The Washington Post - 12.11.2019

tuesday, november 12 , 2019. the washington post EZRE A

that the administration is not properly prepared for a Senate impeachment trial that could start in January. The House is expected to pass articles of impeachment against Trump as soon as December, triggering a trial in the Senate. “This impeachment trial is going to be here before the White House knows it, and they’re not even remotely prepared for it,” said the Senate GoP aide. “What they need desperately is leadership to get ready, but until mulvaney and Cipollone put aside their petty squabbles and start working together, all they’ll have is tweets.” This aide said GoP senators have been worried that the White House was moving too slowly to hire staff members dedicated to working on the impeachment issue as the inquiry moves into its public phase. multiple senators made this concern known to the White House, the aide said. Their concerns were finally alleviated last week with news that Pam Bondi, a former attorney general of florida, and To ny Sayegh, a former Treasury Department spokesman, would join the administration to work on impeachment-related messaging and other issues. “I think Pam Bondi will be very helpful,” s aid Sen. Lindsey o. G ra- ham (r-S.C.), adding that the Sen- ate is unlikely to remove the president. “Things are better now, I think. Pam will do a good job. They still need to build their legal team out some.” [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

impeachment,” one Senate GoP aide said of the mulvaney-Cipol- lone fight. “Cipollone seems more like he’s protecting his turf than anything else.... He d oesn’t w ant any competition.” The aide spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely describe private concerns. Some administration officials complain that Cipollone has not kept mulvaney and other White House offices in the loop on key decisions. Cipollone’s office released the transcript of the president’s July 25 call with his Ukrai- nian counterpart — a move mulvaney opposed, administration officials said. Neither the acting chief of staff nor some members of the White House press office knew ahead of time that was going to happen, the officials said. Te nsions between the two camps were inflamed when, in his oct. 17 briefing to White House reporters, mulvaney appeared to acknowledge that the president sought to withhold the U.S. aid to Ukraine as part of a quid pro quo. He said the administration did not release the security assistance because Trump wanted Ukraine to first agree to an investigation into corruption, as well as a dis- credited theory that evidence of russia’s interference in the 2016 election was fabricated. mulvaney later issued a statement in- sisting that he had not confirmed a quid pro quo and that reporters had misinterpreted his words, which were televised. The divisions within the administration, at a time when it should be presenting a united front against House Democrats, are serious enough that they have caught the attention of Senate republicans, who are concerned

“Those who have aligned with the president and followed the president’s instincts on not to co- operate have been successful and been that firewall,” said this official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Cipollone, this person said, “has been pretty weak in ensuring people are on lock- down.” At the same time, Trump has been complaining about mulvaney, blaming him for his political troubles, and has toyed with the idea of replacing him, two officials said. Another dispute between the mulvaney and Cipollone camps emerged over the potential hiring of former congressman Trey Gowdy (r-S.C.) to be part of Trump’s team defending against impeachment. The president was looking for outspoken supporters, and mulvaney advocated for hiring his onetime House col- league and longtime friend Gowdy, a former federal prosecu- tor turned fox News personality. But Cipollone was opposed. Ul- timately, the Gowdy boomlet col- lapsed within a period of days last month as White House officials said federal lobbying rules could prevent him from starting until January. Some Hill republicans were not pleased and have accused Ci- pollone of being territorial be- hind the scenes. They wanted Gowdy, who led the GoP investigation of the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, to lead the cross-examina- tion for Trump in the Senate — a role Cipollone is said to want for himself. “Each wants to be in charge of

the concerns of career staffers to hold up the Ukraine military aid, according to multiple former agency officials who are in touch with current employees and spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect career staffers. “Everyone was freaked out because it so violated the norms of omB,” said one former longtime career employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The impeachment inquiry now threat- ens to ensnare career omB staffers, one of whom, mark Sandy, was called to testify friday but did not appear. Witnesses from the State Department and the Nation- al Security Council have told impeachment investigators that the aid was held up as part of a quid pro quo to get Ukraine to an- nounce investigations, including of Trump’s Democratic rival Joe Biden, but omB staffers could fill in key details of what took place. The White House denied the existence of any internal tensions. “We are one team and we work well together. The palace intrigue stories are false and they need to stop,” White House press secre- tary Stephanie Grisham said in an email. But Trump has complained about his legal team to White House officials and advisers in recent weeks, saying they need to be more aggressive and defend him more. Cipollone released a letter from Trump early last month saying the White House would not be cooperating with the impeachment inquiry. But a senior administration official said Cipollone since then has failed to do more to keep members of the administration in line.

