004, Trump filed a trademark application for the catchphrase "You're fired!"
For the first year of the show, Trump earned $50,000 per episode (roughly $700,000 for the first season), but following the show's initial success, he was paid $1 million per episode. In a July 2015 press release, Trump's campaign manager said that NBCUniversal had paid him $213,606,575 for his 14 seasons hosting the show.
On February 16, 2015, NBC announced that they would be renewing The Apprentice for a 15th season. On February 27, Trump stated that he was "not ready" to sign on for another season because of the possibility of a presidential run. On June 29, after a widespread negative reaction stemming from Trump's campaign announcement speech, NBC released a statement saying, "Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump." Trump was replaced by former Governor of California and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Political activity before 2015
Trump switched between political parties a number of times. He registered as a Republican in 1987, a member of the Independence Party in 1999, a Democrat in 2001, a Republican in 2009, with no political party in 2011, and a Republican in 2012.
In 2011, Trump said that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya; Obama was actually born in Hawaii. If Obama had been born in Kenya, he would not have been allowed to run for president. Trump repeatedly said that Obama was lying about where he was born, an idea called "Birtherism". Even after Obama shared his birth certificate with the public, Trump suggested that it could be fake.
2016 presidential campaign
Announcement
Trump made a formal announcement of his candidacy for president of the United States for the 2016 elections on June 16, 2015. He made the announcement at 11am EST from his headquarters in Trump Tower in New York City. Trump launched his campaign saying, "We are going to make our Country Great Again" with a commitment to become the "greatest jobs president." Trump's official campaign slogan was "Make America Great Again." That was first used by Alexander Wiley, but Donald Trump trademarked it.
On May 4, 2016, Trump became the presumptive nominee after his only challengers, Texas United States senator Ted Cruz and Governor of Ohio John Kasich, dropped out.
Border security and illegal immigration remarks
During his announcement speech he stated in part, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. 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." On July 6, 2015, Trump issued a written statement to clarify his position on illegal immigration, which drew a reaction from critics.
Ideology
Trump has described his political leanings and positions in many ways over time. Politico has called his positions as "eclectic, improvisational and often contradictory". He has listed several different party affiliations over the years, and has also run as a Reform Party candidate. The positions that he has revised or reversed include stances on progressive taxation, abortion, and government involvement in health care.
He has supported Christian groups in the U.S., claiming that he will reverse unfavorable tax treatments preventing them from expressing themselves in the political arena and promising to revive a more widespread use of the phrase "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays" in department stores. Other issues he highlighted include taking care of military veterans, making the military "strong", aggressive bombing of the Mideast terrorist group ISIS, surveillance of certain mosques in the U.S., and making trade agreements more favorable to American workers.
Primaries
Trump entered a large field of candidates consisting of 16 other Republican candidates campaigning for the nomination, the largest presidential field in American history. By early 2016, the race had mostly centered on Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. On Super Tuesday, Trump won the majority of the delegates and remained the front-runner throughout the primaries.
Finishing in June 2016 with nearly 14 million votes, Trump broke the all-time record for winning the most primary votes in the history of the Republican Party.
General campaign and election
After becoming the presumptive Republican nominee, Trump's focus shifted to the general election, urging remaining primary voters to "save [their] vote for the general election." Trump began targeting Hillary Clinton, who became the presumptive Democratic nominee on June 6, 2016 after beating Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries, and continued to campaign across the country. Clinton had established a significant lead in national polls over Trump throughout most of 2016. In early July, Clinton's lead narrowed in national polling averages following the FBI's conclusion of its investigation into her ongoing email controversy.
On September 26, 2016, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off in the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Lester Holt, an anchor with NBC News, was the moderator. This was the most watched presidential debate in United States history.
