Washington – Amid requests for his deposition and rumors of invoking the 25th Amendment on the attack on the U.S. Capitol, President Trump plans to resume some official functions this week, including diplomatic outreach, transition activities and a planned trip to the US-Mexico border , a veteran administration official confirms to CBS News.
On Saturday, the plan remained for the government to “ride” the remaining 10 days of Trump’s tumultuous presidency. Three management sources told CBS News that Trump don’t plan to resign, nor does he feel any pressure to do so. No plan to invoke the 25th Amendment was formally introduced to Vice President Mike Pence by the Cabinet, and removal through impeachment it is not considered a viable option.
However, the prospect of a second impeachment is frustrating for the president, who, according to sources, has been talking to allies outside the White House in recent days.
Following the attack, Mr. Trump dispensed silent treatment to his most respectful of allies: Pence.
It has been almost four days since Pence fled to a bunker on Wednesday inside the Capitol to protect him from a pro-Trump crowd, some of whom shouted “hang Mike Pence”.
While Pence took refuge in that bunker, the president did not call the vice president to check on the safety of his family, according to a source close to the vice president. The two haven’t spoken since Wednesday. The president said nothing in public to take the target off Pence’s back, a silence that bothers even the most loyal of Trump’s allies.
The president’s last public remark about his longtime vice president was a hate tweet posted during the attack on Wednesday, in which Trump continued to propagate the false idea that Pence could annul the election results instead of certifying them.
Sources told CBS News that Trump privately acknowledged that the vice president made a “bad deal”. Even so, the president still does not accept any responsibility for the January 6 violence, nor for the underlying fact that the election was legitimate, certification was inevitable and Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Peter Navarro and others were totally wrong to tell him that Pence could take a different course of action.
Several advisers close to Trump are lobbying the president to make some public comments in the coming days. The substance of what he could say is not clear.
The public will see the president for the first time since Monday’s insurrection, with comments on the great technology “canceling it” after being permanently banned on Twitter and several other social media platforms. Mr. Trump will appear at the Texas border on Tuesday, a senior government official confirmed, and he will resume some contacts with cabinet secretaries. The plan is for him to work with the Pentagon and acting defense secretary Chris Miller on unspecified “transition issues”.
Mr. Trump is also scheduled to complete some “final follow-up to the Abraham Agreements”, the September agreement formalize diplomatic relations between Israel and two Gulf states. This diplomatic initiative is likely to involve son-in-law Jared Kushner, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has just returned from Israel, and potentially some foreign leaders. The contact with Mnuchin is notable, especially since he openly discussed the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment earlier this week with the team, as reported by CBS News.
Although Trump administration officials remained silent this weekend, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the vice president are expected to make public comments as early as Monday. White House officials are aware that foreign opponents are exploiting violence in the United States for use in their propaganda, and that the national security team is monitoring potential threats. As CBS News reported on Thursday, no senior national security officer should resign.
CNN said the White House lawyer, Pat Cipollone, was considering resigning. On Saturday, he remained at work.
Arden Farhi of CBS News contributed reporting.