“In a dark place”: before condemning violence, Trump spent the day increasingly isolated and angry

The video, which was tweeted shortly after 7 p.m., follows pressure from advisers to respond more forcefully to the riot at the Capitol, which left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer. Several of his closest advisers have condemned his response to the violence in public, and White House councilor Pat Cipollone has warned the president that he is exposing the legal danger to the riot, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

The president spent the day in the White House without access to the social media accounts that helped keep him in power, as advisers described him as increasingly angry and isolated. His Twitter account was closed for a period of time and Facebook banned him from his platform, citing posts that incited companies to violence or undermine the election process.

Members of his inner circle, including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, senior adviser Stephen Miller, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Mr. Cipollone, and the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, urged him to make another statement on Thursday, Tribute said. him Americans had to hear directly from the president.

They advised the president that it was important to deter supporters from participating in violent riots in the name of Mr. Trump, especially as the inauguration day approaches, the assistants said.

The president addressed a members’ breakfast at the Florida Republican National Committee’s winter meeting in Florida very briefly over the loudspeaker on Thursday morning and thanked the donors for their service to the party, but according to the person familiar with the conversation, did not address the riots. not. .

Later that day, he presented the medal of freedom to golfers Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player in a private ceremony.

Mr. Trump planned to spend the weekend in Camp David, but a White House official said the plans had been scrapped. Officials also next week are estimating plans for a possible presidential trip to Texas for an event at the border, a White House assistant said.

In the last moments of crisis, the president often spent hours on the phone calling dozens of friends and advisers to get their attention. That was not the case on Wednesday and Thursday, assistants said, as several of the president’s closest advisers condemned his response to the riots in public. He also turned down calls from advisers, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who said he had been trying for 25 minutes Wednesday to reach out to the president to urge him to stop the violence.

The White House declined to comment.

Advisors said the president remained engrossed in anger toward Vice President Mike Pence over what he saw as a betrayal because he refused to try to block the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory. Several White House officials on Thursday chased away from the Oval Office and wanted to avoid a president described by one adviser as ‘in a dark place’. Advisers said the president seemed more addicted to his election loss than remorse over the riot.

“It’s like looking at someone who’s self-destructive in front of your eyes, and you can do nothing,” said another adviser who spoke to the president recently.

On Wednesday, shortly before the president left the White House to comment to supporters, Mr. Pence informed him that he did not have the constitutional authority to prevent certain voters from being counted, which the president trusted him according to persons. with the conversation. Mr. Pence said that according to one of the people, it would set a bad precedent if he went off course.

The president was furious, the people said. “I do not want to be your friend,” he said. Trump according to one of the people to Mr. Pence said. “I want you to be the vice president.”

Many of the president’s assistants were upset by his attacks on Mr. Pence, one of his most loyal allies. Some of the president’s advisers told Mr. Pence praised that he followed the constitution while under pressure from Mr. Trump was to reverse the election results.

The violence on the Capitol on Wednesday and its aftermath also unfolded against the backdrop of another major blow to the White House and the Republican Party: losses in two Senate by-elections in Georgia, meaning Democrats both have the chambers of the Congress as well as the White House begin on January 20th. Several of the president’s advisers have blamed these aggressive allegations of fraud due to the loss of Republicans.

Meanwhile, the ranks around the president have become thinner in the 24 hours since the riot at the Capitol. Transport Secretary Elaine Chao became the first cabinet secretary to resign, citing the Capitol’s ‘completely avoidable’ storm. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned Thursday night, saying in a letter to the president there was “no mistake the impact your rhetoric had” on the events Wednesday. At least five other administration officials also resigned, and several others – including National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien – considered it, Tribute said. Mr. O’Brien is expected to stay for the time being due to concerns about national security.

“People are very realistic about how bad it is,” one adviser said. Many White House officials are discouraged by the events of the past 24 hours and see it as a terrible way to end the presidency, the adviser said.

According to a person near the White House, the president was in ‘bunker mode’ on Wednesday, when they helped persuade him to condemn the violence at the Capitol.

The people familiar with the talks were upset about his unwillingness to do so, including the vice president. Mr. Trump had to be condemned for issuing tweets and a subsequent video statement urging rioters to go home – calling them “very special” and saying “we love you” – because he “wanted nothing do not, “said one of the men.

The president’s inner circle is the smallest it has ever been, people close to him said. He is increasingly communicating with dedicated advisers, Mr. Miller, John McEntee and Dan Scavino. Even some of mr. Trump’s strongest defenders have removed themselves. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., SC) said on Senate floor Wednesday night, ‘Count me out. Enough is enough.”

The president’s own advisers say they view his recent behavior as increasingly self-destructive. Aides watched the riots at the Capitol with horror on TV. One adviser described the president’s behavior as increasingly erratic and unpredictable.

Some administration officials as well as external advisers to the president, according to a senior administration official and others familiar with the matter, began discussing the 25th amendment, as lawmakers in both parties urged the cabinet to do so. The move will allow Mr. Pence enables him to take over the duties of the president if cabinet officials consider Trump unable to do his job. But it is widely considered unlikely that it will come about, people familiar with the talks said, in part because the president has less than two weeks left in his term.

It remains unclear how the remaining 13 days of Mr. Trump’s presidency looks like that. Administrative officials have drawn up a series of executive orders that the president can sign on issues such as the role of independent agencies and the U.S. renewable energy requirements. But several officials said it was difficult to draw Trump’s attention to policy issues.

Administration officials have also been engulfed in forgiveness talks over the past few weeks. Among those for whom a pardon was discussed is rapper Lil Wayne, who pleaded guilty in December to a federal firearms charge, people familiar with the talks said. Mr. Trump met with the rapper in October.

According to the person familiar with the discussions, the president recently told advisers he was considering giving pardon to himself before leaving office. The New York Times first reported his recent interest and Mr. Cipollone’s warning about the president’s legal exposure was reported.

The Justice Department said in a 1974 law memorandum that a president could not forgive himself under the legal principle that ‘no one may be a judge in his own case’, but some jurists disagree and this has never been tested in court. . Mr. Trump said in 2018 that he had the “absolute right” to forgive himself, “but why would I do that if I did nothing wrong?”

—Catherine Lucey and Alex Leary contributed to this article.

Write to Rebecca Ballhaus at [email protected] and Andrew Restuccia at [email protected]