Trump is traveling to join other world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Air safety incidents involving the U.S. president or vice president are rare, but not unprecedented.
Air Force One aborted a landing due to bad weather while carrying President Barack Obama to an event in Connecticut in 2011. In 2012, the Air Force Two plane carrying then-Vice President Joe Biden was struck by birds in California, before it landed without a problem.
Reporting by Steve Holland, Jeff Mason, Ismail Shakil, Kanishka Singh and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Scott Malone and Jamie Freed

Trump is losing America, and he simply doesn’t care

Americans are kinder and less selfish than their President.

It is a truism that Donald Trump has never cared about winning the hearts and minds of people who didn’t vote for him. He doesn’t feel like he is the President of the whole of the United States. Instead, he sees himself as the leader of a movement, a cult, and the protector of those who have been loyal to him.

In recent days, we have seen this divide sharpen more than ever. Whether it is over the distraction of Greenland or internal squabbles, Trump’s leadership style remains consistent: attack those who disagree and double down on his core base.

Yet, there is a reality unfolding beneath the noise of the headlines. The America that Trump is attempting to lead is moving away from him. This is not because they are unpatriotic, but because they find that the values they hold dear — kindness, compassion, and a sense of community — are not reflected in the actions coming out of the White House.

One day there will be a reckoning, and the US is going to have to dig itself out of this mess. The American people, at a local and individual level, are still showing the best of themselves, even if their leader is not.

The disconnect between a President who is out for himself and a country with a tradition of generosity is becoming increasingly stark. Trump may have a hold on power, but he is losing the soul of America — and he simply doesn’t seem to care.

Trump expresses frustration and says his team has made ‘some mistakes’ after one year in office

The president made a rare appearance at the White House press briefing, where he spoke for more than an hour before taking any questions.

 

 

Trump was en route to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum.

The plane returned to Maryland around 45 minutes into the roughly 7.5 hour flight.

Leavitt joked aboard Air Force One that a Qatari jet sounded “much better” at the moment.

 

 

Air Force One landed at Joint Base Andrews at 11:07 pm. The president boarded a different aircraft and continued on to Switzerland shortly after 12 a.m.

 

Trump is traveling with White House staff and cabinet members, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

 

 

President Trump is heading to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as his revived tariff threats against allies over his pursuit of Greenland have roiled markets and upended trading relationships forged just months earlier.

“As I expressed to everyone, very plainly, Greenland is imperative for National and World Security. There can be no going back — On that, everyone agrees! The United States of America is the most powerful Country anywhere on the Globe, by far,” Trump posted early Tuesday.

The US president is scheduled to hold meetings with European leaders who are furious over his escalating bid to take over Greenland, the territory of a fellow NATO ally in Denmark. Trump predicted to reporters Tuesday that “things are going to work out pretty well,” even as he suggested “you’ll find out” how far he is willing to go to acquire the island.

Trump over the weekend said the US would implement 10% tariffs on eight European countries he says are getting in the way of a US purchase of Greenland. The tariffs would begin Feb. 1 and apply to “any and all goods sent to” the US. The levies on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland would be raised to 25% on June 1 if no agreement is in place.

Trump has also threatened 200% tariffs on French wine and champagne after France’s leader Emmanuel Macron rejected Trump’s call to join his peace initiative.

Earlier on Monday, a letter from Trump to the Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store was published by Bloomberg and seemed to link Trump’s rationale for wanting to purchase Greenland with the fact that he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize.

“I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” Trump says in the letter obtained by Bloomberg.

EU capitals have entered discussions to implement tariffs of up to $108 billion on American products after Trump posted his plan to levy new tariffs on Europe on Saturday. But Trump predicted that his Greenland pursuit would not force the bloc to rethink its trade agreement with the US or its pledged investments in the country.

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court’s first three opportunities to issue a verdict this year on the implications and legality of Trump’s global duties on trade partners have come and gone without a decision. The high court did not hand down a ruling on Tuesday, and it is unclear when it could rule next.

The Trump administration also made appeals to the court last year, and in recent weeks, Trump has frequently expressed concern over the ruling, saying losing the ability to tariff other countries would be a “terrible blow” to the US.

