PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump during his Christmas holiday in Florida (all times local):
12:25 p.m.
They are the 13 days that transformed the White House.
The two-week span between July 19-31 laid bare the splintering of Trump’s relationships with two influential Cabinet members, foreshadowed the reach of the Russia probe into the interior of his orbit; saw the dramatic, last-minute defeat of one of the president’s signature campaign promises and featured a senior staff shake-up that reset the rhythms of this presidency.
From the outside, it was an unruly stretch that threatened to turn the White House into a sideshow. Inside the West Wing, the chaotic days stand as a panicked memory but also one that also paved the way for future successes.
Former press secretary Sean Spicer says calls that period “extreme.”
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12:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump is offering warm wishes for a joyful holiday and prosperous new year to those who celebrate Kwanzaa.
The weeklong celebration of African heritage in African-American culture began Tuesday. It ends on New Year’s Day.
In a written statement issued from Florida, Trump says: “Together, let us celebrate during this joyous time the richness of the past and look with hope toward a brighter future.”
Trump is spending the holidays at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
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11:10 a.m.
President Donald Trump is playing golf with one current and one former PGA player and a sitting U.S. senator.
Trump went to his private golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday after spending Christmas with family at his estate in nearby Palm Beach.
The White House says pro golfer Bryson DeChambeau and former Senior PGA player Dana Quigley joined Trump at the Trump International Golf Club.
Republican David Perdue, the junior U.S. senator from Georgia, is rounding out Trump’s foursome.
Trump tweeted on Christmas that “tomorrow it’s back to work in order to Make America Great Again,” which he says is “happening faster than anyone anticipated!”
Trump is expected to remain at his Palm Beach estate through the new year.
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7:15 a.m.
President Donald Trump is predicting that Democrats and Republicans will “eventually come together “on a new health care plan for the country.
Sending a Twitter post early Tuesday from his Florida resort, Trump said “the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate has been terminated as part of our Tax Cut Bill, which essentially Repeals (over time) Obamacare.”
Much of former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act remains intact, however, and the sign-up period for the various options was carried out as normal this year.
Majority Republicans sought repeatedly to repeal the 2010 law during this year’s congressional session, but couldn’t get it through the Senate.
Obama and his wife, Melania, and their son, Barron, spent Christmas at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
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