2016: The Year In Politics
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Ask anyone what the biggest political story of the year was and they are likely to say it was the race for the White House.
President-Elect Donald Trump dominated the political landscape. The billionaire businessman won the GOP nomination over a crowded field of establishment Republicans who struggled to gain traction.
Trump then defied the polls to defeat democrat Hillary Clinton - who made history by becoming the first woman nominee of a major party.
Clinton had a tough primary run against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who galvanized young voters with a grassroots campaign against big money. Clinton also struggled to shake off criticism of her use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State.
The F-B-I investigated her handling of classified information and found she was careless but not criminal.
Both her campaign chairman John Podesta and the Democratic National Committee were hacked - and Wikileaks made their e-mails public.
U-S intelligence agencies blamed the Russian government for the security breaches.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama struggled to get things done with a Republican Congress - which stalled his nomination of Merrick Garland to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The court's conservative beacon died in February.
The president bypassed Congress taking executive action on gun control rules. This year also saw the implementation of the nuclear deal with Iran and the signing of the Trans Pacific Partnership - a trade deal with 12 countries.
President elect Trump has promised to tear up the Iran and TPP deals - and make changes to President Obama's signature legislation - the affordable care act.
Trump spent the final weeks of the year getting his team in place for the transfer of power in January.
