Tag: Trump White House

‘People Are Just Trying to Land the Airplane.’ White House Staff Packs Up as Trump Rages On

As President Donald Trump pushes the limits of his power in a last ditch attempt to overturn the election results, the reality that Trump is leaving the White House on Jan. 20 has already sunk in for many White House officials. Many still working directly under Trump every day are trying to keep their heads down during the President’s antidemocratic antics, finish their jobs, pack up their desks and go home. “People are just trying to land the airplane,” says one White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “A lot of people don’t want to be here. It’s just that you can’t abandon ship when the ship isn’t Trump — it’s the country.”

White House officials are scrambling to finish up long-standing policy changes and implement parts of the latest pandemic relief package and new medical regulations, and follow through with parts of the new defense authorization bill that need to be put in place before Trump’s term ends. Officials from the transition team of President-Elect Joe Biden have been working in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the West Wing to prepare to take over in two weeks. But staff are finding it increasingly difficult to get Trump’s attention as he remains fixated on reversing his election loss and pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to overreach his power during Senate electoral college vote count Wednesday. “He is still consumed with all this kind of stuff, the election, and all that kind of thing,” the official says.

Trump is still signing off on urgent decisions, such as an order over the weekend to turn around the homebound aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and keep it in the Middle East in response to what the Pentagon said were Iranian threats against Trump. On Tuesday, Trump approved a ban on the use of several online payment applications run by Chinese companies over concerns the Chinese government was using the apps to collect valuable economic and national security data on American citizens. But Trump’s public comments and tweets have been focused on overturning the election results, not his final policy goals. “Whenever he speaks publicly it’s about the election,” the official says. “It’s a terrible moment right now.” Continue reading.

White House moves to freeze some foreign aid, defying Congress in Trump’s final days

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Trump had criticized foreign aid that was included in a recent spending bill he signed into law.

The White House is preparing to temporarily freeze some foreign aid during President Trump’s final days in office, two people with knowledge of the planning said, slowing down funds already approved by Congress.

The Trump administration can’t unilaterally cancel the funding, but it can bog the process down by asking Congress to claw the money back. Lawmakers will likely reject this request, but the act of asking Congress to recoup the money allows the White House to freeze it until Trump leaves office on Jan. 20.

Trump has long complained about U.S. taxpayer money going to other countries, but Congress has repeatedly blocked him from doing anything about it. Continue reading.

House Oversight chair has ‘grave concerns’ the Trump team is trashing White House records

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House Oversight Committee chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney expressed “grave concerns” Monday that the outgoing Trump administration “may be disposing” of presidential records in violation of federal law.

Maloney (D-N.Y.) voiced her concerns in a letter to Archivist of the United States David Ferriero. She referenced the Presidential Records Act and the requirements the post-Watergate statute imposes on President Donald Trump and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which Ferriero heads.

The law says that the president can’t get rid of presidential records, including memos, emails, and notes, without first getting “the views, in writing, of the Archivist concerning the proposed disposal.” The archivist must “request the advice” of several congressional committees—including the House Oversight Committee—regarding such proposals to see if the records in question “may be of special interest to the Congress” or if congressional consultation may be “in the public interest.” Continue reading.

White House secures ‘three martini lunch’ tax deduction in draft of coronavirus relief package

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President Trump has long seized on the tax break as a way to revive the restaurant industry. But economists have panned it as ineffective and largely benefiting the wealthy.

The draft language of the emergency coronavirus relief package includes a tax break for corporate meal expenses pushed by the White House and strongly denounced by some congressional Democrats, according to a summary of the deal circulating among congressional officials and officials who are familiar with the provision.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a proposal that had not yet been publicly released.

President Trump has for months talked about securing the deduction — derisively referred to as the “three-martini lunch” by critics — as a way to revive the restaurant industry badly battered by the pandemic. Continue reading.

