NOV 2016 -JAN 2017
Nov 8th 2016
As polls close around the US, it becomes clear that Donald Trump is heading for victory. Shortly before 3am in the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan, he announces that Hillary Clinton has phoned him and conceded the election. "We owe her a major debt of gratitude for her debt to our country," he says, as he addresses his supporters surrounded by his extended family.
Mid-late Nov
Trump and his campaign advisers withdraw to Trump Tower, in New York, as president-elect Trump begins the process of appointing his senior team. The world’s media camp outside the gold and black skyscraper, Trump’s home just south of Central Park, in an attempt to glimpse who might get the nod for the administration.
Late Nov
Trump begins to name key members of his White House team. Former Bank of Ireland investor Wilbur Ross is named commerce secretary while Goldman Sachs alumni Steve Mnuchin is named treasury secretary, two of many ex-bankers and millionaires who will be given senior roles in the administration. Other key appointments include Alabama senator Jeff Sessions and Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner.
Dec 6th
Donald Trump is named Time's 2016 "person of the year".
Mid-Dec
Trump dismisses as "ridiculous" claims by the US intelligence agencies that Russia intervened in the election to help him win the White House, a sign of the tensions that are to come between the US president and the intelligence agencies he will lead.
Jan 6th
The director of national intelligence releases a declassified report that concludes Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Trump responds to the findings in subsequent days on Twitter, maintaining that Russian interference did not affect the election result, and claiming he has “nothing to do with Russia”.
Jan 20th
Trump is inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. His presidential rival Hillary Clinton is among those in attendance, along with her husband, Bill. The size of the crowd becomes a source of controversy after press secretary Sean Spicer declares in one of his first White House press briefings that Trump drew "the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period". Pictures show this assertion to be false.
Jan 27th
President Trump signs an executive order halting immigration from seven mostly-Muslim countries. Chaos ensues at airports and protests erupt across the country. The ban is subsequently challenged by several courts.
FEB-MAY 2017
Feb 5th
Trump attracts widespread criticism for appearing to equate the actions of Russia to those of the US in an interview on Fox News. When Fox News host Bill O’ Reilly describes Putin as a “killer”, Trump replies: “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country’s so innocent?”
Feb 13th
Trump's appointee as national security adviser, Mike Flynn, resigns following a deluge of media reports alleging that he had undisclosed contacts with Russian officials during the transition period.
Feb 17th
Trump holds a bizarre impromptu 77-minute press conference where he lambasts the media as “out of control” and insists the White House is running “like clockwork”.
Feb 28th
Trump addresses both Houses of Congress in his state-of-the-union address which strikes a surprisingly presidential tone but reiterates his commitment to his "America-first" policy.
Mar 6th
Republicans in the House of Representatives unveil their long-awaited replacement proposal for Obamacare, but major battles loom over the detail of the plan.
Mar 17th
Taoiseach Enda Kenny meets President Trump in the Oval Office for the traditional shamrock ceremony.
Mar 21st
Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, begins the first day of confirmation hearings at the US senate. He is subsequently confirmed as the ninth member of the court on April 7th.
Apr 6th
In a surprise move, Trump launches military strikes on an airbase in Syria in response to the use of chemical weapons by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Apr 16th
Thousands march in DC and across the country to demand the release of Donald Trump’s tax returns. The protest is timed to coincide with the mid-April deadline by which Americans file their returns.
Apr 26th
There are reports that Trump is preparing to pull out of Nafta, the trade agreement between Canada and Mexico. He ultimately stops short of withdrawing, but begins its renegotiation much to the frustration of Canada and Mexico.
MAY-JUL 2017
May 9th
Trump sensationally fires FBI chief James Comey. The White House publishes a letter outlining the reasoning behind the decision, citing attorney general Jeff Session and his deputy Rod Rosenstein. Comey learns about his dismissal from a TV report during a visit to LA. While the Trump administration insists the move is in response to Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email scandal, critics believe it is part of a move by the president to obstruct justice by curtailing the ongoing investigation into Russian election interference.
