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US President Donald Trump returned to Washington on Thursday, abruptly interrupting a Christmas retreat to his private South Florida resort as the president’s allies on Capitol Hill prepare to mount a last-minute challenge to electoral victory. of the president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
Trump had reportedly been in a bad mood since arriving in Mar-a-Lago, where he moved days before Christmas and was originally expected to stay for the New Year celebrations.
It was not clear what prompted the president’s change in plans. He declined to answer questions while boarding his flight back to the White House Thursday morning.
But hours before the White House announced that Trump would spend New Year’s Eve in Washington, Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri announced that he would oppose the electoral college result when Congress meets Jan. 6 to affirm Biden as the November winner. presidential election.
Trump had been goading his most loyal supporters in Congress to make a final intervention on the House floor to try to overturn the election results.
Destined to fail
The effort to keep Trump in power is doomed but will test Republican loyalty to the president, who maintains vice-president-like control over his party, even after Americans voted to remove him from office. your position after a single term. .
Many Senate Republicans hoped to avoid such a showdown over the certification process, typically a formality. The move by Hawley, a conservative freshman who is believed to have presidential ambitions, will force his colleagues to publicly affirm or oppose the election results.
Trump lost several battle states by clear margins. His barrage of lawsuits alleging widespread electoral fraud in six states he lost have been almost uniformly dismissed, even by the supreme court.
Officials at the local and national level declared it the safest election in American history, and the electoral college voted earlier this month to certify Biden’s victory 306-232.
And yet Trump has refused to budge and spent his final Christmas season as president furious at his loss.
On Twitter, the president continued to amplify conspiracy theories about voter fraud and lashed out at Republican officials who have refused his demands to reverse his loss in their states.
On Wednesday, he asked Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to resign despite various accounts affirming Biden’s narrow and historic victory in the state.
Trump’s premature departure from Mar-a-Lago came amid growing concern in Washington that Iran may be planning more military retaliation ahead of the first anniversary of the US assassination of top Iranian military commander Qassem Suleimani on January 3. .
His return also comes a day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell effectively denied Trump’s demand that Congress increase the size of coronavirus relief checks to Americans from $ 600 to $ 2,000. .
Trump delayed signing the massive stimulus package, which threatens a government shutdown, for days because of his insistence that the legislation includes checks for $ 2,000. Trump eventually relented, but continued to pressure Republican leaders, calling their inaction “pathetic” and a political “death wish.”
On Wednesday, McConnell said there was “no realistic path” for the Senate to pass a House bill that would increase the amount of money disbursed to American families fighting the public health and economic cost of the virus. .
The Senate is also preparing to override Trump’s veto on a military defense bill that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Low profile
As the pandemic progresses, officials in Colorado and California announced the discovery of a new and possibly more contagious variant of the coronavirus, while the launch of the vaccine was delayed in its targets amid complaints of chaos and lack of funds to states, Trump kept a relatively low public profile. during the holidays, staying mostly out of sight.
He made no public comment on the Nashville Christmas Day bombing, or the death of a newly elected Republican congressman, Luke Letlow, from complications related to Covid-19.
Instead, Trump has remained obsessed with undermining the results of the November elections since arriving in Mar-a-Lago on December 23, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump.
Already bitter, his mood was further clouded when he saw the renovations to his private rooms at the club, which had been overseen by his wife in an effort to prepare his family for life after the White House, according to CNN.
Trump’s departure earlier than expected means the president will not attend the resort’s annual New Years Eve party, a lavish gala event traditionally attended by him and his family.
According to CNN, up to 500 reservations for the event had already been confirmed.
The network reported that the party is expected to continue without the guest of honor, despite the sharp increase in coronavirus cases and pleas from public health officials to stay home and limit the size of holiday gatherings. – Guardian
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