Donald Trump suffered a major political blow Friday as he was forced to ask Republican leaders to pull an emblematic health care bill that failed to gather enough support in Congress. House Speaker Paul Ryan "talked to the president at three o'clock today and the president asked the speaker to pull the bill," a leadership aide in the House of Representatives told AFP.

Trump had put his reputation as a dealmaker on the line with the high-risk vote, even as Republican rebels threatened to torpedo their own party's attempt to repeal and replace Barack Obama's signature health care law. The US leader, who made repealing Obamacare a headline campaign pledge, was to deliver an Oval Office statement after the stinging defeat, which called his much-vaunted deal making skills into serious question.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017