tion-of-powers lawsuit filed against Trump and the House leadership by a onetime deputy to former national security adviser John Bolton. The move infuriated Bolton allies, The Washington Post has reported, partly because Bolton and other national security a ides viewed mulvaney as a key architect of pressuring Ukraine to launch political investigations on behalf of Trump. mulvaney’s move to join the lawsuit baffled several administration officials, people familiar with the matter said. The lawsuit could have provided a legal basis for mulvaney’s refusal to testify in the impeachment inquiry, b ut late monday he withdrew, saying he will file his own suit to ask the courts to decide whether senior Trump administration officials must testify in the impeachment inquiry. The office of management and Budget has served as mulvaney’s biggest b ulwark because it played a key role in blocking nearly $400 million in security aid to Ukraine over the summer. The omB is led by a close mulvaney ally, acting director russell Vought, who has refused to coop- erate with the impeachment inquiry, as have other political appointees at the agency. But the increasingly political nature of the omB has rattled a number of high-level career staffers, and several have resigned i n the past year, including one who announced h is departure in the midst of the turmoil this summer. Employees at the normally un- der-the-radar budget agency watched in dismay as political appointees at the omB took the highly unusual step of overruling

matters worse with his oct. 17
news conference, when he public-
ly acknowledged a quid pro quo,
essentially confirming Demo-
crats’ accusations in front of tele-
vision cameras and reporters. Ci-
pollone did not want mulvaney to
hold the news conference, a mes-
sage that was passed along to the
acting chief of staff’s office, ac-
cording to two senior Trump ad-
visers, who spoke on the condi-
tion of anonymity. A mulvaney
aide said a team of White House
lawyers prepared him for the
news conference and never said
he should not do it.
Neither mulvaney nor Cipol-
lone has broad experience navi-
gating a White House through
such a tumultuous period. But
their actions have contributed to
the White House’s increasingly
tenuous response to the impeach-
ment inquiry, in which public
hearings are set to begin Wednes-
day in the House. Despite the high
stakes, the White House moved
slowly to hire a staff specifically
dedicated to working on the im-
peachment issue, a concern that
was expressed to the White House
by multiple GoP senators, Capitol
Hill aides said.
“This will be the toughest polit-
ical fight this White House has
faced. They need to be sure they
are totally focused and that all
their fire is pointed outward —
not at each other,” said michael
Steel, a GoP strategist who was a
top aide to former House speaker
John A. Boehner (r-ohio).
Complicating matters, on fri-
day, the same day he defied a
congressional subpoena to testify,
mulvaney sought to join a separa-

impeachment from a

Amid internal tensions, White House impeachment response stays unfocused

states over his eight years in office, obama spent far more time in blue states, raising money and holding political rallies, as well as swing states, which were crucial to his electoral fortunes. Trump has accentuated that trend in a mirror image, visiting twice as many red states as blue states over his first 2^1 / 2 years in office. on Thursday, t he president will travel to Bossier City, La., to hold his second campaign rally in eight days in that deep-red haven. A s the first sitting president to participate in the Veterans Day parade here in New York, Trump mostly stayed away from politics in his remarks — though he high- lighted the U.S. Special opera- tions forces mission last month that ended in the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghda- di, which has become part of his campaign stump speech. After presiding over a wreath- laying and a moment of silence, Trump returned to his motor- cade, which sped down the parade route along fifth Avenue and pulled up to Trump To wer. The president entered his private residence before the parade began. He had no public events the rest of the day. [email protected]

