Donald Trump's first year in office: The key things the President has done in the White House so far

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Robin de Peyer20 January 2018

When Donald Trump went into the Oval Office, the rulebook went out.

“Mr Trump came to Washington basically promising to shake things up, and he’s certainly done that,” says Professor Peter Trubowitz, director of the United States Centre at the London School of Economics.

“Washington hasn’t been jolted this way for a very long time, so I suppose you could say Trump managed to achieve what he set out to do on that score.”

The President’s actions, words and tweets have sent shockwaves around the world during his first 12 months in office. Approval for the US’s role in the world fell to a historic low in a Gallup poll released this week, with the country on a par with China in the eyes of citizens across the globe.

Ripping up the rule book: Donald Trump in the Oval Office
EPA

Domestically, he has historically low approval ratings but support among his core voters has held relatively firm.

One year on from his inauguration - itself the cause of a row over photos of sparse crowds for the event - the Evening Standard looks at what the major milestones have been during a tumultuous first year in office.

The Trump travel ban - January 27

Protesters in London demonstrate against Donald Trump's travel ban
Getty

Within days of taking office, Mr Trump sparked global condemnation by signing an executive order halting all refugee admissions and temporarily banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US.

The move - which targeted people from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen - triggered protests and months of legal wrangling as courts sought to stop it from taking effect.

World leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister criticised the ban, while far-right leaders in Europe and former Ukip leader Nigel Farage welcomed it.

Michael Flynn’s resignation - February 14

Resignation: White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn
REUTERS

Michael Flynn, who was the President’s national security adviser, resigned his post over alleged contacts with the Russian ambassador to the US before Mr Trump took office.

Mr Flynn later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the contacts - and struck a deal to cooperate with investigators probing alleged interference by Russia into the US election.

FBI confirms launch of Russia investigation - March 20

FBI director James Comey confirmed for the first time that an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election was underway.

The Trump administration has consistently insisted there is no evidence of collusion between the President’s election campaign and Russia. But Mr Comey insisted: “We will follow the facts wherever they lead.

Supreme Court appointment - April 7

Donald Trump alongside his Supreme Court appointee Neil Gorsuch
Carolyn Kaster/AP

The fight for places on the bench of the US Supreme Court is often a bitter one.

For Mr Trump to manage to appoint his choice of Neil Gorsuch - a conservative who will tip the balance of the nine-strong bench rightwards - was a victory which is likely to have implications lasting long beyond the current presidency.

The court has the final say on topics ranging from gun control to abortion and election campaign spending rules.

Trump fires James Comey as FBI director - May 10

Ousted FBI director James Comey is sworn in during a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
AFP

Within two months of Mr Comey confirming a probe into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, the President fired him from his post as director of the FBI.

Trump said the decision was a result of Mr Comey’s handling of an inquiry into emails allegedly stored on a private server by Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton during her time as Secretary of State in the Obama administration.

Trump’s one-time chief strategist Steve Bannon later described the sacking as “the biggest mistake in modern political history”.

Special counsel appointed to oversee Russia investigation - May 18

Former FBI director Robert Mueller was appointed by the Justice Department as special counsel to oversee a federal investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. The President continued to insist there was no collusion.

Donald Trump's presidency in numbers

The position of special counsel brings with it wide discretionary powers to decide on what charges should be brought against key players, but final responsibility for the handling of the Russia investigation still lies with the the deputy attorney general.

Withdrawal from the Paris climate accord - June 1

Citing concerns over its impact on the US economy, Mr Trump announced in June that the US would withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation.

“I was elected to represent the residents of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” Mr Trump said at the time.

The agreement, between 188 countries including the US, was aimed at reducing the rate at which temperatures rise.

The President’s decision attracted widespread criticism from world leaders and members of the business community. German tabloid Berliner Kurier expressed the views of many with its blunt headline: "Earth to Trump: F*** You".

Obamacare repeal bill blocked by Senate - July 28

Maverick: Republican John McCain voted against the bill
Getty Images

Mr Trump was dealt a crushing blow in one of his key legislative measures as his efforts to repeal Obamacare - Barack Obama’s flagship healthcare bill - were defeated.

