PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) – President Donald Trump spent his Christmas playing golf in Florida, as a government shutdown approached and COVID’s relief was at stake.
Trump, at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach for the holidays, had no events on his public agenda after questioning the future of massive COVID aid and government funding. Failure to sign the bill, which arrived in Florida on Thursday night, could deny relief checks to millions of Americans on the brink and force government shutdown amid the pandemic.
The White House declined to disclose details of the president’s schedule, although he played golf on Friday with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said Trump was informed of the explosion in downtown Nashville on Friday morning the authorities said it appeared to be intentional, but the president said nothing publicly about it in the hours that followed.
Trump tweeted that he planned to make “a brief speech for service members from around the world” on a video conference on Friday to celebrate the holiday, but declared: “Uninvited fake news!” Without giving details, the White House said only that Trump would work “tirelessly” during the holidays and has “many meetings and calls”.
Trump’s vacation came when Washington was still recovering from its surprise, a last-minute requirement that a year-end bill that Congress leaders spent months negotiating would provide most Americans with $ 2,000 COVID relief checks – much more than the members of his own $ 600 party had agreed to. The idea was quickly rejected by House Republicans during a rare Christmas Eve session, leaving the proposal in limbo.
The bipartisan deal was considered a closed deal and gained broad approval in the House and Senate this week after the White House assured Republican leaders that Trump supported him. If he refuses to sign the deal, which is associated with a $ 1.4 trillion government funding bill, he will force the federal government to shut down, delay aid checks and suspend unemployment benefits and eviction protections in the most terrible part of the pandemic.
“I made a lot of calls and had meetings at Trump International in Palm Beach, Florida. Why don’t politicians want to give people $ 2,000 instead of just $ 600? ”He tweeted after leaving the golf course on Friday afternoon. “It wasn’t their fault, it was China. Give money to our people! “
Graham tweeted late on Friday that Trump was still determined to make changes to the holiday legislation before signing it.
“After spending time with President @realDonaldTrump today, I am convinced that he is more determined than ever to increase stimulus payments to $ 2,000 per person and challenge section 230 of protection against major technology responsibilities.” he said in his tweet: “Both are reasonable demands and I hope Congress is listening. The biggest winner would be the American people. “
In addition to COVID’s help, Graham was referring to another Trump priority: obtaining the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, a law that protects online platforms from liability for content posted by users.
Trump’s decision to attack the COVID bill was seen, at least in part, as political punishment for what he sees as insufficient support from Republicans in Congress for his campaign to overturn the November 3 election results with unfounded allegations of electoral fraud.
“At a meeting in Florida today, everyone was asking why Republicans are not up for war and fighting over the fact that Democrats stole the rigged presidential election?” Trump tweeted Thursday.
“I will never forget!” he added later.
Trump has for weeks refused to accept the election results and has been promoting increasingly outrageous schemes to try to overturn the results. He was instigated by allies like his lawyer, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who accompanied the president to Florida on board Air Force One.
Trump did not provide credible evidence to support his electoral claims, which were refuted by a long list of officials, including judges, former Attorney General William Barr, Republican governors and local electoral administrators.
Meanwhile, the nation continues to stagger as the coronavirus spreads, with record infections and hospitalizations and more than 327,000 dead. And millions are now vacationing alone or struggling to survive without adequate income, food or shelter thanks to the pandemic’s economic toll.
The Justice Department said Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen was also informed of the explosion in Nashville and ordered that all the department’s resources be made available to help. The FBI will take the lead in the investigation, said agency spokesman Joel Siskovic.
Three people were treated in hospitals after a recreational vehicle exploded in downtown Nashville, with a recorded warning of an impending detonation. The explosion caused widespread communications disruptions that brought down police emergency systems and disrupted flights at the city’s airport.
To mark the holiday, President and First Lady Melania Trump tweeted a pre-recorded video message in which they wished the Americans a Merry Christmas and thanked the first respondents and the military.
“As you know, this Christmas is different from previous years,” said Ms. Trump, who focused on the acts of “kindness and courage” that the pandemic had inspired.
Trump welcomed the doses of the vaccine being delivered and thanked those responsible. “It’s a real Christmas miracle,” he said.
Meanwhile, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are trying to save the year-end legislation to try to avoid a closure. Democrats will call House legislators back to Washington for a vote on Monday over Trump’s $ 2,000 proposal, although she likely died in the Republican-controlled Senate. They are also considering a vote on Monday in a palliative measure to at least avoid a federal strike and keep the government running until Democrat Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20.
In addition to the relief checks, the approved COVID bill would establish a temporary supplementary unemployment benefit of $ 300 a week, provide a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants and theaters and money for schools, and provide money for healthcare providers and to assist in the distribution of the COVID vaccine.