Trump aides are reportedly concerned about his impeachment response
Some of President Trump's aides reportedly fear he's already getting off on the wrong foot with his impeachment response.
The president, according to a new CNN report, has been dismissing the idea of forming a separate team to fight impeachment, as he's "confident in his own ability to counter-message Democrats." But despite Trump's confidence, there's reportedly "growing concern among the President's allies that he doesn't understand the implications of what lies ahead or how quickly it's moving."
Even beyond that, though, some in the White House reportedly see the past six days since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the opening of an official impeachment inquiry as a "lost opportunity to shape public opinion at the outset of the inquiry," CNN writes. So far, the pushback has primarily come from Trump himself, Trump allies in Congress, and Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
With Giuliani, in particular, CNN reports White House officials are quite frustrated with him amid his odd TV appearances and at this point have just "decided to sit back and let him go on television until he burns himself out," at which point he can be swapped out for Trump allies "who are better equipped." Trump's resistance to a separate impeachment team evidently means former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski being brought on, as was reported last week, is now unlikely, with Trump thinking talk of bringing back aides "projected weakness."
Some of Trump's early impeachment response has included rage-tweets floating the idea that House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) should be arrested for treason and that impeaching him would create a "Civil War like fracture," the latter of which was condemned by Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) as "beyond repugnant."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Film reviews: ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ and ‘Eternity’Feature Grief inspires Shakespeare’s greatest play, a flamboyant sleuth heads to church and a long-married couple faces a postmortem quandary
-
Poems can force AI to reveal how to make nuclear weaponsUnder The Radar ‘Adversarial poems’ are convincing AI models to go beyond safety limits
-
The military: When is an order illegal?Feature Trump is making the military’s ‘most senior leaders complicit in his unlawful acts’
-
Honduras votes amid Trump push, pardon vowspeed read President Trump said he will pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is serving 45 years for drug trafficking
-
Congress seeks answers in ‘kill everybody’ strike reportSpeed Read Lawmakers suggest the Trump administration’s follow-up boat strike may be a war crime
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
