Trump rejects Covid relief bill, calling it ‘a disgrace’

President Donald Trump on Tuesday rejected a $900 billion bipartisan Covid stimulus package, calling it “a disgrace” and demanding that lawmakers more than triple relief payments to Americans. While he did not explicitly say he would not sign the bill, which passed overwhelmingly Monday in both houses of Congress, Trump made clear he would not accept the legislation. “I’m also asking Congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation, and just send me a suitable bill.”

As the Covid-19 death count rises amid a massive coronavirus resurgence that further threatens the world’s largest economy, Republican and Democratic legislators finally hammered out a bill after months of wrangling and partisan finger-pointing. Any delay in approving a deal would have dire consequences -- it is meant to spare millions of jobless workers days away from seeing their unemployment benefits expire, and provide a new round of cash payouts. “It really is a disgrace,” he said in a video message posted to Twitter.

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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2020

Meanwile,President Donald Trump pardoned 15 people, including Republicans who were strong and early supporters, a 2016 campaign official ensnared in the Russia probe and former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad. Trump also commuted the sentences of five others. While it is not unusual for presidents to grant clemency on their way out the door, Trump has made clear that he has no qualms about intervening in the cases of friends and allies whom he believes have been treated unfairly. Despite speculation, though, not on the list were members of Trump’s own family, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and the president himself.