In mid-2014, an international coalition led by the United States intervened against ISIL in Syria and Iraq with an airstrike campaign, in addition to supplying advisors, weapons, training, and supplies to ISIL's enemies in the Iraqi Security Forces and Syrian Democratic Forces. This campaign reinvigorated the latter two forces and dealt a blow to the nascent Islamist proto-state, killing tens of thousands of its troops and dealing damage to its financial and military infrastructure. This was followed by a smaller-scale Russian intervention exclusively in Syria, in which ISIL lost thousands more fighters to airstrikes, cruise missile attacks, and other Russian military activities and had its financial base even further degraded. In July 2017, the group lost control of its largest city, Mosul, to the Iraqi army, followed by the loss of its de facto political capital of Raqqa to the Syrian Democratic Forces. ISIL continued to lose territory to the various states and other military forces allied against it. US military officials and simultaneous military analyses reported in December 2017 that the group retained a mere 2% of the territory they had previously held. On 10 December 2017, Iraq's Prime Minister said that Iraqi forces had driven the last remnants of the Islamic State from the country, three years after the group captured about a third of Iraq's territory. By 23 March 2019, ISIL lost one of their last significant territories in the Middle East in the Deir ez-Zor campaign, surrendering their "tent city" and pockets in Al-Baghuz Fawqani to the Syrian Democratic Forces at the end of the Battle of Baghuz Fawqani.
Before and throughout his presidency, Trump has promoted numerous conspiracy theories, including the Barack Obama "birther" theory, the Clinton body count theory, conspiracy theories related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal and QAnon. A July 2020 video asserting conspiracy theories about coronavirus by Stella Immanuel, a Texas physician, was retweeted by Trump before it was removed from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube because it violated their rules on misinformation. At a press conference on July 28 he was asked why he would trust Immanuel, considering the context of her claims about "alien DNA" and its supposed use in medicine. Trump defended Immanuel saying, "I thought she was very impressive, in the sense that, from where she came – I don't know what country she comes from – but she said that she's had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients. I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her." When pressed further about the conflict with existing official medical information about the virus, Trump ended the briefing abruptly.
More InfoOn March 22, 2019, Mueller concluded his investigation and gave his report to Attorney General William Barr. On March 24, Barr sent a four-page letter to Congress summarizing the "principal conclusions" in the report. He quoted Mueller as stating "while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." Barr further wrote that he and Rosenstein did not see sufficient evidence to prove obstruction of justice. Trump interpreted Mueller's report as a "complete exoneration", a phrase he repeated multiple times in the ensuing weeks. Mueller privately complained to Barr on March 27 that his summary did not accurately reflect what the report said, and some legal analysts called the Barr letter misleading.
More InfoOn March 22, 2019, Mueller concluded his investigation and gave his report to Attorney General William Barr. On March 24, Barr sent a four-page letter to Congress summarizing the "principal conclusions" in the report. He quoted Mueller as stating "while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." Barr further wrote that he and Rosenstein did not see sufficient evidence to prove obstruction of justice. Trump interpreted Mueller's report as a "complete exoneration", a phrase he repeated multiple times in the ensuing weeks. Mueller privately complained to Barr on March 27 that his summary did not accurately reflect what the report said, and some legal analysts called the Barr letter misleading.
More InfoBefore and throughout his presidency, Trump has promoted numerous conspiracy theories, including the Barack Obama "birther" theory, the Clinton body count theory, conspiracy theories related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal and QAnon. A July 2020 video asserting conspiracy theories about coronavirus by Stella Immanuel, a Texas physician, was retweeted by Trump before it was removed from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube because it violated their rules on misinformation. At a press conference on July 28 he was asked why he would trust Immanuel, considering the context of her claims about "alien DNA" and its supposed use in medicine. Trump defended Immanuel saying, "I thought she was very impressive, in the sense that, from where she came – I don't know what country she comes from – but she said that she's had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients. I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her." When pressed further about the conflict with existing official medical information about the virus, Trump ended the briefing abruptly.
More InfoOn May 17, 2017, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller, a former director of the FBI, to serve as special counsel for the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) investigating "any links and/or coordination between Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump, and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation", thus taking over the existing "Crossfire Hurricane" FBI investigation into the matter. The special counsel also investigated whether Trump's dismissal of James Comey as FBI director constituted obstruction of justice, and possible campaign ties to other national governments. Trump repeatedly denied any collusion between his campaign and the Russian government. Mueller also investigated the Trump campaign's possible ties to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Qatar, Israel, and China.
More InfoWe don't show ads. Help us keep it that way.