 

 

Trump-appointed prosecutor who pursued indictments against the president’s foes is leaving post

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lindsey Halligan, who, as a hastily appointed Justice Department prosecutor, pursued indictments against a pair of President Donald Trump’s adversaries, is leaving her position as her months-long tenure has now concluded, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday night.

Halligan’s departure from the role of interim United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia came as multiple judges were casting doubt on her ability to remain in the job legally following a court ruling two months ago that declared her appointment illegal. She was appointed in September to a 120-day stint, which concluded Tuesday.

“The circumstances that led to this outcome are deeply misguided,” Bondi said in a social media post on X announcing Halligan’s exit. “We are living in a time when a democratically elected President’s ability to staff key law enforcement positions faces serious obstacles. The Department of Justice will continue to seek review of decisions like this that hinder our ability to keep the American people safe.”

The move brings an end to a brief but tumultuous tenure. Trump tapped Halligan, a White House aide who had served as his personal lawyer but had no prior experience as a federal prosecutor, to lead one of the Justice Department’s most important and prestigious offices. She quickly succeeded in securing indictments at Trump’s urging against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. But a judge later concluded that her appointment was unlawful and that the two indictments must therefore be dismissed.

The Trump administration had kept Halligan in place despite that ruling, but on Tuesday, two judges made clear that they believed it was time for her tenure to end. Hours later, Halligan became the latest Trump ally to give up her title amid scrutiny from judges about the administration’s maneuvering to install the president’s loyalists in key posts. Last month, for instance, another of Trump’s former personal attorneys, Alina Habba, resigned after an appeals court said she, too, had been serving in her position unlawfully.

It was not immediately clear who would now lead the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia, which has been buffeted by resignations and leadership turnover since last September when the Trump administration effectively forced out the veteran prosecutor who had been leading the office, Erik Siebert, and replaced him with Halligan.

Halligan’s departure followed orders Tuesday from separate judges that marked a dramatic new front in an ongoing clash between the Trump administration and the federal court over the legitimacy of her appointment.

In one order, M. Hannah Lauck, the chief judge of the Eastern District of Virginia and a nominee of President Barack Obama, directed a clerk to publish a vacancy announcement on the court’s website and said she was “soliciting expressions of interest in serving in that position.”

In a separate order, U.S. District Judge David Novak said he was striking the words “United States Attorney” from the signature block of an indictment in a case that was before him as well as barring Halligan from continuing to present herself with that title. He said he would initiate disciplinary proceedings against Halligan if she violated his order and persisted in identifying herself in court filings as a U.S. attorney, and said other signatories could be subject to discipline as well.

“No matter all of her machinations, Ms. Halligan has no legal basis to represent to this Court that she holds the position. And any such representation going forward can only be described as a false statement made in direct defiance of valid court orders,” Novak wrote. “In short, this charade of Ms. Halligan masquerading as the United States Attorney for this District in direct defiance of binding court orders must come to an end.”

Novak, who was appointed to the bench by Trump during the Republican president’s first term in office, chided Justice Department leadership for what he suggested was an improperly antagonistic defense of Halligan by Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in an earlier court filing.

“Ms. Halligan’s response, in which she was joined by both the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, contains a level of vitriol more appropriate for a cable news talk show and falls far beneath the level of advocacy expected from litigants in this Court, particularly the Department of Justice,” Novak wrote.

 

“The Court will not engage in a similar tit-for-tat and will instead analyze the few points that Ms. Halligan offers to justify her continued identification of her position as United States Attorney before the Court,” he added.

Halligan was thrust into the position amid pressure by Trump to charge Comey and James, two of his longtime perceived adversaries. Trump made his desire for indictments clear in a Truth Social post in which he implored Bondi to act swiftly.

Halligan secured the indictments, but the win was short-lived. In November, U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that Halligan had been illegally appointed and dismissed both cases. The Justice Department has appealed that ruling.

In her own statement, Halligan acknowledged that her 120-day tenure had come to an end on Tuesday. She also lamented the legal limbo she said she had been left in by Currie’s opinion, noting that judges in the district over the last two months had “repeatedly treated my appointment as disqualifying” without actually removing her from the role.

“The court’s remedy did not match its rhetoric. It treated me as though I had been removed from office — declaring my appointment unlawful and striking my name from filings — while never taking the single step Judge Currie identified as the consequence of that conclusion: appointing a replacement U.S. attorney,” she said.