WASHINGTON – In a week that began with the electoral college confirming Joe Biden’s victory and ended with Vice President Mike Pence taking a new Covid-19 vaccine, with a massive breach of national security in between, President Trump is largely out of the question. vision disappeared.
Instead, six weeks after the election, the president remains fixated on his failed attempts to reverse the results, advisers say. He has paid close attention to TV coverage of state hearings over alleged electoral fraud, although no evidence of widespread fraud has surfaced, and in tweets and phone calls has urged his advisers and lawyers to continue.
In early Saturday tweets, Mr. Trump chided fellow Republicans, “Don’t be weak fools!” and urged them to join a protest in Washington next month.
“He’s still in the fight for every voting mode,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., SC), a Trump loyalist, who this week acknowledged Mr. Biden’s victory and said the president’s path to to destroy the results is “very, very narrow.”
A government official described the president’s strategy to reverse the election results as, “Let’s throw a giant plate of spaghetti against the wall and hope that at least one noodle sticks.”
In an Oval Office meeting Friday with Sidney Powell, a lawyer he had expelled from his legal team last month, the president discussed the prospect of appointing her special counsel to investigate his allegations of electoral fraud, according to people familiar with the meeting. The president has no authority to appoint special counsel.
In a meeting with Sidney Powell, who spoke last month, the president discussed the prospect of appointing her special counsel to investigate his allegations of electoral fraud.
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The president and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, removed Ms. Powell from Trump’s legal team last month after Mr. Trump told his advisers that he found her allegations – including that Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezuela who died in 2013, behind the rigging of the election – great. At the rally, the idea of deploying the military to aid in its fight to contest the election results was put forward and shot, one of the people said.
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows strongly pushed back both the president’s attempt to appoint Ms. Powell as special counsel, and the reach of Mr Giuliani’s Homeland Security department, one of the people said. Mike Flynn, the former national security adviser who pardoned Mr Trump last month, was also at the meeting.
Mrs. Powell and Mr. Giuliani did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the meeting, which was first reported by the New York Times. The White House declined to comment.
Earlier this week, during a meeting with Ken Cuccinelli, the No. 2 official at DHS, the president raised the prospect that the department would confiscate voter machines as part of the effort to prosecute allegations of voter fraud, according to people known with the meeting. . Lawyers and Mr. Meadows pushed back into the meeting saying the agency had no authority to do this, and Mr. Cuccinelli agreed, the people said.
On Thursday, Mr Giuliani called Mr Cuccinelli and again urged the agency to take control of the voters, the people said. He was again told that the agency does not have the authority to do so.
Mr. Cuccinelli, who was asked for comment, said he could not talk about “active federal investigations.”
At other times, the President and First Lady Melania Trump have shown signs of melancholy at the prospect of leaving the White House. Before the couple canceled their traditional Thanksgiving trip to Florida, the president told advisers that this would be their last chance to celebrate the White House holiday. At a recent meeting in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump began filling bags with White House trinkets for his visitors, telling them he didn’t know what to do with the items, according to a person briefed on the meeting. .
The first shipments of a Covid-19 vaccine this week marked a breakthrough for the Trump administration. Some of the president’s supporters say they would like him to do more to capitalize on the achievement.
Mr. Trump acknowledged the historic development by tweeting a video statement last week. But he did not attend an event on Friday where Mr.Pence was vaccinated on live television to promote safety, instead he tweeted about a “ Russia hoax ” during the event. The White House said the president – who previously had coronavirus – will have a chance to fire if his medical team determines the right time.
And when new details emerged about a suspected Russian hack that endangered parts of the US government with a level of sophistication that surprised even veteran security experts, Mr. Trump was silent for days. Utah Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican and frequent critic of the President, denounced the White House’s “unforgivable silence and action” on the hack.
Mr. Trump, in his first comments On Saturday’s hack on Twitter, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other government officials contradicted by rejecting its seriousness and questioning whether Russia was responsible. He then quickly turned to the election, saying that voting machines could have been infiltrated, an idea that government experts have refuted.
“President Trump must overcome his grievances about the election and the administration for the remainder of his term,” Tom Bossert, Mr. Trump’s former domestic security adviser, wrote in an op-ed on the hack last week. “This moment requires unity, purpose and discipline.”
Asked why Americans haven’t heard much from the president this week, White House spokesman Brian Morgenstern told reporters, “There’s a lot of work being done that isn’t necessarily public.”
Judd Deere, another White House spokesman, said Mr. Trump is focused on securing stimulus payments for Americans, funding the government, the pandemic response and the distribution of vaccines.
Advisers say the president has been in contact with lawmakers and has given much thought to stimulus talks, which have yet to result in a deal. They say he has been briefed on the vaccine distribution efforts. The president has not attended a meeting of a coronavirus task force in months, including one last week.
Some of the president’s closest allies are concerned that his attempts to reverse the election will erode his legacy and damage the GOP, which is due to hold two second elections in Georgia next month that will determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate . The president held a meeting in Georgia, but a meeting on Saturday had prepared for a meeting that never materialized. Advisers say he can visit the state just before the January 5 elections.
He must leave in triumph. He needs to stop grumbling, ”said Stephen Moore, an economic adviser to the president, adding that Mr. Trump needs to focus on his economic and vaccine performance.
Trump has told his friends he will never formally admit the election, and advisers say he remains determined to maintain control of the Republican Party. He has asked advisers if he should immediately announce a 2024 campaign to indicate that he is still in charge, asking a person, “Do you think I will still be the leader of the party if I don’t run? “
People close to Mr Trump are divided on whether he will actually campaign again, but say he will continue to push the idea, potentially stifling the ambition of a host of potential Republican challengers. He plans to play kingmaker in GOP races, assistants say, targeting those he considers unfaithful.
Some advisers say Mr. Trump continues to pressure his fraud claims to raise more money; his claims raised more than $ 207 million between the election and the end of November for his campaign, the Republican Party and his leadership PAC, and his calls for fundraising have continued ever since.
Many senior Republicans, including Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, recognized Mr. Biden as the president-elect after Monday’s Electoral College vote.
Trump has continued to press Republicans to contest the results when Congress meets next month to count and certify electoral votes. Mr. McConnell has warned that this would harm Republicans running in 2022.
The president has also continued to talk to advisers about the prospect of pardoning a large number of people, including members of his family and his personal attorney, Mr. Giuliani. At one point, an administrative officer said he was considering pardoning “anyone I have spoken to.”
—Michelle Hackman contributed to this article.
Write to Rebecca Ballhaus at [email protected], Alex Leary at [email protected] and Dustin Volz at [email protected]
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