Professional lighting, the kind used for photography and videography, can be seen through the windows of the White House. “Pictures were taken of carpets and other objects in the Executive Residence and the East Wing,” a person familiar with the day’s activities with the first lady told CNN. Trump – who, as CNN reported, showed interest in writing a coffee table book about decorative objects she collected and restored in the White House – oversaw the photo project, the source said with her remaining time in the White House dwindling .
Only a few blocks away, domestic terrorists were enchanting the American Capitol in a riot that incited her husband during the protest earlier in the day. While images of the mob breaking into the Capitol engulfed the airwaves, the first lady was focused – with White House chief Timothy Harleth – on getting the shooting done. Both the media, including CNN, and members of her staff have asked whether Trump intended to tweet a statement of calm, or a call to stop the violence – something she had done several times before during the protests surrounding the police. murder of George Floyd. She did not.
Instead, the first lady was silent and remained so. Her interest in addressing the country was an indication that she was’ checked ‘, said another White House source, saying:’ She just is no longer mentally or emotionally in a place where she wants to get involved not.’
Except with the furniture.
Much has been made of the influence of the first lady on her husband. But it was Ivanka Trump, the daughter of the president, who held an emergency meeting with him in the Oval Office on Wednesday, where she urged him to stop the violence.
Yet the first lady and the president, as CNN reported, have a close relationship, which is sometimes surprising to those who have interpreted blissful stories about Trump’s alleged adulterous behavior and their physical distance as a sign of disgust. The president’s wife speaks to the president by telephone throughout the day, according to several sources who have seen it – from both wings of the building – and she is the first to share her thoughts on domestic and international issues with her husband. .
Although most of her public statements in recent months have been related to holiday decorations, she tweeted in a good way on November 8 her support for Trump’s unfounded fight against the election results. “The American people deserve fair elections,” the first lady said. “Every legitimate – not illegal – vote must be counted. We must protect our democracy with full transparency.” It was not much, but it was enough to indicate that she was on his side.
The first lady was also not ashamed if her opinions differed from her husband’s, and tweeted on her own or via Grisham as a mouthpiece – messages that were apparently out of step with his.
But this week was not one of those times.
CNN reached out to the East Wing several times, both before and after Grisham’s departure, to comment on the president’s thoughts on Wednesday’s events, or if she wanted to comment at all. The requests were not answered.
The Trump children
Along with the first lady, the other three most influential people in the Trump lane are his eldest children, Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump, who all strengthened their father’s voice after his loss of election, and called on Americans to “fight” against what they considered to be a corrupt election.
Trump Jr. was part of a roster of speakers on the Ellipse Wednesday morning, more than willing to incite an already blind-loyal and largely furious group of supporters. ‘This event should send a message to them. This is no longer their Republican Party, ‘Trump Jr. said. reacted. “This is Donald Trump’s Republican Party.”
He addressed the legislators in his hype speech, which was peppered with expressions: ‘You can be a hero, or you can be a zero. And the choice is yours. But we are all watching. The whole world is watching, people. Choose wisely. ”
Eric Trump and his wife Lara also spoke and listened with big smiles as the crowd of thousands greeted the younger Trump with “Happy Birthday;” he turned 37. The couple loudly denounced the democratic election process and the will of American voters who elect Joe Biden as president. The crowd loved it.
“We live in the largest country in the world, and we will never stop fighting,” Eric Trump said. The word ‘fight’ with a dog whistle to the eager crowd who were just blocks from where they – falsely – were – believed lawmakers were handling their future illegally. Shortly after Eric and Lara left the stage, they were brought to the airport by the Secret Service – the match that helped lift them in the back as they flew back to their multimillion-dollar New York home.
Of course, the president was also present at the protest. The main body, he watched the crowd for the first time on monitors of a tent-GDP area with his daughter Ivanka Trump, who did not speak during the protest, before entering the stage.
Ivanka Trump would soon be the one whose responsibility was to pressure her father to stop the violence in public – but not before sending her own tweet, referring to the Trump supporters who were riotous as’ American patriot ‘.
“American patriots – any violation or contempt of our law enforcement is unacceptable,” Trump wrote, who also said the violence should stop. After Trump was called out to call them “patriots,” he deleted her tweet.
At the White House there was panic. “The president did not want to listen to people telling him he had to stop these people from doing this,” a White House official told CNN.
“Everyone has been told to leave the room,” another source close to Ivanka Trump told CNN about her emergency meeting with the president in the Oval Office. Trump was called in by several people, both in person at her West Wing office and from Capitol Hill, where she had several contacts. “The message was, ‘President Trump needs to tell these people to stop. He’s the only one they will listen to,'” the source said. Ivanka Trump was already more than aware of the rioters who caused irreparable damage.
At their meeting, Ivanka Trump argued that her father should direct an immediate television address to the country, the source said. The president was hesitant, with several sources telling CNN that he sometimes appeared to watch the chaos he unleashed unfold. Trump turned down the request for an immediate television address, but eventually compromised with a milketoast version of the Rose Garden reproach, which he then tweeted. “We love you,” he said in a survey of people who forced lawmakers and staff to hide under chairs, fearing for their lives. ‘Go home’, as if they had been sitting at a meal for too long.
“He will do what he wants to do,” the source told Ivanka, referring to the president. “But if she had not been there yesterday, her tweets would have been very different,” the source added. Ivanka Trump has regularly received public criticism for gaining credit for working ‘behind the scenes’ on issues related to the president – and this time it will probably be no exception. But the source told CNN Wednesday’s actions were not a signal of virtue by her. ‘
Ivanka Trump and her brother Don Jr. tweeted the video again later.