The resistance to the development of an aggressive attempt to push back the accusation reflects the fact that a president has been isolated and distracted by political grievances.
In his last days of his term, Trump is still spending time around the election he lost to Joe Biden in November, and surrounds himself with a handful of loyalists – including Rudy Giuliani – who has been with him since the beginning, according to interviews with eight current and former Trump assistants.
‘Since the election, the daily things in terms of signing [executive orders] and the focus on policy has definitely decreased because he focused on the election and overturned the results, ”the White House official said. “Of course we do not follow any policies or anything like that.”
And since Twitter banned his account, Trump has made more calls than usual – not, as one former Trump aide said, “to more people,” but rather “the same people over and over.”
“He talks to people who are willing to enjoy him,” said a former senior administration official.
Even more than usual, Trump was not busy with the presidency, leaving much of the official affairs to others, including Vice President Mike Pence, who chaired a meeting of the White House Coronavirus Task Force on Monday as the toll rises of the pandemic with more than 3,000 deaths per day in the United States.
“Things that require a presidential signature have declined for sure, and he was just extremely self-addicted,” said a former senior administration official. The official said many talks with Trump, even those on policy issues, took place. in the president complains about an election he still will not publicly admit he lost.
“There was a sense of traffic congestion and more and more initiatives were piling up, and it’s frustrating for everyone,” the former official said.
The relationship between Trump and Pence has also been strained since last Wednesday, when the vice president refused to object to Biden’s victory while holding a joint session of Congress to confirm the election results. The president has not called Pence since – a struggle that has angered administrative officials over Trump. But the two met Monday night in the Oval Office.
“The two had a good conversation and discussed and reflected on the last four years of the government’s work and achievements the week ahead,” a senior administrative official said. “They also agreed that those who stormed the Capitol did not represent the America First movement.”
Trump’s conversation with Pence was not the only sign that he was trying to rectify amid the looming threat of accusation and tie the loose ends of his presidency elsewhere. The White House also said Monday that Trump “declared that there was an emergency in Columbia District” and ordered federal aid to supplement efforts around the upcoming inauguration day. Trump also awarded President Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) the presidential medal of freedom and will visit Alamo, Texas, to see the U.S.-Mexico border wall on Tuesday, which could be his last trip while in office.
But elsewhere, government actions have declined dramatically, including the ceremonial elements. Plans to award Bill Belichick, the head coach of the New England Patriots, the presidential medal of freedom was scrapped after Belichick said he would not attend. And the president’s daily public schedule gave no indication of actual events.
Since December 23, the scheme has contained 15 variations of the language: “President Trump will work from early morning until late at night. He will call many and hold many meetings. A former White House official said the language was inserted according to Trump’s instructions to give the appearance that he was busy.
‘It was [he] who ordered it to happen, “the official said,” and he wanted to fight that narrative [that he wasn’t working]. ”
The White House did not respond to specific questions about accusations or accusations that Trump was not actively ruling. Instead, spokesman Judd Deere released a statement: “President Trump has rolled back government regulations over the past four years, building the strongest and most inclusive economy in history, bringing the agency’s much-needed responsibility, bringing our troops home, a safe evolving, effective vaccine in record time, and changing the way local and international transactions are done so that the results help real Americans. This important work continues along with rebuilding our economy and keeping the promises he made that led to a safer, stronger, safer America. ‘
To overshadow the last days of Trump is the threat of accusation. According to an assistant congressman involved in the process, at least 218 cosponsors were gathered in the House. After a vote in the House, the article is expected to go to the Senate, where the leader of the majority, Mitch McConnell, has indicated that a trial is unlikely to begin until the chamber returns on January 19th.
When he was first charged in 2019 with charges that used the powers of his office to put pressure on the President of Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, Trump led an aggressive defense with a team of lawyers, a war chamber, Republican lawmakers assisting his defense, and hundreds of media interviews of assistants to suppress public opinion.
These days, Trump has surrounded himself with some of the original aid workers he trusted even before entering the White House – senior policy adviser Stephen Miller; Director of the White House Presidential Staff Office, John McEntee; Director of Social Media, Dan Scavino; and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The number of staff members in the White House has been declining due to the coronavirus, the holidays and the impending end of government. Hope Hicks, one of Trump’s closest advisers, did not work out of the White House for two weeks. She plans to leave her post this week.
Instead, Trump relies heavily on the advice of White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, the former associates of Jason Jason and Steve Cortes, as well as a small team of lawyers, led by Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, who continues to tell Trump he won the election, even though he actually lost, according to two people.
Republicans have long tried to persuade Trump to oust Giuliani – or “My Rudy,” as the president sometimes calls him – but without success.
“The majority of the staff are just increasingly frustrated and want to reach the finish line and be done with it all,” a former White House official said.
Meridith McGraw, Alex Isenstadt, Gabby Orr and Lara Seligman contributed to this report.