The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Trump's allies are worried because he doesn't understand the seriousness of the political trial fight

2019-09-30T17:32:21.318Z


Six days after the announcement of Pelosi, there is now a growing concern among the president's allies that he does not understand the implications of what is coming or how quickly ...


  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
  • Click here to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
  • Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)

(CNN) - President Donald Trump and his relatives have delayed mounting a viable defense almost a week since the House of Representatives president, Nancy Pelosi, announced that she would launch a formal political trial investigation.

Pelosi and his deputies have said they will work quickly to depose key players in the Ukrainian scandal, hoping to make quick procedures that will not spill in the 2020 election year. But Trump has been slow to improvise a response, convinced that He does not need a separate political trial team that is confident in his own ability to counter Democrats, multiple sources close to the White House told CNN.

LOOK: Why do Democrats resort to Trump's political trial?

Six days after Pelosi's announcement, there is now a growing concern among the president's allies that he does not understand the implications of what is coming or how quickly the issue moves.

Trump spent the weekend talking on the phone with advisors and allies, criticizing the informant and those who provided the person with information related to his phone calls with foreign leaders, according to people familiar with the talks.

He also fought a battle on Twitter, asking for the reporter's complaint, demanding that the president of the House Intelligence Commission, Adam Schiff, be interrogated for treason after reading a fictional version of the president's call with Zelensky and accusing espionage. to the officials who provided information to the informant.

Apart from the fervent tweet, there were signs that the White House would depend on its allies in Congress to defend the president as the political trial investigation warms.

LOOK: Donald Trump is not the first president of the United States to face a political trial

However, the limits of that plan were evident on Sunday, while Republican lawmakers struggled to justify what Trump told his Ukrainian counterpart during a phone call in July. A complaint by an informant about irregularities alleges that Trump abused his official powers "to request interference" from Ukraine in that call in the next 2020 elections, and that the White House took steps to cover it up.

Trump has denied doing anything inappropriate, despite a transcript published by the White House that shows he repeatedly pressured President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, his potential political rival for 2020, and his son, Hunter Biden

There is no evidence of irregularities by Joe or Hunter Biden.

Giuliani boosted Trump's approach to Ukraine and the Biden.

Difficult interviews

In interviews in Sunday talk shows, the president's main Republican allies repeated the White House discussion points, or in the case of Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, he seemed to be reading directly from a prepared script. In an appearance on "60 Minutes" of CBS, Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy was challenged to regurgitate White House discussion points, although he denied receiving them.

Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House of Representatives Supervisory Commission, and CNN Jake Tapper entered into a controversial exchange this Sunday at the "State of the Union" show after the legislator made false and misleading claims. about the development of the drama of Ukraine.

The appearances of Trump's allies on Sunday did little to calm the rage around Trump's behavior.

While they were facing the cameras without a strong refutation, Trump resisted privately to ask for help. He dismissed the talks about the formation of a political trial response team, enraged by the talk of bringing back ex-advisors to help him project weakness.

Last week, some of Trump's allies raised bringing his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to lead a response team. The two men never discussed the idea directly, and the conversations crumbled after Trump got angry because the discussions were made public. White House advisers now say it doesn't seem likely to happen.

Trump has stated privately that he doesn't need any more lawyers, although several people have told him privately that his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is not helping him.

Other outside lawyers who defended Trump during the investigation of special prosecutor Robert Mueller over Russian interference in the 2016 elections, including Jay Sekulow, have gone to work in the political trial. Despite Trump's resistance, at least one administration official admitted that additional lawyers were likely to be needed.

MIRA: What is a political trial, how does it work and who makes the decisions?

There is no war room

Sekulow said last week that a destitution war room is not being created in the White House. The president met Friday with White House attorneys and his personal lawyer to discuss a strategy to deal with the political trial investigation of Democrats.

Advisors were expected to inform Trump more about plans for a political trial response sometime this week, according to administration officials, although some inside the White House see the last six days as a missed opportunity to give form public opinion at the beginning of the investigation.

Trump has tried to control the message himself on Twitter, mainly in outbursts of anger fueled by conservative media.

The rage has caused some fractures within the Republican Party, a problem for the White House, which has relied heavily on Republicans within Congress and outside the administration to defend Trump, rather than administration officials.

Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, in response to Trump's tweet citing a pastor warning of a "Civil War-like fracture," wrote that the language was "more than disgusting."

"I have visited nations devastated by civil war," he wrote. "I never imagined that a president would repeat that appointment."

Trump's first National Security advisor, Tom Bossert, who was expelled when John Bolton arrived as a National Security advisor, was the first former official to break Trump about the nature of his call with Zelensky, saying he was "deeply disturbed." on the matter but warned that it was "far from being proven" if the president had threatened to withhold military aid for Ukraine by conditioning it to this matter.

Even so, Bossert painted a portrait of a president consumed by "discredited" conspiracy theories about Ukraine, warning again and again that they are wrong.

“At this point, I am deeply frustrated with what he and the legal team are doing repeating that discredited theory to the president. It stays in his head when he hears it again and again, ”Bossert said on ABC's“ This Week. ” "

Giuliani Effect

Bossert's frustration with Giuliani reflects a growing anger in Trump's orbit toward the former mayor of New York City, which operated outside the administration's limits to search for Ukrainian officials and convince them to investigate the Bidens.

Trump has backed down when Giuliani has entangled the secretary of state and other administration officials in the scandal, claiming that Mike Pompeo intervened in the matter.

"I didn't do this on my own," Giuliani said on CBS on Sunday. “I did it at the request of the State Department, and I have all the text messages to prove it. And I also have a thanks from them for doing a good job. When I spoke with the secretary last week, he said he was aware of that. ”

Despite deep frustration within the White House for his actions, Giuliani has been the mainstay in Trump's defense on television.

This is, in part, by the way, two people close to the matter said. Because Giuliani is seen as someone who cannot be controlled by anyone but Trump, officials have decided to sit down and let him go to television until he burns. Then, these people said, the president's allies that are better equipped will intervene.

The question is whether it will be too late by then.

Political judgment

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2019-09-30

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.