On November 8, 2016, Trump won the presidency with 306 electoral votes to Clinton's 232 votes, even though Trump won a smaller part of the popular vote than Clinton. He is the fourth person to become president without winning the popular vote. The final popular vote difference between Clinton and Trump is that Clinton finished ahead by 2.86 million or 2.1 percentage points, 48.04% to 45.95%, with neither candidate reaching a majority. Trump's victory was considered a big political upset, as nearly all national polls at the time showed Hillary Clinton with a modest lead over Trump, and state polls showed her with a modest lead to win the Electoral College. In the early hours of November 9, 2016, Trump received a phone call in which Clinton conceded the presidency to him. Trump then delivered his victory speech before hundreds of supporters in the Hilton Hotel in New York City.
Trump's presidential transition team was led by Chris Christie until November 11, 2016, when Vice President-elect Mike Pence took over.
President of the United States
Inauguration
On January 20, 2017, Trump was sworn in by Chief Justice John G. Roberts as President of the United States at his inauguration ceremony at the United States Capitol Building. Within his first hour as president, he signed several executive orders, including an order to minimize "the economic burden" of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
On the Saturday following Trump's inauguration there were massive demonstrations protesting Trump in the United States and worldwide, including the 2017 Women's March.
Cabinet and staff
The following people were part of Donald Trump's cabinet. They are the most senior officers of the executive branch.
Secretary of State: Rex Tillerson (2017-2018), Mike Pompeo (2018-2021)
Secretary of the Treasury: Steven Mnuchin
Secretary of Defense: James Mattis (2017-2019), Mark Esper (2019-2021)
Attorney General: Jeff Sessions (2017-2018), William Barr (2019-2021)
Secretary of the Interior: Ryan Zinke (2017-2019), David Bernhardt (2019-2021)
Secretary of Agriculture: Sonny Perdue
Secretary of Commerce: Wilbur Ross
Secretary of Labor: Alexander Acosta (2017-2019), Eugene Scalia (2019-2021)
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Tom Price (2017), Alex Azar (2018-2021)
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Ben Carson
Secretary of Transportation: Elaine Chao
Secretary of Energy: Rick Perry (2017-2019), Dan Brouillette (2019-2021)
Secretary of Education: Betsy DeVos
Secretary of Veterans' Affairs: David Shulkin (2017-2018), Robert Wilkie (2018-2021)
Secretary of Homeland Security: John F. Kelly (2017), Kirstjen Nielsen (2017-2019)
The following people held other important jobs in the executive branch. They are also selected by the president.
White House Chief of Staff: Reince Priebus (2017), John F. Kelly (2017-2019), Mark Meadows (2020-2021)
United States Trade Representative: Robert Lighthizer
Director of National Intelligence: Dan Coats (2017-2019), John Ratcliffe (2020-2021)
Ambassador to the United Nations: Nikki Haley (2017-2019), Kelly Craft (2019-2021)
Director of the Office of Management and Budget: Mick Mulvaney (2017-2020), Russell Vought (2020-2021)
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency: Mike Pompeo (2017-2018), Gina Haspel (2018-2021)
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: Scott Pruitt (2017-2018), Andrew R. Wheeler (2019-2021)
Administrator of the Small Business Administration: Linda McMahon (2017-2019), Jovita Carranza (2020-2021)
First days
On January 23, 2017 Trump signed the executive order withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement between the United States and eleven Pacific Rim nations--Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam that would have created a "free-trade zone for about 40 percent of the world's economy." Two days later, he ordered the construction of the Mexico border wall. He reopened the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline construction projects.
On January 27, an order suspended admission of refugees for 120 days and denied entry to citizens of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days, citing security concerns about terrorism. Later, the administration seemed to reverse a portion of part of the order, effectively exempting visitors with a green card. Several federal judges issued rulings that curtailed parts of the immigration order, stopping the federal government from deporting visitors already affected.
On January 30, 2017, Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates because of her criticisms of Trump's immigration suspension. On January 31, 2017, Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
Allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election
Trump claimed there was no collusion and no obscruction and on May 9, 2017, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey after he reportedly asked for more information and funding for the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. The White House stated that this was not true and that Trump fired Comey in order to end the investigation. After The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump's National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn was under investigation by U.S. counterintelligence agents for his communications with Russian officials, Flynn resigned on February 13, 2017. Two days later on February 15, Trump's Secretary of Labor-nominee Andrew Puzder withdrew his nomination due to not having support from Democrats or Republicans to confirm his nomination.
