Trump news: Romney attacks former president as children get secret service protection

Tiger King fans are reacting to the news that Donald Trump will not be pardoning Joe Exotic.

He is currently serving a 22-year sentence in Fort Worth, Texas, after being convicted in 2019 of trying to hire a hitman to kill his zoo keeper rival Carole Baskin, as well as numerous animal abuse charges.  

Here is the story.

Away from Washington, a 26-year-old was detained in Berlin after throwing snowballs and other projectiles at the American consulate while yelling slogans against Donald Trump, police said.

The man, an Afghan citizen who lived in Berlin whose name wasn't given in line with German privacy laws, first appeared outside the consulate in the southwestern district of Dahlem yelling slogans and throwing snowballs at about 3 p.m.

When security officials told him to leave the area, he started throwing snowballs at them too, police said.

Donald Trump’s presidency comes to an explosive end on Wednesday after four years of impeachments, threats of war, criminal investigations and a global pandemic.

Here, we take a look back at some of the Trump administration’s most dramatic moments.

Donald Trump used his final hours as president to issue a slew of 143 pardons and commutations of sentence to friends and allies.

A meeting with his inner circle at the White House on Sunday saw Mr Trump finalise the clemency list, a source told CNN.

Despite much speculation, he ultimately decided against issuing pre-emptive pardons to himself or members of his family.

Here is the full list.

The European Union hailed Joe Biden's inauguration later on Wednesday as US president as a "new dawn" for Europe and the United States.

Expressing relief at the end of four years of Trump's "America First" policy, the EU's chief executive and chairman told the European Parliament that shaping new global digital regulation together was paramount.

"This new dawn in America is the moment we've been waiting for," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. But she also cautioned: "This sense of relief ... should not lead us to making any illusions. Trump may be consigned to history in a few hours, but his followers remain."

In his first hours as president, Joe Biden will aim to strike at the heart of Donald Trump's policy legacy, signing a series of executive actions that reverse his predecessor's orders on immigration, climate change and handling of the pandemic.

It is expected that Mr Biden on Wednesday will end construction on Mr Trump's border wall, end the ban on travel from some Muslim-majority countries, rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organisation, and revoke the approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. 

The new president will sign the orders almost immediately after taking the oath of office at the Capitol, pivoting quickly from his pared-down inauguration ceremony to enacting his agenda.

China's Foreign Ministry has described the outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a "doomsday clown".

The allegations of abuses against Muslim minority groups in China's Xinjiang region are "outright sensational pseudo-propositions and a malicious farce concocted by individual anti-China and anti-Communist forces represented by Pompeo," spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters at a daily briefing.

"In our view, Pompeo's so-called designation is a piece of wastepaper. This American politician, who is notorious for lying and deceiving, is turning himself into a doomsday clown and joke of the century with his last madness and lies of the century," she said

CNN’s Jim Acosta has tweeted two photos of the White House lawn – before Donald Trump took office and on his last day in charge.

Donald Trump's political career is “over” and his policy on Iran has “completely failed”, Hassan Rouhani said.

The Iranian president urged US President-elect Joe Biden to return to the 2015 nuclear deal and lift crippling sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

"The ball is in the US court now. If Washington returns to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal, we will also fully respect our commitments under the pact," Mr Rouhani said in a televised cabinet meeting.

"US President Donald Trump's political career is over today and his 'maximum pressure' policy on Iran has completely failed," he added.

In the buttoned-up, locked down capital, people are starting to grin, writes Andrew Buncombe. 

On Tuesday, as the sun came out to shine on locals, visitors and the thousands of soldiers on watch along Constitution Ave, there were plenty of people glad to share their pleasure that the wheel of politics was turning.

Here is the report.