Benghazi, Libya, and liberals de- crying his immigration policies or opposing the Keystone pipeline. During the George W. Bush administration, Iraq War protesters often tried to disrupt his events — an Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at Bush during a news conference, and Vice President richard B. Cheney was booed while throw- ing out a first pitch for a Nationals game at rfK Stadium. In a presidency defined by a special counsel investigation into russia’s election interference and a House impeachment probe, Trump has been less willing to venture into public than his pre- decessors. He has mostly es- chewed cultural activities and spends most of his time outside the White House dining, playing golf or vacationing at one of his properties. on trips abroad, White House aides have taken careful steps to shield him from mass protests, including holding a bilateral visit in 2018 with British leaders outside of London, where thousands demonstrated against him. Sensitive to the public percep- tions, presidents have spent in- creasing amounts of time in states hospitable to their political leanings. Though he visited all 50

Pollack, a conservative gun rights advocate. Each of their videos has garnered between 5 million and 8 million views. In his tweet of the video, Pol- lack faulted the mainstream media for focusing attention on the boos Trump received at t he World Series while, in his view, mostly ignoring the cheers at the college game. In an interview, Pollack, whose daughter meadow was killed in the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, fla., last year, said he agrees with Trump’s contention that the mainstream press is “fake news,” based on his own experiences with the media in the debate over school safety and gun control. of the public opposition to Trump, Pollack said: “our person- alities are similar because we don’t care what other people think. We d o what’s righteous and a lot of people don’t want to hear it. If they can’t handle it, his view is, ‘Hit the highway.’ That’s why we all love him.” All presidents have faced public opposition, including protesters. President Barack obama was routinely met at public appearances with conservatives protesting his administration’s handling of the attack on U.S. diplomats in

booed, or the boos will be louder than the cheers,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at rice University. T he president has been hyper- aware of how the public recep- tions of him have played in the media. After he was greeted with a mix of cheers and boos while attending an Ultimate fighting Championship bout at madison Square Garden on Nov. 2, Trump on Saturday basked in the extend- ed applause from a crowd of more than 101,000 at Bryant-Denny Stadium after he and first lady melania Trump, viewing from a private box, were shown on the scoreboard during the game between the University of Alabama and Louisiana State University. Ahead of the game, the Ala- bama student government had reportedly warned students in a letter that they risked losing their group-seating tickets for the rest of the season if they were disrup- tive in protesting the president and first lady. Trump’s supporters were elat- ed by the warm reception for the president. Trump retweeted video clips of the moment posted by White House social media director Dan Scavino, Breitbart News reporter Kyle morris and Andrew

from loud boos at Nationals Park in Washington last month to a huge ovation at a college-foot- ball game in Tuscaloosa, Ala., this past weekend, Trump has faced a real-time voice vote from the American electorate, with nearly a year to go b efore ballots are cast on Election Day. for Trump — who has sought to provoke and exploit the nation’s cultural divisions to main- tain allegiance from his conservative base — the demonstrations have prompted a dilemma as he seeks to chart a course to a second term. As he attempts to make a case for reelection, the president has been eager to demonstrate broad support, but the public displays of antipathy threaten to undermine that narrative in blunt and potentially embarrass- ing ways. After the president’s appear- ance at Game 5 of the World Series, video clips went viral showing of much of the hometown Washington crowd jeering as Trump was introduced. “ It’s an indication of just how deeply polarizing President Trump is that he has to kind of carefully cherry-pick stadiums or universities or venues because chances are he’s going to get

BY DAVID NAKAMURA

NEW YORK — President Trump
had just begun to speak on an
outdoor stage here at madison
Square Park in front of a couple
hundred military veterans when
the whistles and catcalls could be
heard from beyond the security
perimeter where crowds had
gathered, along with a chant:
“Lock him up!”
High above, in the windows of
the tall buildings overlooking the
park, a handful of makeshift signs
were also visible to the naked eye:
“Impeach” and “Dump Trump.”
If Trump had hoped to kick off
his hometown’s annual Veterans
Day parade with an apolitical
tribute to the armed forces, he
instead was treated to another
reminder that virtually every one
of his public appearances has
turned into a referendum on his
presidency amid the mounting
impeachment inquiry by House
Democrats.

Trump’s public events become voice votes on presidency

As impeachment inquiry looms, cheers, boos or both erupt everywhere

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The Washington Post - 12.11.2019

BY DAVID NAKAMURA

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