President Donald Trump’s friends and political associates are worried that he is not taking the mounting issues of his impeachment serious enough. It is a week since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made it clear that lawmakers will initiate impeachment inquiry into his alliance with Ukraine’s president. But rather for Trump to mount a formidable defense for his involvement in the allegation, he spends more time on Twitter tweeting expletives against the whistleblower that sold him out, CNN reports.
Democrats have made it clear they aim to conclude the impeachment inquiry before the end of this year so that it doesn’t spill into the 2020 election year, yet Trump has been dragging his feet about putting a response team into action to stop the lawmakers. In fact, close sources said the president thinks he does not need a separate impeachment team to help him and that he can single-handedly handle the furor going on in the House.
Trump’s political allies believe he is belittling the implications of what lies ahead and how fast it is coming at him. Instead, he spent considerable time on the phone during the weekend lambasting the whistleblower and others that aided the informant. He is even calling for the head of the House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, saying he should be tried for treason for reading an untrue version of his conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine.
Although Republican lawmakers are trying their best to salvage the situation, Trump seems to be making their task difficult – denying he did anything wrong. The crux of his chat with Zelensky centers on asking Ukraine to investigate his potential rival for 2020 and former Vice-President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
Analysts said it might help if Trump brought back his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, to lead a defense team to help his case with lawmakers. But the president seems uninterested in the idea and even balked at the idea of having more lawyers help him apart from his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Republic lawmakers and staffers in the White House are jittery about which side the pendulum will swing for the president, a presidential aide revealed.
Trump held a meeting with White House lawyers and Giuliani on Friday on how to proceed with the impeachment inquiry, but analysts said this is belated because the presidency has lost several days of opportunity to mold public opinion on the unfolding drama. Instead, Trump has been using Twitter to attack his enemies. Trump’s former homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert, said he is disappointed with the president and how he has been frustrating his internal legal team.
Related: Abuse of power, not criminality: the key to Trump impeachment