May 17th
The deputy attorney general appoints Robert Mueller as special counsel to lead an investigation into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia as part of a wider probe into Russian meddling in the election.
Jun 1st
Trump announces America's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, joining Syria and Nicaragua as the only countries not to sign the 2015 accord, though Nicaragua announces it is signing up in October.
Jun 7th
James Comey testifies before the senate Intelligence Committee. He contends that he was fired by Trump because of the Russia investigation and that other arguments by the White House were “lies, plain and simple”.
Jun 19th
US student Otto Warmbier dies a week after his release by North Korea.
Jun 20th
In a boost for Trump, Republican candidate Karen Handel wins a special election in Atlanta, Georgia, despite the Democratic outsider coming close in the first round. The election is closely watched as a barometer for support for Trump.
Jul 5th
Trump leaves DC for trip to Europe and G20 summit in Hamburg, where he meets Vladimir Putin.
Jul 11th
Details emerge of a June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower attended by Donald Trump jnr. Trump’s eldest son admits he attended in the hope of gaining incriminating information about Hillary Clinton.
Jul 21st
Sean Spicer resigns as press secretary, following the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as communications secretary. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is named as new press secretary.
Jul 24th
Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of the ongoing Russian investigation.
Jul 25th
Senator John McCain makes an emotional appearance at the senate, 10 days after undergoing brain surgery, to cast his vote on healthcare. In a passionate speech to a packed chamber he urged his colleagues to embrace bipartisanship. “We’re getting nothing done my friends,” he says. Two days later, Mc Cain refuses to vote with his party in a dramatic late-night vote. The Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare lies in tatters.
Jul 26th
Trump announces on Twitter a ban on transgender people serving in the military.
Jul 28th
Reince Preibus is fired as White House chief of staff and replaced by former general John Kelly.
Jul 31st
Scaramucci resigns as communications chief following an expletive-ridden rant about former chief of staff Reince Priebus to a New Yorker journalist.
AUG-NOV 2017
Aug 8th
Trump says that any threat from North Korea will be “met with fire and fury like the world has never seen” dramatically increasing tension with the nuclear state.
Aug 9th
Pyongyang threatens to strike the US territory of Guam in the Pacific, warning that any US attempt to attack the North would provoke "all-out war".
Aug 15th
Trump suggests that both sides are to blame for a neo-Nazi demonstration in Charlottesville, convened to oppose the removal of a confederate statue and which left one woman dead. His remarks are criticised across the political divide.
Aug 18th
Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, resigns, the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the West Wing. He immediately returns to Breitbart News, the right-wing website he edited before the election.
Aug 29th
North Korea launches a missile over Japan, prompting sirens and government warnings across the country, and representing a significant escalation in tensions in the region.
Aug 30th
Hurricane Harvey makes landfall for a second time in southern Texas, devastating Houston, America's fourth-largest city. Trump visits Texas and parts of Louisiana which are also hit by the storm.
Sept 6th
Trump announces the end of the Daca, the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals scheme that gave protection to undocumented minors who had been brought to the US as children. While he announces plans to terminate the Obama-era rule within six months, he charges Congress with coming up with an alternative in the meantime.
Sept 15th
North Korea launches another ballistic missile over Japan. It files for 3,700km before landing in the sea east of Japan, the furthest ever travelled by a North Korean missile.
Sept 19th
Trump singles out Iran and North Korea in his inaugural speech to the UN general assembly in New York.
Oct 13th
Trump takes the first step towards withdrawing from the Iran deal by not certifying the agreement. However, in a landmark speech, he stops short of withdrawing immediately, instead giving Congress responsibility for deciding whether to reimpose sanctions.
Oct 24th
Tensions between Trump and his party are laid bare as Senator Bob Corker accuses the president of "debasing" the nation, and Arizona senator Jeff Flake delivers a blistering attack on the president in a senate speech as he announces he will not seek re-election.
Oct 30th
Two former Trump aides, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, are indicted on 12 charges by special counsel Robert Mueller, while it emerged that former adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to misleading the FBI earlier in October
Nov 3rd
Trump departs for a 12-day trip to Asia.
