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.
The Crossfire Hurricane FBI investigation into possible links between Russia and the Trump campaign was launched in mid-2016 during the campaign season. Since he assumed the presidency, Trump has been the subject of increasing Justice Department and congressional scrutiny, with investigations covering his election campaign, transition and inauguration, actions taken during his presidency, along with his private businesses, personal taxes, and charitable foundation. The New York Times reported in May 2019 that there were 29 open investigations of Trump, including ten federal criminal investigations, eight state and local investigations, and eleven Congressional investigations. In 2020, Jeffrey Toobin authored a book entitled, True Crimes and Misdemeanors, the Investigation of Donald Trump, which is described as a condensation of evidence against Trump, as if he were on trial.
More InfoIn August 2019, a whistleblower filed a complaint with the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community about a July 25 phone call between Trump and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump had pressured Zelensky to investigate CrowdStrike and Democratic presidential primary candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter, adding that the White House had attempted to "lock down" the call records in a cover-up. The whistleblower further stated that the call was part of a wider pressure campaign by Giuliani and the Trump administration which may have included withholding financial aid from Ukraine in July 2019 and canceling Vice President Pence's May 2019 Ukraine trip. Trump later confirmed having withheld military aid from Ukraine and offered contradicting reasons for the decision.
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 InfoBeginning in mid-March, Trump held a daily press conference, joined by medical experts and other administration officials, sometimes disagreeing with them by promoting unproven treatments. Trump was the main speaker at the briefings, where he praised his own response to the pandemic, frequently criticized rival presidential candidate Joe Biden, and denounced members of the White House press corps. On March 16, he acknowledged for the first time that the pandemic was not under control and that months of disruption to daily lives and a recession might occur. On April 3, Trump announced that the federal government would use funds from the CARES Act to pay hospitals for treatment of uninsured patients infected with the coronavirus. His repeated use of the terms "Chinese virus" and "China virus" to describe COVID-19 drew criticism from the media, health experts, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Chinese government.
More InfoAfter the whistleblower complaint became known in September 2019, House speaker Nancy Pelosi initiated a formal impeachment inquiry on September 24. The Trump administration subsequently released a memorandum of the July 25 phone call, confirming that after Zelensky mentioned purchasing American anti-tank missiles, Trump asked Zelensky to investigate and to discuss these matters with Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr. According to the testimony of multiple administration officials and former officials, the events were part of a broader effort to further Trump's personal interests by giving him an advantage in the upcoming presidential election.
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