Banned from social media and abandoned by some staff members after inciting a riot at the U.S. Capitol, President Donald Trump and a small circle of advisers plan a challenging final week in office, according to people familiar with the theme.
Trump is confident that Vice President Mike Pence and members of his cabinet will not attempt to remove him under the 25th Amendment, people said. One person said Pence does not respond to the idea of trying to use that authority to oust Trump from office.
The president and some allies also believe Democrats are exaggerating trying to re-accuse him of Wednesday’s crowd at the Capitol, and believe the condemnation in the Senate would be unlikely in any case.
An adviser called the democratic consideration of the dismissal a political gift to Trump. Pence has not debated the 25th Amendment beyond privately dismissing the approach as unfeasible, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Trump and Pence have not spoken since Wednesday, however, when the vice president took refuge in his seat at the Capitol after the building was stormed by Trump supporters. Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe told the Tulsa World newspaper that he “had never seen Pence as angry” as he did after Trump blasted him for not intervening in the Congressional vote count. Electoral law. Trump tweeted that Pence lacked “courage.”
Border wall
Trump plans to exhaust the clock during his four-year term by highlighting what he believes are his greatest achievements, including the barrier his administration built on at least part of the U.S. border with Mexico. A trip to Alamo, Texas, near the border is expected Tuesday, a White House spokesman said.
Trump is also preparing at least one more round of pardons and will try at the last minute to advance his administration’s effort to tune in to Big Tech, according to people, though it’s unclear what he can do.
In short, this is a last-ditch attempt to rehabilitate Trump’s legacy after his supporters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, causing five deaths, including that of a Capitol police officer.
Trump has given no indication that he is planning to resign, as many Democrats and some Republicans have called for. A small group of House Republicans wrote to Joe Biden on Saturday, begging him to persuade President Nancy Pelosi to withdraw the removal as an olive branch in the interest of national unity.
House Republicans ask Biden: get it Hairy to reverse the dismissal
Trump’s apparent confidence belies his political and legal danger. Congress Democrats are furious over the Capitol riot and are determined to hold the president accountable. Some Republicans have said their actions deserve to be dismissed, including Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Federal prosecutors have also not ruled out accusing Trump, among many others, of his role in the assault on the Capitol, although they promise that the ongoing investigation will not be a political goal.
Trump’s views on the issue would not normally be very secretive. But without his Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, and after a failed effort to post from alternate accounts, a mysterious silence has descended on the White House.
Inside, Trump has spoken with aides like Mark Meadows, Jared Kushner, Dan Scavino and Kayleigh McEnany, according to people. Outside the building, there is public outcry to oust Trump before his term ends. 57% of Americans want the president removed immediately, according to a Reuters / Ipsos poll released Friday, while nearly 70% disapprove of Trump’s actions leading Until the Capitol riot.
A conversation about dismissal or dismissal would make Trump a martyr to his base, one person said. If the vice president led an effort to oust him, it would only reinforce Trump’s statements that a “deep state” of government bureaucrats has been pushed to oppose him, another said.
Galvanized base
Between the removal movement and Trump’s censorship by social media, the president and his advisers believe his supporters are galvanized. Trump sent one person said the ouster could have a boomerang effect on Democrats, while another rejected it as the last Democratic witch hunt.
Trump and his team will respond to the Twitter ban during his last week in office by leaning in his fight against what he called Republican censorship by big tech companies. The president has long demanded that Congress repeal Article 230, an exemption from which social media companies depend on to allow relatively free speech on their platforms. It will likely amplify that call, though the inauguration of Biden on Jan. 20 and the Senate takeover by Democrats is expected to rule out the prospect of any changes to the law for now.
Trump has prepared several executive orders related to Big Tech companies, but it is unclear whether any will be issued, one person said.
It is unclear whether Trump’s team is still preparing for a trial indictment in the Senate. White House attorney Pat Cipollone will not participate, after leading Trump’s defense during his first ouster a year ago, in part because his job ends with Biden taking office, a person familiar with the matter. Deputy attorney Pat Philbin will not participate either, the person said.
Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, did not respond to comments on Saturday. Neither did Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, nor Jay Sekulow, an outside lawyer, who represented Trump in his first indictment.
The Senate will not meet again until Jan. 19, and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said Friday in a note to colleagues that a trial cannot be initiated before the 100 senators consent, an extremely developmental move. unlikely, as Trump keeps allies among Republicans in the chamber.
– With the assistance of Nancy Cook and Jordan Fabian