'Not an easy transition': Inside Trump's
unconventional first months out of office
Anchor
Muted Background
By Gabby
Orr, CNN
Updated 1117 GMT
(1917 HKT) April 28, 2021
Palm Beach,
Florida (CNN)Most Mondays and Tuesdays, former President Donald Trump skips
golf to confer with aides about the week ahead.
Together
they decide which Republican candidates he will meet with at his office -- a
converted bridal suite above Mar-a-Lago's 20,000-square-foot ballroom -- and
whether they deserve his support. Often, he'll ask for updates on his
leadership PAC and political operation, or spend hours chatting by phone with a
coterie of old friends.
Far from a
conventional post-White House retirement, Trump's first 100 days out of office
illustrate a man who has preferred plotting the next chapter of his political
career to planning his presidential library, recruiting MAGA-aligned Republican
primary challengers to writing a post-presidential memoir. Whereas his
predecessors disengaged from politics for months after leaving office, Trump
has turned the same political warfare that defined his presidency into a
full-time retirement hobby as he weighs a full return to the spotlight with a potential
comeback presidential bid in 2024.
"He
didn't play by the rules as President and he's certainly not going to as an
ex-President," Newsmax CEO and longtime Trump pal Chris Ruddy said.
More than a
dozen Trump aides, confidants and allies who spoke with CNN -- many of whom
were granted anonymity to candidly discuss his post-presidency -- say the
former President, who remains bitter about his defeat in the 2020 election, has
nevertheless come to enjoy his status as a GOP kingmaker, relishing his ability
to disrupt races or elevate pro-Trump figures against dissenters inside the
party. Others noted that he is yearning to return to the White House and
claimed that his efforts to build a post-presidential political machine are
principally aimed at supporting that goal.
Most days
of the week, Trump begins with 9 a.m. tee times at his namesake golf course 15
minutes from his home. He usually plays 18 holes, but he sometimes stays for
the course's full 27, followed by a leisurely lunch at its clubhouse with a
rotating cast of friends. These days, friends say, he avoids the buffet.
Trump then
conducts candidate interviews or meetings with his staff back at his oceanfront
resort until 7:30 p.m. before joining his wife, Melania, for dinner on
Mar-a-Lago's bustling terrace. In recent weeks, the couple has dined with
former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his wife, Callista, who served as US
ambassador to the Holy See during the Trump administration, and former White
House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who remains a close friend.
"Right
now, he's doing a very good job sustaining his movement in case he does decide
to run," Gingrich said.
'Not an
easy transition'
It took
Trump several weeks to get settled into his post-White House life.
Because he
had refused to accept his loss to President Joe Biden, who emerged from the
November election with a 306-to-232 victory in the Electoral College, few
preparations had been made to prime the luxury South Florida resort for his
arrival.
For their
first few weeks on the job, a small team of aides paid by the General Services
Administration to oversee his transition operated out of a villa on resort
grounds with no office phones, computers or desks. Formally, Trump was allowed
to select the modest team, whose salaries are customarily paid for by the GSA
in accordance with the Former Presidents Act.
But almost
immediately, an assortment of other advisers were invited by Trump to oversee
construction of his new political operation -- one he hoped would guard his
rank as de facto leader of the Republican Party and lend support to allies in
local, state and federal races who could advance his agenda. Among them were
Trump campaign lawyer Justin Clark and attorney Alex Cannon, former Trump
campaign managers Bill Stepien and Brad Parscale, senior adviser Jason Miller,
former White House social media director Dan Scavino and longtime allies Corey
Lewandowski and Dave Bossie.
While the
hangers-on from Trump's reelection campaign began to fine-tune his post-White
House apparatus -- including Save America, a cash-flush leadership PAC created
last year that has allowed him to back candidates for public office, and a
separate super PAC led by Lewandowski -- the ex-President resumed outreach to
others in his orbit.
