President Donald Trump reportedly met with his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, attorney Sidney Powell, and former Lt. General Michael Flynn on Friday where several ideas were discussed that appear to have been shot down after the president’s top allies and advisers intervened to warn the president.
During the meeting, Trump considered making “Powell, who as a lawyer for his campaign team unleashed a series of conspiracy theories about a Venezuelan plot to rig voting machines in the United States, a special counsel investigating voter fraud,” The New York Times reported. “Most of his advisers opposed the idea, two of the people briefed on the discussion said, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, who in recent days sought to have the Department of Homeland Security join the campaign’s efforts to overturn Mr. Trump’s loss in the election.”
Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone repeatedly pushed back on the ideas that were being proposed which reportedly included Trump asking Flynn about “Flynn’s suggestion of deploying the military.”
The meeting and the ideas that were discussed sent shockwaves throughout Trump’s inner circle of top supporters, who Powell allegedly accused of being “quitters.”
Powell “has repeatedly claimed there was widespread fraud, but several lawsuits she filed related to election fraud have been tossed out of court,” the Times noted. “Part of the White House meeting on Friday night was a discussion about an executive order to take control of voting machines to examine them, according to one of the people briefed. Mr. Giuliani has separately pressed the Department of Homeland Security to seize possession of voting machines as part of a push to overturn the results of the election, three people familiar with the discussion said. Mr. Giuliani was told the department does not have the authority to do such a thing.”
Trump’s alleged consideration to make Powell a special counsel comes after the Trump campaign, at the behest of the president, distanced itself from Powell last month after she made unproven claims during a press conference that many of Trump’s top allies were stunned by — including Tucker Carlson and Rush Limbaugh. The Washington Post noted that a Trump campaign official said at the time that Powell “was too crazy even for the president.”
“Some of the president’s closest allies worry that his efforts to reverse the election will tarnish his legacy and hurt the GOP, which faces two runoff elections next month in Georgia that will decide the balance of power in the U.S. Senate,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “The president held one rally in Georgia, but a Saturday rally officials had been preparing for never materialized. Advisers say he may visit the state right before the Jan. 5 election.”
Stephen Moore, a longtime ally and economic adviser to the president, said that Trump needs to “leave triumphant” and “stop grousing.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recognized Democrat Joe Biden as the next President of the United States this week during a speech on the Senate floor where he repeatedly highlighted and praised the numerous accomplishments of the Trump administration.