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WASHINGTON (AP) – US President Donald Trump has increasingly isolated himself in the White House, relying on a small group of staunch loyalists and attacking those who dare to oppose him, including Vice President Mike Pence, four said. sources familiar with the matter.
Some longtime advisers are avoiding speaking to Trump after he ignited hundreds of supporters who invaded the United States Capitol in what even his Republican colleagues called a deep stain on Trump’s legacy.
The unprecedented violation of the Capitol building on Wednesday forced Pence and members of Congress to be evacuated as they had gathered to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump. Four people died in the chaos, including a woman shot by police.
“I don’t want to,” said an adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity, when asked if there had been any recent contact with the president.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Pence, publicly and privately, for refusing to try to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s victory, and has been furious with Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, for claiming that Pence would honor his constitutional duty, sources said.
This week Trump berated Pence to his face, a source said. The vice president’s office declined to comment.
But Republican Senator Jim Inhofe told the Tulsa World newspaper that he spoke with Pence on Wednesday night.
“I’ve known Mike Pence forever,” he said. “I have never seen Pence so angry as today.”
A former senior administration official said the gap between the two men was deep and they may never speak to each other again.
Pence, a former Indiana governor and Republican lawmaker who harbors presidential ambitions, has been loyal to Trump throughout the president’s four-year tenure.
An adviser to Pence said that “everyone around him is very proud of him” for how he did his constitutional duty and that he had told Trump ahead of time what he planned to do.
“Mike Pence does not surprise the president. He was honest about what he was going to do,” the adviser said.
THE LOYALISTS SPEAK IT
Trump was extremely agitated Wednesday, moving from the Oval Office to the nearby private dining room, initially energized but increasingly angry and closed, a source said.
Trump was not allowing staff to help compose any messages earlier in the day Wednesday. “It is not a controlled situation,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
United States Vice President Mike Pence reads the final certification of Electoral College votes cast in the November presidential election during a joint session of Congress after working through the night, on Capitol Hill in Washington on January 7 2021 (Photo: J Scott Applewhite / Pool). via REUTERS)
On Thursday, Trump, a frequent golfer who owns multiple courses, presented the Medal of Freedom to Hall of Fame golfers Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player. The ceremony, usually held in public, was held behind closed doors.
Trump has surrounded himself with an ever-shrinking group of loyalists who adapt to his whims, including digital director Dan Scavino, personal assistant John McEntee, business consultant Peter Navarro, speechwriter Stephen Miller, and personal attorney Rudy. Giuliani, said a source.
“It’s sad. These are the people who surround him and incite him,” said the source, who also asked not to be identified.
The White House declined to comment.
It was Scavino who, after Congress certified Biden’s victory, tweeted a statement from Trump early Thursday to say that the president would agree to an orderly transition of power to Biden. Trump himself was suspended from Twitter at the time and was unable to tweet himself.
In the statement, Trump clung to the idea that the November 3 election was rigged against him, but acknowledged that he would be leaving the White House on the day of Biden’s inauguration.
“Although I totally disagree with the outcome of the elections, and the facts confirm me, there will be an orderly transition on January 20,” he said.
The statement was seen by some close to the White House as an attempt to prevent a wave of resignations.
A former Trump official in the White House said the president had demonstrated a leadership failure by not immediately going on television to tell his followers on Capitol Hill to stand down and leave.
“His hands are stained with blood from yesterday. A woman died,” he said.
There have been some conversations among cabinet members and allies about invoking the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as a way to remove Trump from office, but a source familiar with that effort doubted it would take place given. the short period of time remaining in his mandate. .
Some White House officials, surprised by Trump’s downward spiral in recent days, were debating whether to resign in protest or stay for the past two weeks to ensure a smooth transition to Biden’s team, an aide said.
US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, wife of Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, became the first Trump cabinet member to resign since the Capitol siege on Thursday.
Former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg said Trump’s temperament reflected his aversion to losing.
“This is him at the end, when he loses something. That’s right, the end,” Nunberg said.