People
familiar with these interactions said Trump has regularly called Conway, former
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, former White House chief of staff Mark
Meadows, Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio for messaging and political advice or to complain about
Biden and Democratic leaders. And when outside advisers started warning him in
March that his post-presidential operation -- particularly his methods for
vetting candidate endorsements -- appeared disorganized, Trump hauled in
another longtime ally, Florida-based GOP strategist Susie Wiles, to instill
order.
A person
close to Trump who fielded multiple disgruntled calls from the former President
in his first few weeks out of office said it took him several weeks to overcome
the isolation he felt after hundreds of his supporters stormed the US Capitol
on January 6 and he was thrust into a political exile. After he arrived at
Mar-a-Lago following a low-key sendoff at Joint Base Andrews the morning of
Biden's inauguration, this person said Trump would talk about forming a third
party and complain that Republicans, like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy
of California, couldn't wait to get rid of him -- noting that his focus was on
the past, not the future, which contributed to the early chaos in his
post-presidential operation.
"Most
people would leave the White House relieved to have the weight of the world
lifted off their shoulders, but for him it was a reality that took some time to
get used to. Those first few weeks, it was not an easy transition," said
the person close to Trump.
Building
his empire
By
mid-February, Trump -- convinced by aides and Republican party leaders that
2022 should be his immediate focus and still interested in exacting revenge
against GOP incumbents who had voted to impeach him or dismissed his election
fraud charade -- began discussing candidate endorsements with his team.
The former
President already had a laundry list of prospective primary challengers lined
up to take on his foes inside the party. But privately, he was working the
phones to recruit more.
In Georgia,
he encouraged GOP Rep. Jody Hice to launch a bid to unseat Secretary of State
Brad Raffensperger, who repeatedly rejected Trump's baseless claims of rampant
voter fraud in the state and is currently cooperating with state investigators
as they investigate a January 2 phone call in which then-President Trump asked
Raffensberger to find the votes needed to flip the state into his column. In
Ohio, where Trump has yet to bestow his blessing on one of the several
Republican candidates running to fill outgoing GOP Sen. Rob Portman's seat, the
former President reportedly grilled four of the contenders at his Palm Beach
golf club before a fundraiser last month.
Aides say
Trump is still on the hunt for a primary recruit in Georgia's 2022
gubernatorial race due to his dissatisfaction with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp's
handling of the 2020 results in his state.
They note
he is also vetting challengers to Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the only
Senate Republican facing reelection next fall who voted to convict him after
his second impeachment trial earlier this year. He has plans to target the 10
House Republicans who voted to impeach him and are hoping to hang on to their
seats in the upcoming midterm elections, as well.
Occasionally,
the 45th President has invited candidates to meet with him at Mar-a-Lago who he
has no intention of endorsing. One Trump aide said he enjoys the lavish praise
and frequently crows to guests at the club about the weight his support
carries. He has similarly hosted incumbent Republicans who have echoed his
false claims about the January 6 insurrection and are already widely expected
to receive his endorsement.
Last week,
for instance, Trump met with Rep. Claudia Tenney, a New York Republican who has
falsely asserted that many of the insurrectionists who ransacked the halls of
Congress "probably weren't ever Trump people."
Next month,
these proverbial pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago will end as Trump escapes the hot
Florida summer to relocate to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The move
has frustrated some allies who view his Florida resort as an ideal access point
to wealthy Republican donors in the area -- including former Commerce Secretary
Wilbur Ross, who former Trump aides starting their own political outfits have
solicited for financial support -- and who are wary of the old friends Trump
will encounter during his stay up North.
"A lot
of his aides and allies thought Florida was going to be the center of the Earth
for the next two years, and now he's up and out of there," said a former
senior administration official. "His Bedminster club is much more closely
knit, and you really never know who's going to show up."
