White House aides are reportedly worried that impeachment will be a blow to Trump's ego

(Image credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

last updated 26 September 2019

White House aides are a little concerned about President Trump's ego after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) officially opened an impeachment inquiry Tuesday, Politico reports.

Despite the fact that Trump has brushed off concerns, and a senior official said the administration is betting Trump can ride the whole thing out, some current and former administration aides reportedly think that it could distract him from his daily tasks for the rest of the year, including halting any agenda for this fall.

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Trump, for his part, actually made the opposite case Wednesday during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. There, he told reporters it's the Democrats who can't focus on anything besides impeachment. Trump said he tried talking to Pelosi about gun control legislation Tuesday, but added she and the other Democrats aren't interested in that or anything else at the moment, including infrastructure and drug pricing legislation. Tim O'Donnell

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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