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GOP leaders and President Trump confidants tell Axios his legal fight to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory – which they admit is likely doomed – could last a month or more, possibly pushing forward the political wars of 2020 around Christmas.
Why is this important: Most of the top Republicans followed Trump’s orders not to accept Biden’s victory and to allow all legal options to be exhausted. It could mean weeks of drama – and, more importantly, distractions from the government’s vital work in transition for a change of power.
Axios is told an internal effort is underway to deter Trump from pursuing a blitz (with Rudy Giuliani as the tip of the spear) that could mean three to six weeks of legal challenges, discoveries and rulings – at the same time as Biden speaks daily of a healing message .
- Some prominent sources tell Axios that Trump has no plans to call for national unity. “No chance,” says one person who speaks often to the president.
- A senior Republican who speaks often to Trump said the president was “angry … volatile … inconsolable.”
The backdrop: Alayna Treene landed in Axios Sneak Peek last night that most people close to Trump know the race is over, even if no one wants to tell her.
- Trump plans to hold litigation-focused rallies and wield obituaries of people who have been registered as voters but have died, Trump’s advisers have told him.
The senior republican said there was a real split in the extended inner circle between the people who are pushing Trump to keep fighting and those “trying to gently push the president into giving in.”
- The second camp, which includes the senior Republican, argues, “You have a real future as a kingmaker. Don’t ruin it by coming out badly, leaving the mark diminished and radioactive.”
The bottom line: Republican agents told Axios they fear Trump’s scorched earth fight will divert money from the real price remaining for the GOP – Georgia’s Jan.5 runoff that will determine control of the Senate.
- A senior Republican said of the legal fight: “It’s a distraction. And a huge waste of time.”
- The person who speaks to the president often said, “Republicans … are very concerned about the Senate. Trump is not.”
- A former senior official in Trump’s West Wing said, “Surprise, it’s all about him.”
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