Trump looks back at his 'historic victories' in the pandemic year

The outgoing president of the United States, Donald Trump, has issued a video, looking back on what he called "historic victories" and said, "We have to be remembered for what's been done."

Trump, who has yet to formally concede his November election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, posted the message on Twitter after returning to Washington early from his Florida resort amid a fight with Congress over a defence bill and coronavirus aid checks.

Trump praised his administration's accomplishments, which he said included its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and rebuilding the economy.

Trump said the United States has produced a COVID-19 vaccine in record time and he had correctly predicted this would come before the year ended. The president has frequently played down the severity of the pandemic and overseen a response many health experts have criticised as disorganised, cavalier and sometimes ignored the science behind virus transmission.

The United States has been one of the countries worst-hit by COVID-19 and leads the world in fatalities, with more than 340,000 deaths officially attributed to the virus.

Trump was originally scheduled to attend a New Year's Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

The White House has given no reason for why he returned to Washington early, but it coincides with Trump's fight with Congress over his veto of a major defense bill and his demand for increased COVID-19 stimulus checks, as well as a spike in tensions with Iran.

Trump ignored shouted questions from reporters about Iran and whether he would attend Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration when he arrived back at the White House.

President-elect Biden is expected to see in the New Year at his beach house in Delaware, although he is due to appear on the long-running ABC special "Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2021."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the chamber, dealt a likely death blow on Wednesday to Trump's bid to boost coronavirus aid to Americans, declining to schedule a swift vote on a bill to raise relief checks to $2,000 from the $600 included in a $892 billion relief package passed by Congress earlier this month.

Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress have largely stuck with him through four turbulent years, but he lashed out at them in recent days for not fully backing his unsupported claims of election fraud, rejecting his demand for bigger checks and for moving toward the veto override.

The House voted to overturn Trump's veto on Monday. The Senate will convene again on Friday at noon EST (1700 GMT) for a rare New Year's Day session in which lawmakers are expected to cast the first of two procedural votes aimed at overriding the veto. If that succeeds, the Senate is expected to hold a second procedural vote on Saturday followed by a final vote on passage.