Donald Trump bids farewell saying ‘Our movement is only just beginning’

Donald Trump said he has built “the greatest economy”, secured Middle East peace deals, got NATO members to pay more, and stood up to China

Donald Trump has said that he will “pray for the success” of the 46th President Joe Biden’s administration, but added that the political movement he created during his Presidency “is only just beginning”.

Before the current President leaves office on Wednesday, the outgoing president has said that his farewell address that the American people had been “horrified” by the violent rioting at the Capitol building in Washington DC earlier in the month.

This comes after fears about a potential insider attack during Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration have prompted the FBI to conduct a vetting procedure on all 25,000 National Guard troops who will be on duty at the monumental event.

He said: “Political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans. It can never be tolerated.”

Mr Trump added: “As I prepare to hand power over to a new administration at noon on Wednesday, I want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning. There’s never been anything like it.”

“The belief that a nation must serve its citizens will not dwindle but instead only grow stronger by the day.”

He went on: “Our agenda was not about right or left, it wasn’t about Republican or Democrat, but about the good of a nation, and that means the whole nation.”

He said his administration had “restored American strength at home – and American leadership abroad”, and it “built the greatest economy in the history of the world”.

The President expressed his criticisms of NATO, saying that other countries within the alliance had not been paying their fair share into the organisation before he had arrived in the White House.

He said: “We reclaimed our sovereignty by standing up for America at the United Nations and withdrawing from the one-sided global deals that never served our interests. And NATO countries are now paying hundreds of billions of dollars more than when I arrived just a few years ago.

“It was very unfair. We were paying the cost for the world. Now the world is helping us.”

This comes after the House of Representatives has impeached President Donald Trump, accusing him of encouraging violence after his false claims of election fraud during the US Presidential election.

Under his Presidency, Donald Trump claimed that the US had “revitalised our alliances and rallied the nations of the world to stand up to China like never before”.

Speaking about the pandemic, he attacked the “China virus”, saying before COVID-19 “billions and billions of dollars were pouring into the US, but the virus forced us to go in a different direction”.

And speaking of global peace agreements he said: “As a result of our bold diplomacy and principled realism, we achieved a series of historic peace deals in the Middle East. It is the dawn of a new Middle East and we are bringing our soldiers home.”

He also said he was “especially proud” to be the first president in decades who has “started no new wars”.