Donald John Trump served as the 45th President of the United States from 2017 to 2021. He was the first U.S. President to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives.
Early Life
Donald J. Trump was born in Queens, New York on June 14, 1946, to parents Fred and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump. Fred Trump was a real estate developer.
Trump attended New York Military Academy, a private boarding school, Fordham University and the University of Pennsylvania. Following graduation, he took over his father’s real estate business and renamed it the Trump Organization. The company expanded into several other industries including hotels, casinos, golf courses, beauty pageants, and branded products around the world. He had five children in three different marriages.
Early Career
Trump never held elective office before 2017, but as early as the 1980s, he spoke in public about running for president. Throughout the 1990s, many of his businesses suffered in times of recession, some went bankrupt and his net worth fluctuated dramatically. By the 2000s, he had created an international reputation as a wealthy and successful businessman. He authored books including The Art of the Deal. In 2004, he launched a television show, The Apprentice.
In June 2015, Trump announced that he would be a candidate for President in 2016. He pledged to “Make America Great Again. ”His campaign promised to create millions of new jobs, to punish American companies that exported jobs overseas, and to repeal President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. He promised to release his tax returns, as had been the custom for decades, but he never did. He used social media, especially Twitter, as his primary mechanism to communicate with the American public, other politicians and the media.
Although he lost the popular vote, Trump unexpectedly won the Electoral College and defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Presidency
Trump’s administration focused on curbing immigration, building a wall on the Mexican border, improving the economy, cutting taxes and regulation, and renegotiating trade agreements. He nominated over 225 federal judges, including three Supreme Court justices. The COVID-19 pandemic consumed his final year in office.
In December 2019, Trump was impeached on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress relating to his efforts to persuade Ukrainian President Zelensky to interfere with the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The Republicans in the U.S. Senate acquitted him.
Trump lost the 2020 election to former Vice President Joe Biden. Nevertheless, he convinced his supporters that the election had been rigged and stolen, which led to an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Days later, Trump was impeached again, but Senate Republicans again acquitted him.
Post Presidency
After leaving office, Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago, his home in Palm Beach, Florida. On November 15, 2022, he announced his candidacy for the 2024 Presidential election.
In March 2023, Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on state criminal charges related to hush money payments made to an adult film star, Stormy Daniels. It was the first time in United States history that a former president was charged with a crime. In June 2023, Trump was indicted by a grand jury in Miami on federal criminal charges related to his removal of classified documents from the White House and storage of the documents at Mar-a-Lago. It was the first time in United States history that a former president was charged with a federal crime.