In a moment of high drama in the US upper house, Senator John McCain joined two of his Republican colleagues to block the replacement bill’s passage.

His inability to make good on his campaign promise to repeal Obamacare was Mr Trump’s most significant legislative defeat in his first year in office.

‘Fire and fury’ - August 8

Tensions heightened between North Korea and the US
STR/AFP/Getty Images

Amid escalating tensions with North Korea and its despotic leader Kim Jong-un, Mr Trump warned the country it would be met with “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if it endangered the US.

The chilling language came amid an increasingly bitter war of words between the two countries and repeated weapons tests by North Korea. Weeks later, Kim Jong-un labelled Mr Trump a “mentally deranged US dotard”.

Charlottesville protests - August 13

Heather Heyer Charlottesville Vigil - In pictures

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A white supremacist rally in the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, ended in tragedy when a 32-year-old anti-fascist protester, Heather Heyer, was killed by a car driven by a man with alleged Nazi sympathies.

In the days that followed Ms Heyer’s death, Mr Trump faced criticism after he stopped short of explicitly condemning the far right.

“Not all those people were neo-Nazis, not all those people were white supremacists,” he said. “You had people that were very fine people on both sides.”

The leader of the Democrats in the US Congress, Nancy Pelosi, said “the president's talk of violence 'on many sides' ignores the shameful reality of white supremacism in our country today”.

Steve Bannon is fired - August 19

Dismissed: Steve Bannon
Bloomberg via Getty Images

In August, Steve Bannon became the latest top aide of the President to be dismissed as he was sacked from his post as White House chief strategist.

A former chairman of right-wing website Breitbart, Mr Bannon was seen as a key influencer of Mr Trump’s nationalist rhetoric during the election campaign and his time in the Oval Office.

Mr Bannon’s dismissal was one of a number of high-profile departures from the Trump administration during an often chaotic first year. “It raises questions about competence,” said the LSE’s Professor Trubowitz.

“The problem with the hiring and the firing and all the drama is, it raises questions about who’s in charge and what’s going on.”

Jerusalem decision - December 6

Fallout: Protesters set fire to a poster of US President Donald Trump after the decision
EPA

In a move which overturned decades of US foreign policy, Mr Trump announced that the country now recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The President said the US is beginning preparations to move its embassy from Tel Aviv, where other countries have their embassy.

Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem has never been recognised internationally, and Palestinians consider East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Israel welcomed the “historic” announcement, while Palestinian leaders described it as “deplorable”. The move sparked warnings of a setback in the Middle East peace process.

US tax reform - December 22

Mr Trump scored his first big legislative victory when he signed the biggest overhaul of the US tax system in a generation into law.

Donald Trump's election pledges - success or failure?

The package included a slash in corporation tax from 35 per cent to 21 per cent, as well as a cut to the top rate of personal tax.

But experts suggested Mr Trump’s influence over the bill’s passage was limited.

All of Donald Trump's 'losers' during his presidency

Dr Jacob Parakilas, the Deputy Head of the US and Americas Programme at think tank Chatham House, said: "That was a bill that any Republican president would have signed. Trump’s interventions, by all accounts, were not especially effective."

Dow Jones hits record high - January 4 2018

Boosted by US economy figures and a global markets boom, the Dow Jones stock market index hit a record high, passing the 25,000 mark for the first time.

Markets in the US had been boosted by the Republicans’ tax reforms and job growth figures. It means the Dow has surged by more than 31 per cent since Mr Trump’s inauguration.

... But what about the wall?

Perhaps the most famous of all Mr Trump's campaign pledges was that of building a wall along the US border with Mexico.

So far, all there is to show of the promised wall is a series of prototype barriers.

Last week, his chief of staff said Mr Trump's views on the border had "very definitely changed".

And in a tweet, the President said parts of the wall would be "see through and it was never intended to be built in areas where there is natural protection such as mountains, wastelands or tough rivers or water..."