It appears to be finally dawning on President Donald Trump that he will be catching more scrutiny after November if Democrats take the House and possibly the Senate, according to a former Trump media worker speaking with CNN.
On Wednesday Trump distanced himself from two of his top political advisers, writing that if their outside work [with Russia] presents a conflict, “I will terminate them, immediately!”
Trump’s complaint came after The New York Times published a report showing James Blair, who now leads Trump’s outside political operation, and Chris LaCivita, Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager, traveled to the Balkans last week for paid work on behalf of a pro-Putin government enclave.
Trump claims he was unaware that the two men had traveled to the Balkans or that the two were representing a pro-Putin facet of the government until the New York Times piece, said sources speaking with CNN.
But Alyssa Farah Griffin, who worked in Trump’s first term as the White House director of strategic communications, told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper that the optics of this remained terrible.
“To frame either of these individuals is not senior … is laughable,” said Griffin. “These are very senior officials. LaCivita was important to his campaign. …[and] right now, 27 days from the midterms, his top political advisors are somewhere abroad and not working on maintaining the House.”
But even more telling, Griffin pointed to news of Trump saying he could have done “very bad things to Hillary Clinton” and others.
“I could have done very, very bad things to Joe Biden,” Trump said after he was asked what Democrats would impeach him for if the party wins back the House and the Senate in November. “I could have done very bad things to Barack Hussein Obama. I thought it was inappropriate to do so because you have to treat the office of the presidency with respect.”
But not so respected that he doesn’t target his other purported enemies, according to critics.
Trump was already impeached twice during his first term in office, one in response to a call he made to Ukrainian President Zelensky in which he pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden. He was later impeached following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. In both cases, Republican allies in the Senate refused to impeach.
“Not helpful musings as your closing message heading into the midterms,” Griffin told Cooper. “It's been a preoccupation of the president's that he likes to remind people he didn't go after Hillary Clinton, but he could have. This is a common refrain that he goes back to. But this honestly feels like a bob in a weave as he's starting to process the fact that he's had total control of the White House and both chambers of commerce of Congress. And that's about to change.”
“He is going to be subject to oversight,” continued Griffin, speaking of incoming Democrats. “He remembers Impeachment 1. He remembers Impeachment 2, and I don't think he wants to deal with what comes with a potential Impeachment 3.”