Trump races to rehabilitate brand in final days in office – Newstrends
Connect with us

News

Trump races to rehabilitate brand in final days in office

Published

on

As the House of Representatives voted to impeach him for inciting last week’s violent breach of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, President Donald Trump has an increasingly singular focus in his final days in office: rehabilitating his brand.

Trump’s concern about the future of his personal fortune is among the reasons some of his allies have suggested in recent days that he invite President-elect Joe Biden to the White House for the customary meeting between a sitting and a newly elected president, according to three people familiar with the discussions. And it is why Trump may deliver a farewell address, a tradition for outgoing presidents, to highlight what he sees as his accomplishments.

Proponents of such moves have made the case to Trump that anything he can do to make good on his very recent commitment to a smooth transition of power, even at this late date, “will be better for your brand in the long term,” a Trump ally said.

“The brand is becoming radioactive,” this ally said. “That matters more to him, because that’s going to have real, tangible effects on his life immediately.”

Wednesday marked the second time the House had approved articles of impeachment against Trump. The Senate will not issue its verdict before Biden’s inauguration Jan. 20.

No invitation for a meeting has been extended from the White House, Biden transition officials said.

But conversations between Biden’s transition team and the White House have escalated to more senior ranks this week. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, has spoken with senior Biden transition officials within the past 24 hours, Biden and Trump officials said Wednesday evening. The conversations focused on policy issues, an administration official said, although the officials did not know whether the topic of a meeting between Biden and Trump was discussed.

NBC News has previously reported that if any such meeting took place, it would involve strict coronavirus protocols and that it would likely occur outside, according to Biden aides.

Melania Trump similarly has not invited Jill Biden to the White House for the customary tea between the current and soon-to-be first ladies, a Biden aide said.

Trump administration officials have been conferring with their counterparts on the Biden team at various levels. White House spokesman Judd Deere had a phone call Wednesday with several members of the Biden transition team — Karine Jean-Pierre, TJ Ducklo and Meghan Hays — who will be working in the White House press office. Deere said that during the half-hour call they discussed transition-related topics and press operations.

As Congress moved forward with impeachment, Trump and his shrinking group of advisers have been looking at ways to use his remaining time in the White House to salvage his reputation and minimize the blow to his post-presidential financial standing.

Trump has also made calls this week to ask about the environment for his business ventures, including reaching out to at least one banker to whom he owes money, a person familiar with the call said.

“He’s got to get his branding back up or they’re in trouble,” a Republican close to the White House said. “He went too far.”

Keeping Trump’s brand from further damage is in part what prompted Kushner and deputy White House chief of staff Dan Scavino to object to the idea of his joining some fringe social media platforms — such as Parler or Gab — after he was banned from using mainstream social networks like Twitter and Facebook. An administration official said advisers did not think the more fringe platforms best served Trump’s interests.

In the week since Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol, his business’ bottom line has taken a large hit. The Professional Golfers’ Association of America pulled a prestigious tournament from his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. New York City announced Wednesday that it was severing its multimillion-dollar contracts with the Trump Organization. And some banks have said they will not do business with Trump.

Trump could issue pardons to curry favor in ways that might help protect and rebuild his personal and business brands. In the last week, there has been discussion among his allies over whether he should rethink issuing more controversial pardons, given his diminished political capital, or whether he should “open the floodgates,” as an ally put it, to dilute backlash over pardons of himself or family members and to maximize the number of people who might be indebted to him once he leaves office.

Trump could issue those pardons in two or three groups, with some additional ones, on the evening of Jan. 19 and morning of Jan. 20, hours before his term ends.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon is among those who is concerned that Trump could waver on a pardon for him, two people familiar with the matter said.

Bannon, who was indicted on charges of fraud, has recently expressed worries about his chances of a pardon, and he has told people close to Trump that he thinks Kushner will try to block Trump from pardoning him.

“This is the last time he’s going to have any kind of power,” the Trump ally said. “He might as well use it.”

Trump’s focus on his life post-presidency, rather than on how his final days in office are unfolding, is also evident in the lack of a clear legal strategy or defense team for his Senate trial, according to several people involved in the discussions.

Trump views any impeachment trial as something that is happening after January 20, if at all.

Longtime Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani — who is among those expected to receive pardons — has said he might lead a potential group of lawyers. But others who were involved in impeachment in 2019, such as Alan Dershowitz, said they have not been contacted by the White House for any such assignment.