People
familiar with his plans said Trump will continue to host meetings at
Bedminster, where he conducted many of his interviews for Cabinet posts during
the 2016 presidential transition and where the conference rooms and office
space may create an environment that is more conducive to his post-presidential
planning. The New Jersey venue will also serve as the backdrop for lengthy
interviews of which Trump is the subject, as he continues meeting with
journalists who are penning books about his presidency and already completed
first-round interviews at Mar-a-Lago.
"Our
expectation is that the fundraisers and meetings will continue undisrupted.
He'll probably want to host people in his living room at the cottage in
Bedminster," said one person close to Trump's operation.
Deciding
what his future holds
Some Trump
allies are hoping this summer will provide clarity about the former President's
2024 ambitions and his plans to assist candidates he's already endorsed, or who
he plans to, ahead of the midterm elections in November 2022.
Trump has
played coy about his desire to seek a second term -- declining to either rule
out a bid or commit to running -- while promoting Republicans who are widely
seen as strong contenders themselves for the party's nomination. In a March 22
appearance on "The Truth with Lisa Boothe," Trump said the GOP has
"a pretty deep bench" of possible contenders and went so far as to
name-check Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Sen.
Josh Hawley of Missouri.
His
noncommittal posturing has frustrated some allies, who worry he is blowing an
opportunity to take control of the GOP early on and opening the door for other
presidential hopefuls to forge relationships with his supporters.
"It's
important to have a field-clearing exercise sooner rather than later if he's
going to run, otherwise some of these other guys are going to start getting
momentum," said the former senior administration official.
Indeed,
some rumored 2024 contenders have been laying the groundwork for their own
potential campaigns with appearances in states that will play a critical role
in the Republican presidential primary and general election: Former Vice
President Mike Pence will deliver his first public address since leaving office
in South Carolina this week. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who visited
Iowa in March, also appeared virtually at a fundraiser last month for New
Hampshire Republicans. And both DeSantis and former US Ambassador to the United
Nations Nikki Haley are due for appearances in Pennsylvania and Iowa,
respectively, in the next two months. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Tom Cotton
of Arkansas and Tim Scott of South Carolina have also made recent stops in Iowa
-- or plan to in coming months -- fueling speculation about their presidential
ambitions.
Other Trump
allies have urged him to fine-tune his post-presidential messaging, which has
featured ruthless attacks against Republican Party leaders and incumbent GOP
officeholders and only recently drifted into regular criticism of the Biden
administration. They say the vengeance-driven strategy he has deployed so far
is unlikely to be helpful in the long term and ignores what they view as layup
opportunities to target Biden and Democratic leaders over issues like
immigration, taxes and identity politics.
"I think
the radicalism of the Democrats is going to rebound enormously to Trump's
benefit and he would be better off to focus on the Democrats. He has enough
friends to go after disloyal Republicans," said Gingrich.
"He
should take the higher position and focus on larger domestic issues and
international crises," added Newsmax CEO Ruddy.
While aides
say Trump has recently been paying more attention to Biden's agenda and policy
decisions -- last week he issued a statement criticizing Biden's timeline for
withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan and told Fox News' Sean Hannity
that the surge of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border could "destroy
our country" -- the former President's focus remains primarily on himself.
"He
hates being off the A block," said a person close to Trump, using a term
that refers to the lead segment in a cable news program. "He's really
thinking of running again in 2024 just to get back to that."
The person
close to Trump's operation said that while his TV consumption has declined since
he left office -- a byproduct of him no longer being surrounded by televisions
in the Oval Office or aboard Air Force One -- he still reads The New York
Times, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post each morning and regularly
marks up articles about his achievements or policies to send to aides and
advisers.
And when an
unflattering story pops up, he is quick to pick up the phone to complain to
friends.
"He'll
usually call when there are some bad polls saying something about him or that
he feels are out of whack," Trump pollster John McLaughlin said.
