Trump spends last days mostly isolated, contemplating pardons
WASHINGTON — With his Twitter account suspended, President Donald Trump spent his last days in the White House out of the spotlight and reigning over a dwindling staff.
It was a dramatic change from the early heady days of the Trump administration notable for jammed daily briefings and a president who enjoyed extended pool sprays in the Oval Office with the press corps.
As his tenure winnowed down to hours, Trump spent his final weekend as chief executive shuttered from social media, not on his signature Trump National Golf Course in Virginia and cloistered in his office and residence.
There were visits by an odd assortment of supporters. Mike Lindell, the “My Pillow guy” and frequent Trump White House visitor, visited on Friday. Washington Post photographer Jabin Botsford took a photograph of Lindell’s notes, on which former campaign attorney Sidney Powell’s name could be seen, as well as the words, “martial law if necessary.”
Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani stopped by the White House Saturday. He told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl that he would defend Trump in an expected Senate impeachment trial. His legal argument would be that Trump’s Jan. 6 speech at a rally that culminated with a mob of Trump supporters storming the Capitol does not constitute incitement if Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud are true.
Five individuals, including a Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, died during the melee.
Later in the day, however, Giuliani told Karl he would not serve on the Trump legal defense team because the former New York mayor himself spoke at the rally where he urged attendees to engage in “trial by combat.”
Where’s the president?
With little guidance from the hollowed-out press office, reporters relied on the presence of a Marine standing at the north entrance of the West Wing to deduce Trump’s whereabouts. A Marine’s presence at the door is a signal that the president is in the Oval Office.
After the departure of staffers, appointees and cabinet members in protest of Trump’s handling of the Jan. 6 riots, even staff who remained on the job criticized Trump.
National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow told the Wall Street Journal last week that he and other staffers had considered resigning after the Jan. 6 riot, but that they decided “we needed to do the work of the country in the last 10 days or so.”
“Once the Electoral College declared Mr. Biden to be president-elect, we would have been better advised to acknowledge that and to pivot toward talking about our positive achievements and the policies that generated those policy achievements,” Kudlow told the Wall Street Journal last week.
Pardons to come?
Speculation was rampant as to when Trump would issue final presidential pardons. Given Trump’s affinity for his clemency power, and his focus on granting pardons to individuals and former associates whom he believes were victims of overzealous federal prosecutors, the number is expected to be in the league of then President Bill Clinton’s 170 out-the-door pardons and commutations in 2001.
The president is scheduled to leave the White House Wednesday morning and head to Palm Beach, Florida on Air Force One, which will be his to command until President-elect Joe Biden takes the oath of office at noon.
The Associated Press has reported that the White House is planning an elaborate parting ceremony at Joint Base Andrews possibly with a color guard, military band and 21-gun salute. Flouting tradition, Trump will not attend Biden’s swearing in, although Vice President Mike Pence will attend.
While Trump stayed at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Pence served as the public face of the administration over the weekend, thanking troops at Naval Air Station Lemoore in California Saturday and Fort Drum in New York Sunday.
Monday morning first lady Melania Trump posted a link on Twitter to a parting statement in which she recognized the contribution of White House staff, praised “American craftsmanship” and touted renovations she oversaw in the East Wing and Rose Garden, as well as the construction of a new White House Tennis Pavilion.
Like her husband, who has not talked to the president-elect since the Nov. 3 race was called, the first lady has not scheduled a traditional sit-down with her successor, Dr. Jill Biden.
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.