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Donald Trump has suggested that he cannot sign the $ 892 billion (£ 665 billion) coronavirus relief package that was approved by Congress.
The president of the United States said in a video shared from his Twitter account that the bill gave too much money to foreign countries and not enough to American citizens.
The invoice allows most Americans to receive a payment of $ 600 (£ 450).
Trump said he is asking Congress to amend the bill and “raise the ridiculously low $ 600 to $ 2,000 (£ 1870)”.
The president also said the package was drawn up after Democrats “cruelly blocked” coronavirus relief legislation over the summer “in an effort to advance their far-left agenda.”
He added that the bill allocates money for “stimulus checks for family members of illegal aliens, allowing them to get up to $ 1,800 each.”
Trump also suggested that he is not yet ready to admit defeat in the November election when he said: “I am asking Congress to get rid of the unnecessary and wasteful elements of this legislation and send me a proper bill, or otherwise the next administration will. ” I have a COVID relief package to deliver and maybe that administration is me. “
The package was part of a hard-fought compromise bill that includes $ 1.4 trillion (£ 1.05 trillion) to fund government departments through September.
It also contains money for an increase in food stamp benefits and around $ 4 billion (£ 3 billion) to help other nations provide a COVID-19 vaccine for their people.
The Senate approved the package by 92 votes to 6 after the House passed it by 359 votes to 53.
Those vote totals would be enough to override a veto should Trump decide to take that step.
The outgoing US president made the remarks Tuesday after pardoning 15 people, including his 2016 campaign adviser George Papadopoulos.
The former adviser was jailed after admitting to lying to the FBI during its investigation into the Trump team’s possible collusion with Moscow.
George Papadopoulos was an advisor to Donald Trump’s election campaign
Trump also pardoned Alex van der Zwaan, a Dutch lawyer who was sentenced to 30 days in prison for lying to investigators during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Republican Representatives Duncan Hunter of California and Chris Collins of New York were also pardoned.
Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse Trump for president, was sentenced to two years and two months in prison after admitting that he helped his son and others avoid $ 800,000 in stock losses when he learned that a trial of drugs by a small pharmaceutical company had failed.
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Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing campaign funds and spending the money on everything from outings with friends to his daughter’s birthday party.
Four former government contractors convicted of a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that left more than a dozen Iraqi civilians dead were also pardoned.
Trump also commuted the sentences of five other people.
