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

Comedian and filmmaker Judd Apatow has posted a series of tweets condemning US president Donald Trump as his administration comes to an end.

Joe Biden is set to be inaugurated today (20 January) as the country’s 46th president, after four years in which Trump was dogged by controversy.

Trump came under particular criticism for his handling of the ongoing pandemic, which has claimed the lives of over 400,000 US citizens.

“No man has ever expressed less grief over the deaths of 400,000 people,” wrote Apatow. “They were just an obstacle to his thirst for power.”

Louis Chilton reports.

In his final days as president, Donald Trump issued a directive to extend Secret Service security for 13 family members that were otherwise not eligible for government protection, reports say.

Quoting three people briefed on the plan, The Washington Post reports that the extended family would receive protection for six months at no cost.

Melania Trump and son Barron are the only immediate family eligible for Secret Service protection under federal law.

Under the Trump directive, the Secret Service security detail will also continue for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, their three children, Donald Trump Jr and his four children, his son Eric Trump and his wife Lara and his daughter Tiffany Trump, the Post reports.

The president revealed the letter written by his predecessor was “generous”, but gave no further detail when speaking to reporters on his first day in the Oval Office.  

“The president wrote a very generous letter, because it was private I will not talk about it until I talk to him, but it was generous,” Biden said.

Trump’s former senior adviser used his first post-White House tweet to continue his crusade against immigration into the United States.

“It’s unclear how all Americans are served by opening travel from terror hot spots, proposing a giant amnesty, or halting the installation of security barriers along the Southwest border,” Miller said.

What could have served all Americans, according to Miller’s second term agenda, would have been to limit asylum grants, outlaw sanctuary cities, expand travel bans, and reduce work visas are among the least politically damaging polices the administration will discuss before the election.

Not to mention punishing "recalcitrant countries" that refuse to adhere to US immigration policy by cutting off green card processing, shutting down ports of entry, limiting birthright citizenship, making the US citizenship test more difficult, ending Temporary Protected Status, and slashing refugee admissions to zero.

Revisit what the Trump administration was planning if they had of won in November.

Despite his celebrity, the performer at Donald Trump's inauguration was a relatively little known singer named Jackie Evancho.

Ms Evancho gained some notoriety for her appearance on "America's Got Talent" when she was 10 years old.

"I definitely do have some things that I really wish that I could go back and change or fix, especially with my influence with the LGBTQ community," she told USA Today. "Because ever since I sang at the inauguration, they feel like I'm not with them, but I absolutely am and I'm frustrated with the fact that it changed their opinions of me. And I just want them to know that I do advocate for them wholeheartedly and I support them completely."

Graig Graziosi reports.

Followers of QAnon have been left upset and angry in the wake of the apparent collapse of the conspiracy theory.

Followers had hoped for mass arrests of their enemies and the final proof that their faith in the unknown person named Q and Donald Trump had not been misplaced. But the largely uneventful inauguration seemed to be the final blow for the theory – leaving many upset and angry, even as others struggled to find new ways to keep the theory going.

The baseless QAnon theory suggests, without any evidence, that argued that a group of powerful, Satan-worshipping people running a cannibalistic child sexual abuse ring. It argues that Donald Trump is planning to take down the group – and that those plans could not be revealed publicly, but have been disseminated by an anonymous individual named Q.

Andrew Griffin reports.

From Wednesday morning the ultra-conservative cable networks, NewsMaxTV and One America News, appeared to be creating a “safe space” for those who remain convinced the election was stolen from Donald Trump.

The channel’s anchors and guests repeatedly told viewers that Trump lost unfairly and that the presidential transfer of power was completed with grace. At one point, the hosts of NewsMaxTV gave the strong impression that Elton John had performed an impromptu concert in Mr Trump’s honour before he flew to Florida.

Alice Hutton reports.

The stage was set.

A Dodge truck limousine was parked outside of his lawyer’s office in Fort Worth, Texas on Inauguration Day, as his community of supporters – better known as “Team Tiger” – awaited word of a last-minute pardon from President Donald Trump.

But that pardon never came.

“I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump,” he wrote in a caption of a photo posted to Instagram that showed him next to a tiger. “I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post.”

Chris Riotta reports.

The president revealed the letter written by his predecessor was “generous”, but gave no further detail when speaking to reporters on his first day in the Oval Office.  

“The president wrote a very generous letter, because it was private I will not talk about it until I talk to him, but it was generous,” Biden said.

With speculation Donald Trump will create a third, “Patriot” party to challenge Republicans, one of his closest allies is warning GOP can’t retake the Senate without the ex-president inside the tent.

“If this party is going to survive, we’ve got to realise Donald Trump had a consequential presidency for conservatives, that he’s going to be the strongest voice in the party, I realise that, and I appreciate that, and the test for president Trump is will he help us in 2022 take back the House and the Senate,” Graham said on Fox News.

“Because without his help, we can not take back the House and the Senate. With his help I think we can.”

Asked about the Patriot Party and Trump being erased from the GOP, Graham said Republicans trying to remove Trump will find themselves out of the party.

“This idea of moving forward without Donald Trump in the Republican party is a disaster for the Republican party. The one-way Democrats can survive is for the Republican party to crack up. The best way for the Republican party to crack up is try to move forward without Donald Trump,” Graham said.