President Donald Trump had to be dissuaded from appearing in person as the House began its proceedings and ultimately voted to impeach him a second time, The New York Times reported late Wednesday.
Advisers told the Times that Trump had to be talked out of going to the House chamber to offer up excuses after he incited a riot at the U.S. Capitol last week.
As lawmakers cast their impeachment votes on Wednesday, an official said that the President instead busied himself by awarding medals to performers such as Toby Keith and Kay Coles James, the president of the Heritage Foundation.
The scene of a president eager to justify his action as “totally appropriate” — as he did to reporters on Tuesday– echoed a similarly defiant Trump who wanted to make an appearance during his first impeachment in December 2019, advisers told the Times.
After the House delivered its second impeachment, Trump, who has said he wants “NO violence” and is now slowly coming around to the reality that his presidency is nearly over, opted to release a video further shirking personal responsibility amid his crumbling image as a “law and order” president.
The President’s advisers have separately discussed the possibility of Trump resigning a few days shy of Jan. 20, according to the Times, which reported that it could spare Trump an impeachment trial and potentially allow him to run again in the future.
Trump has not been persuaded to do so, however. The President, according to the Times report, dismissed the idea to White House aides, reportedly telling them that President Richard Nixon, who lost influence in the Republican Party upon his resignation, was not a boon for stepping down sooner.