The inside story of how Trump’s denial, mismanagement and magical thinking led to the pandemic’s dark winter

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As the number of coronavirus cases ticked upward in mid-November — worse than the frightening days of spring and ahead of an expected surge after families congregated for Thanksgiving — four doctors on President Trump’s task force decided to stage an intervention.

After their warnings had gone largely unheeded for months in the dormant West Wing, Deborah Birx, Anthony S. Fauci, Stephen Hahn and Robert Redfield together sounded new alarms, cautioning of a dark winter to come without dramatic action to slow community spread.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, among the many Trump aides who were infected with the virus this fall, was taken aback, according to three senior administration officials with knowledge of the discussions. He told the doctors he did not believe their troubling data assessment. And he accused them of outlining problems without prescribing solutions. Continue reading.

Where are the ‘continuity of government’ vaccine doses coming from? No one wants to say

DC Health says they aren’t in the District’s allotment, Warp Speed won’t explain

Where is the supply of COVID-19 vaccines coming from for senior officials across government? No one will say.

Days after the White House confirmed that senior officials would receive COVID-19 vaccines to help ensure continuity of government, it remains unclear from where those vaccine doses will originate.

The District of Columbia Department of Health insists the vaccine doses will not come from their allocation. The local government in Washington has been working with neighboring jurisdictions to make sure the residents of Maryland and Virginia who are frontline health care workers within D.C. are able to get vaccines. But that doesn’t appear to extend to federal officials. Continue reading.

O’Brien cuts short Europe trip to address agency hacking

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser returned to Washington early to coordinate the government response to the suspected Russian cyberattack.

Robert O’Brien, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, cut short a European trip to return to Washington to coordinate the government response to the suspected Russian cyber attack on multiple federal agencies, according to an administration official.

O’Brien flew back to Washington on Tuesday from Paris, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, to address the attack, which targeted the Departments of Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security and Defense.

The official said the change in plans is a reflection of how seriously they view the situation. O’Brien has had a heavy travel schedule as national security adviser and was criticized for traveling to a number of swing states right before the election. He has told friends that he wants to run for president in 2024. Continue reading.

Washington navigates ethical minefield on getting first Covid shots

President Donald Trump, President-elect Joe Biden and leaders in Congress could help themselves to the vaccine in the coming days. The question is: should they?

The first Covid shots will soon be available to top officials and essential staff in the White House, the Pentagon and Congress. But they’re already facing a political and ethical dilemma over who should be at the front of the line.

While most of the scarce Pfizer vaccine is now on its way to hospitals and nursing homes across the country, some of the first tranche was reserved for federal leaders to ensure the government can continue to function as U.S. deaths and hospitalizations peak. President Donald Trump, President-elect Joe Biden and leaders in Congress could help themselves to it in the coming days. The question is: should they?

On Monday, Biden’s transition team said no decision had been made, and that the president-elect is consulting with his chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci on timing. Trump will hold off for now, but Secret Service agents, the White House medical unit staff and those who run critical operations like the Situation Room will be vaccinated on a staggered basis in the coming weeks, to ensure they don’t all suffer unexpected side effects at once. Congress still is waiting to find out how many doses will be available and when, but some lawmakers are already vowing not to elbow their way ahead. Continue reading.

Trump Rescinds Plan for White House Staff to Be Quickly Vaccinated

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The administration had initially defended a plan to distribute vaccines to its senior members even as the first doses are generally being reserved for high-risk health care workers.

President Trump said on Sunday night that he would delay a plan for senior White House staff members to receive the coronavirus vaccine in the coming days, hours after The New York Times reported that the administration was planning to rapidly distribute the vaccine to its staff at a time when the first doses are generally being reserved for high-risk health care workers.

Mr. Trump, who tested positive for the coronavirus in October and recovered after being hospitalized, also implied that he would get the vaccine himself at some point in the future, but said he had no immediate plans to do so.

“People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary,” Mr. Trump tweeted, hours after a National Security Council spokesman had defended the plan. “I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time. Thank you!” Continue reading.