-NBC News

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

News

Just in: I’ll resign if Yahaya Bello is not prosecuted – EFCC chairman

Published

on

EFCC Chairman, Olanipekun Olukoyede

Just in: I’ll resign if Yahaya Bello is not prosecuted – EFCC chairman

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has vowed to follow to a logical conclusion the prosecution of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.

He states this on Tuesday during an interactive session with media executives in Abuja.

The EFCC chairman said he would resign if Bello escaped prosecution.

He said, “I called Yahaya Bello, as a serving governor, to come to my office to clear himself. I shouldn’t have done that.

“But he said because a certain senator has planted over 100 journalists in my office, he would not come.

“I told him that he would be allowed to use my private gate to give him a cover, but he said my men should come to his village to interrogate him.”

Olukoyede said the EFCC did not violate any law while trying to arrest the former governor from his residence.

READ ALSO:

“Rather, we have obeyed the law. I inherited the case and I didn’t create it. Why has he not submitted himself to the law?” he asked.

“I have arraigned two past governors who have been granted bail now — Willie Obiano and Abdulfatah Ahmed.”

The EFCC chairman promised that anyone responsible for impeding Bello’s arrest from his home in Abuja would face the full force of the law.

“We would have gone after him since January but we waited for the court order,” Olukoyede said.

“As early as 7am, my men were there, over 50 of them. They mounted surveillance.

“We met over 30 armed policemen there. We would have exchanged fire and there would have been casualties.

“My men were about to move in when the governor of Kogi drove in and they later changed the narrative.”

He vowed that all those who have dipped their hands into the nation’s coffers would be investigated and prosecuted.

Olukoyede said, “If I can do Obiano, Abdulfatah Ahmed and Chief Olu Agunloye, my kinsman, why not Yahaya Bello?”

Just in: I’ll resign if Yahaya Bello is not prosecuted – EFCC chairman

Continue Reading

News

Updated: FG to route 20% of palliatives through traditional, religious leaders

Published

on

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

FG to route 20% of palliatives through traditional, religious leaders

President Bola Tinubu has directed that 20 per cent of palliative food intervention should go through religious and traditional institutions.

Vice-President Kashim Shettima made this known on Tuesday while delivering a keynote lecture at a High-Level Dialogue of Faith Leaders on Nutrition in Nigeria held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said, “The Imam of Bayero University (BUK) mentioned about the exclusion of the traditional and religious leaders in the distribution of palliatives.

”The President has approved that 20 per cent of the palliative in terms of food intervention be routed through our religious organisations and the traditional institutions.

“The Tsangaya schools, the mission schools will be specially targeted for such intervention.”

READ ALSO:

The Vice-President said that government was working out the logistics through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to ensure smooth implementation of the intervention programme.

“This intervention will be anchored by the office of the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, and he is going to anchor the programme.

“We are going to provide the overall supervision towards the implementation of the programme.

“Also 20 per cent of the funds for the School Feeding Programme is going to be channelled through the office of the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning to the religious bodies.”

Shettima said government had commenced the engagement and working out modalities for the intervention to ensure a very transparent disbursement.

He added that the intervention would include Tsangaya and Mission schools.

Continue Reading

News

Peter Obi was never a Labour person, LP just special vehicle – Doyin Okupe

Published

on

Peter Obi was never a Labour person, LP just special vehicle – Doyin Okupe

Former director-general of the Labour Party presidential campaign, Doyin Okupe has said the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, never believed in the ideologies of the party.

Okupe stated this while answering questions in an interview on Arise Television’s flagship programme, The Morning Show.

The Labour Part, according to Okupe was just a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the presidential election.

Okupe who resigned his membership of the Labour Party in January, on the grounds of ideological differences said his membership of the party ended the moment Obi lost the election.

“The LP for us — for Peter Obi and I — and those in the leadership of the movement… the party was a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

“I have never been a labour person, I have never operated on the left before but we needed a platform and this was the only platform readily available to us.

READ ALSO:

“We thought that if we won the election… there are no fast and hard rules about ideologies. You can always find a shade between the left and the right. You can always move to the centre.

“We were hoping and praying that if we won we would find a way to come to some consensus with the labour.

“Peter Obi is not a labour person. He is not a leftist person, he is a trader, he is a businessman just like me. I am a liberal democrat, I believe in liberal democracy, I believe in free enterprise.

“I am not a social worker. As far as I’m concerned, my membership of labour expired the moment we lost that election.”

The former presidential aide said it was “unreasonable” for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to present a northerner as its candidate in the buildup to the 2023 election.

Peter Obi was never a Labour person, LP just special vehicle – Doyin Okupe

Continue Reading

Trending

Skip to content