The president also left open the possibility of forgiving himself, despite Cipollone’s concern and warnings from outside advisers that he would inflame investigators who are already persecuting him.
Mr. Trump has never been more isolated than this week. The White House has few employees, according to people who went to work there on Wednesday. Those who went to work tried to avoid the Oval Office.
More and more team members have resigned, and the White House attorney’s office is not preparing to defend him at the Senate trial. His political adviser, Jason Miller, posted on Twitter a poll by one of the campaign’s researchers, John McLaughlin, to show the president’s control over the party, while House Republicans discussed their votes.
Plans to move Trump to another online platform after he was stopped by Twitter have been suspended. One option was the Gab platform, which attracted extremists and conspiracy followers from QAnon. Trump adviser Johnny McEntee favored the site, but Kushner blocked the move, according to people familiar with the discussions, who were previously reported by Bloomberg News.
Mr. Giuliani is among those facing recriminations because of his involvement in inciting the crowd that attacked the Capitol. A group of former US assistant attorneys who worked with him when he served as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan expressed dismay on Wednesday at his presence at the previous rally.
In a letter, the group said Giuliani’s comments, in which he urged Trump supporters to engage in “trial by combat” to prevent certification of election results, contributed to the loss of life and damage inflicted on the country.
“It was shocking and totally disheartening to see one of our former colleagues engaging in this conduct,” said the former prosecutors in the letter, which was signed by many of Giuliani’s colleagues, including Kenneth Feinberg, Ira Lee Sorkin, Elliot Sagor and Richard Ben – Veniste.