Recently,
Trump has initiated discussions about resuming the signature MAGA rallies that
fortified his nascent political movement in 2016 and continued throughout his
presidency. While he has vowed to travel to Alaska to campaign against
Murkowski and is said to be interested in hosting campaign events for some of
the candidates he's already endorsed, aides said the logistics are still being
worked out but that he could resume rallies as early as May.
"It
will definitely be different in terms of the setup, but we got really good at
planning these events in 2020, so we will probably use a lot of those same
vendors again," said the person close to Trump's post-White House
operation.
Life after
Washington for the rest of Trump's family
While
Trump's life has changed dramatically since he left Washington three months ago
to pursue the next phase of his political career, so too has his family's.
Most of his
adult children, as well as his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have taken a break
from the spotlight to provide private counsel to their father or focus on their
own families. Several Trump aides who have spent the past few months shuttling
between Washington and Mar-a-Lago said Ivanka Trump and Kushner, who purchased
a $30 million waterfront lot in Miami shortly before leaving the White House,
are the most withdrawn.
Once a
prolific over-sharer on social media, with frequent video posts about
everything from the child tax credit to workforce campaigns and hundreds of
photographs of herself, Ivanka Trump, like her dad, has spent the past 100 days
in relative online silence. Kushner, meanwhile, has popped in and out of his
father-in-law's orbit as he devotes much of his time to writing a book about
his tenure inside the West Wing and preserving the Middle East peace treaties
he helped negotiate during the Trump presidency.
"She
wants to spend as much time as she can with her family after a few very busy
years," said a person familiar with Ivanka's new life in Miami, adding
that Trump's elder daughter continues to be a "hands-on mom."
Likewise
for Trump's wife and former first lady, Melania Trump, whose life outside the
East Wing has changed both very much and not at all. People familiar with her
activities say she continues to do what she wants when she wants and is not
beholden to the norms of conventional post-first lady duties in the same way
she conformed to traditions while her husband was in office.
Though she
established her own official office with at least three staffers, the most that
has come out of it appears to be a stylized logo reminiscent of a presidential
seal. She has not made any official appearances since leaving Washington, nor
has she announced plans for a memoir -- a popular post-White House activity for
former first ladies.
"She's
not a presence at Mar-a-Lago at all. She's not mingling with people and rarely
interacts with her husband's staff," said a person close to the couple.
What has
primarily changed for her, 100 days out, is her environment. Far from the
sprawling White House complex, she and Trump share a large suite of rooms at
the 17-acre Mar-a-Lago property, though she maintains her own personal office.
She makes frequent trips to the on-site spa -- with one person telling CNN she
sometimes goes for treatments twice a day -- and spends her afternoons with the
couple's son, Barron, now 15.
Three
people familiar with Trump's dinnertime appearances say she appears "happy
and relaxed" when they have seen her, and that she smiles and gives a wave
as other dinner patrons rise from their seats to applaud the arrival of the
former first couple to the dining area. She likes the Dover sole and a Diet
Coke with no ice, and two of the people note she is often joined by her
parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, who spend weeks at a time at the South
Florida club in their own personal suite, which functions as their seasonal
home.
The only
Trump relative whose involvement in politics has seemingly increased since the
former President left office is that of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who
recently closed on a home in Jupiter, Florida, with his girlfriend, Kimberly
Guilfoyle, and has become a trusted adviser to his father on political strategy
and candidate endorsements.
Trump Jr.
and Guilfoyle purchased the 11,000-square-foot home in the Admiral's Cove
development for $9.7 million and are expected to move in shortly, according to
a source. Trump's ex-wife, Vanessa Trump, spends a substantial part of the year
with the couple's five children in Jupiter, which also happens to be a
40-minute drive from Mar-a-Lago. It is unclear if Trump Jr., who recently
returned from a hunting trip in Alaska, will become a regular presence at his
father's Bedminster golf club once the former President relocates for the
summer. So far, he has stayed in touch with his father mostly by phone, with
occasional appearances at his resort in Palm Beach.
CNN's Kate
Bennett contributed to this story.
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