President Donald Trump will brag in his farewell address that he began no new wars in his four years in the White House but made no mention of his successor Joe Biden taking office on Wednesday.
In excerpts of his remarks released by the White House, Trump acknowledges a new administration coming to power but does not say Biden by name.
'This week, we inaugurate a new Administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous,' he will say.
And he vows to be a continued presence on the political stage, noting his 'movement' is 'only just beginning.'
'Now, 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,' he will say.
His speech, which he video taped Monday at the White House, will be released at 4 p.m. Trump is scheduled to leave the White House Wednesday morning. He will not meet his successor as he leaves and will not attend Biden's swearing-in ceremony.
President Donald Trump will brag in his farewell address that he began no new wars in his four years in the White House
But even as he rallies his supporters to his side, he denounced any violence. Republican leaders criticized Trump for inciting the MAGA mob that rioted on Capitol Hill January 6th, leaving five dead.
'All Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol,' Trump will say. 'Political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans. It can never be tolerated.'
In the excerpts of his farewell remarks to the nation, Trump echoes many of the themes he touched on in his campaign rallies: a strong economy, peace in the Middle East, and his own supporters.
'We restored American Strength at home—and American leadership abroad,' he will say. 'We built the greatest economy in the history of the world.'
He mentioned his administration's work negotiating the Abraham Accords, through which four Arab countries have normalized relations with Israel.
'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 will say.
Trump was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his administration's work in the Middle East although he did not win one.
And he will also brag: 'I am especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars.'
Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed the United States was close to war with North Korea when he became president in January 2017.
And Trump, who was one of the most divisive presidents in American history, will claim to a leader for both sides of the political aisle.
'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 will say.
'We did what we came here to do – and so much more,' he's to say, without offering specifics.
'I took on the tough battles, the hardest fights, the most difficult choices – because that’s what you elected me to do.'
President Trump is leaving office with one of the lowest approval ratings of an outgoing commander-in-chief.
His 34 per cent approval in a Gallup poll released Monday is the lowest approval rating of his term – which featured previous dips during the clash in Charlottesville in 2017, arrests of associates in the Russia probe, and Trump's threats to rain 'fire and fury' upon North Korea.
The president, who soaked up polling information even as he regularly blasted public polls that partnered with major media organizations, never cracked 50 per cent. He is the only president not to do so since Gallup started measuring presidential job approval in 1938 under F.D.R.
