When Trump announced that he wanted the world to know the content of the conversation between him and the President of Ukraine, White House advisers were frightened.
When the US president issued this statement in September, the Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives interviewed dozens of witnesses, but the impeachment investigation seemed to remain in place. Trump advisers believe that the White House has no reason to publish the content of the conversation, and its publicity will not immediately vindicate for Trump.
Some also believe that the disclosure of the contents of the July 25 telephone conversation between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky was a disaster.
Many of Trump's loyalists, including Senator Lindsey Graham, advised the President to let lawyers and media experts deal with impeachment investigations. However, since the US House of Representatives opened an investigation in September, Trump has frequently criticized, calling it a "witch hunt" in almost every event and tweeting about it every day to protect himself. .
Trump also raised the issue of impeachment investigations during meetings with religious leaders or congressmen. They went to the White House to discuss many other issues, but ended up listening to the President's outburst about the Democratic party.
At the White House and Trump's re-election campaign headquarters, all focus is on the impeachment investigation, hampering efforts to resolve other issues. The policy goals the president had hoped to accomplish this fall, such as drug price reforms and some form of gun control, were set aside.
On November 1, when asked who is responsible for managing the President's impeachment investigation, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said it was Trump. "The answer is the president. Many people are working on this, but we still have many issues that America needs to solve, not including a impeachment investigation," she said.
Trump seems to want to "stronger self-defense" by asking his aides to arrange more political campaigns, where he can speak out about his innocence with the crowd of supporters. His re-election campaign is scheduled for a series of events over the next few weeks. The White House also plans to host some events to enable Trump to speak.
This schedule is seen as an opportunity for Trump to spread his "self-defense" message, in addition to campaigning for candidates in the upcoming governors of Louisiana, Kentucky and Mississippi. "The media and the Democrats have colluded in a bad relationship, trying to impose their will and hindering American democracy. 'Impeachment' is something I never thought I would. encounter, "Trump said in the city of Tupelo, Mississippi on November 1.
In caucuses, Trump expressed frustration when many Republicans did not speak out about his innocence as strongly as he defended himself, and wondered why allies in the Senate were still Be cautious when judging his actions. Not many Republican senators have pledged to protect Trump, even if most think they should not impeach and depose the President.
The original strategy of White House officials was to "ignore" the impeachment investigation, on the grounds that it had not been formally approved by the House of Representatives. However, Trump himself is skeptical of this approach, constantly asserting that he did nothing wrong and that the Republican party should protect him from slander.
But after the House of Representatives voted on October 31 through the investigation, this practice proved ineffective. The vote helps establish a legal process for impeachment investigations, potentially hindering efforts to help Trump in this direction.
The Trump administration is unlikely to continue to "ignore" the impeachment investigation, especially after Alexander Vindman, director of European affairs at the National Security Council, became a House official on October 29. White incumbent first testified in parliament in more than 10 hours.
Several other officials are also facing hearings, such as the National Security Council lawyer John Eisenberg and deputy deputy Michael Ellis. However, these two people are likely not going to testify before the House of Representatives.
While the White House is trying to prevent more people from testifying in the impeachment investigation, Trump's re-election campaign seems to be trying to find ways to capitalize on it to win voter support by calling for they protect the President.
The campaign's headquarters in Arlington, Virginia dedicated a region to carry out operations to protect Trump and attack former US Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate's top candidate in the House race. White in 2020.
According to observers, although there is no overall media plan or clear legal strategy, Trump's team has at least become more "skilled" in responding to the President's instructions. After Trump suggested in an October 31 afternoon interview that he should probably sell T-shirts with the words "Read the content (telegraph)", his campaign sold them on the website the morning. after.
The campaign also said it raised $ 3 million on the voting day through impeachment investigations in the lower house, further strengthening Trump's financial advantage over Democratic rivals, when just one more year until the 2020 presidential election.
This advantage helps Trump's campaign conditionally increase advertising on national television during golden hours. Currently, they focus on criticizing the Democrats for being "obsessed" with impeachment and "fake" investigations that ignore the real problems of the country.
"But that doesn't stop Donald Trump. He's not a gentleman, but sometimes we need a Donald Trump to change Washington," an ad said.