As of March 2018, Trump is reportedly a "subject" of the Robert Mueller investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, meaning his conduct is being looked at, but not a "target" which would indicate the likelihood of criminal charges.
Military actions
On April 7, 2017, Trump ordered the launch of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea into Syria, aimed at Shayrat Air Base as a reaction to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.
Healthcare
On May 4, 2017, the American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA) was passed narrowly to replace and repeal Obamacare by the United States House of Representatives with a vote of 217 to 213, sending the bill to the Senate for voting. This is the second time the AHCA was voted in the House as the first version was not approved by the House in March 2017.
Paris Agreement withdrawal
On June 1, 2017, he announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Climate agreement, making the United States one of only three nations, including Syria and Nicaragua, to do so. On June 16, 2017, President Trump announced that he was "cancelling" the Obama administrations deals with Cuba, while also expressing that a new deal could be negotiated between the Cuban and United States governments.
First actions to impeach
On July 12, 2017, California Representative Brad Sherman formally introduced an article of impeachment, H. Res. 438, accusing the president of obstructing justice regarding the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
LGBT rights
On July 26, 2017, Trump tweeted that the "United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail." Trump cited the alleged "disruption" and "tremendous medical costs" of having transgender service members.
Unite the Right rally
Between August 11 and 12, 2017, there was a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia regarding the removal of Confederate statues. Trump did not speak out against white nationalists explicitly, instead condemning "hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides" leading people to think he did not take a harsh approach on racism.
North Korea
In late August, Trump dramatically escalated tensions against North Korea, warning that further threats against the U.S. will be met with "fire and fury like the world has never seen." North Korean leader Kim Jong-un then threatened to direct the country's next missile test toward Guam. Trump responded in his war-related service that if North Korea took steps to attack Guam, "things [would] happen to them like they never thought possible."
In March 2018, Trump fired United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and replaced him with Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Mike Pompeo. Later that month, the White House confirmed that President Trump would accept a meeting invitation from Kim Jong-un. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that "in the meantime, all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain."
In May 2018, Trump announced on Twitter that he will meet with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un on June 12, 2018 in Singapore for peace talks.
Immigration
In September 2017, Trump controversially oversaw the rescinding of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or "DACA" which removed protections for children immigrants and removed benefits. The decision was announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Two injunctions in January and February 2018 allowed renewals of applications and stopped the rolling back of DACA, and in April 2018 a federal judge ordered the acceptance of new applications; this would go into effect in 90 days.
Hurricane Maria
On October 3, Trump visited Puerto Rico after it was damaged by Hurricane Maria and the next day visited Las Vegas to visit the victims from the Las Vegas shooting.
Economy
In December 2017, Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which cut the corporate tax rate to 21%, lowered personal tax brackets, increased child tax credit, doubled the estate tax threshold to $11.2 million, and limited the state and local tax deduction to $10,000.
In February 2018, Trump praised the bill for increasing pay for millions, after announcements of bonuses from many companies. These bonuses have been criticized by the bill's opponents as publicity stunts, and economists have said many of them would have happened anyway due to low unemployment.
First impeachment
On December 18, 2019, the House of Representatives voted to have Trump impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. On February 5, 2020, the Senate found Trump not guilty of all charges.
2020 re-election bid
Trump announced his plans to run for a second term by filing with the FEC within a few hours of assuming the presidency. This transformed his 2016 election committee into a 2020 reelection one. Trump marked the official start of the campaign with a rally in Melbourne, Florida, on February 18, 2017, less than a month after taking office.
By January 2018, Trump's reelection committee had $22 million in hand, and it had raised a total amount exceeding $67 million by December 2018. $23 million was spent in the fourth quarter of 2018, as Trump supported various Republican candidates for the 2018 midterm elections. He made an official re-election campaign launch on June 18, 2019 in Orlando, Florida.
In the 2020 primaries, Trump faced primary challenges from former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld and former U.S. Representatives Joe Walsh. Former South Carolina Governor and former U.S. Representative Mark Sanford also campaigned against him, but withdrew from the race.
Trump lost re-election and refused to concede.
Defeat and attempts to overturn results
On November 7, Trump was defeated by former Vice President Joe Biden after Trump lost Pennsylvania and Nevada. Trump claimed voter fraud through the mail-in voting and threatened to use the United States Supreme Court to stop the states from counting the vote. He had unsuccessfully sued many states trying to make him the winner in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia.
Many Republican representatives and senators planned to object the United States Congress's formally recognizing Biden's electoral college victory on January 6, 2021. In early January 2021, Trump made a phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in an attempt to find "11,780 votes" trying to remove Biden's victory in the state.
U.S. Capitol riots
On January 6, 2021 while the United States Congress were certifying the election results, rioters stormed the United States Capitol in violent protests across Washington, D.C..
After this, Trump got his Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts deleted. On January 8, 2021, Trump was banned from Twitter. The events from the Capitol riots led to new efforts to impeach Trump from the presidency.
Second impeachment
His actions towards the Capitol riots, led to the U.S. House to impeach Trump for a second time, making him the only President to be impeached twice.
Court appointments
During his presidency, Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
After presidency
On August 8, 2022, FBI agents searched Trump's residence, office, and storage areas at Mar-a-Lago to find government documents and material Trump had taken with him when he left office in violation of the Presidential Records Act. The search warrant was approved by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. The items taken in the search included 11 sets of classified documents, four of them tagged as "top secret" and one as "top secret/SCI", the highest level of classification.
On December 19, 2022, the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack recommended criminal charges against Trump for obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and inciting or assisting an insurrection.
On March 30, 2023, the Manhattan district attorney's office confirmed that a New York grand jury had indicted Trump and that they had contacted his attorney "to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.'s Office for arraignment". The charges remain under seal.
On June 8, the Justice Department indicted Trump in Miami federal court for 31 counts of "willfully retaining national defense information under the Espionage Act", one count of making false statements, and, jointly with a personal aide, single counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding government documents, corruptly concealing records, concealing a document in a federal investigation and scheming to conceal their efforts. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.
On 1 August 2023, a Washington D.C. federal grand jury indicted Trump on four counts related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.
2024 presidential campaign
On November 15, 2022, Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 United States presidential election and created a fundraising account.
Personal life
Trump has five children by three marriages, and has ten grandchildren. Trump is a Presbyterian. As a child, he began going to church at the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens.
Marriages
Trump married his first wife, Czech model Ivana Zelnickova, on April 7, 1977, at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. They had three children: son Donald Trump Jr. (born December 31, 1977), daughter Ivanka (born October 30, 1981), and son Eric (born January 6, 1984). Ivana became a naturalized United States citizen in 1988. By early 1990, Trump's troubled marriage to Ivana and affair with actress Marla Maples had been reported in the tabloid press. They were divorced in 1992.
Trump married his second wife, actress Marla Maples in 1993. They had one daughter together, Tiffany (born October 13, 1993). The couple were separated in 1997 and later divorced in 1999.
In 1998, Trump began a relationship with Slovene model Melania Knauss, who became his third wife. They were engaged in April 2004 and were married on January 22, 2005, at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, in Palm Beach, Florida. In 2006, Melania became a naturalized United States citizen. On March 20, 2006, she gave birth to their son, whom they named Barron Trump.
Health
A medical report by his doctor, Harold Bornstein MD, showed that Trump's blood pressure, liver and thyroid function were in normal range. Trump says that he has never smoked cigarettes or consumed other drugs, including marijuana. He also does not drink alcohol, a decision after his brother's death caused by alcoholism. His BMI, according to his December 2016 visit on Doctor Oz, is just under 30, which is "high".
In February 2019, a new medical test found Trump to be clinically obese. He was later diagnosed with coronary artery disease.
On October 1, 2020, Trump announced on Twitter that he and his wife tested positive for COVID-19. He was briefly hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.