Trump’s criticism of GOP Senate candidates has Republicans worried ahead of rally
President Donald Trump heads to Georgia on Saturday to campaign for two Republican senators one month ahead of a critical runoff that will determine which party controls the Senate. But Trump's visit comes as he has spent the last several weeks consumed by his own election loss while attacking party officials in the state, casting doubt on its voting process and questioning one of the lawmakers he's urging voters to elect.
According to two sources, during a recent phone call Trump blasted Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp as a "moron" and "nut job" and asked why Sen. Kelly Loeffler did not secure a majority of votes on Election Day, placing her in a runoff against the Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock. Last December, Trump had lobbied Kemp to fill the seat vacated by Johnny Isakson with Doug Collins, not Loeffler, but Kemp appointed Loeffler anyway -- a factor Trump has harped on in recent days.
Trump's private and public broadsides have raised concerns among Republicans that his interference could do more harm than good in the pivotal races.
If Democrats can win both races, it will dramatically change the trajectory of the first two years of Joe Biden's presidency. It would make the Senate a 50-50 tie between the two caucuses, allowing Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the deciding vote -- giving him much greater leeway in naming his Cabinet and confirming judges. But if the Republicans pick off just one of the seats, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will retain control of the chamber, forcing Democrats into a much more compromising position.
But Trump's impending campaign rally in Georgia has some Republicans on edge, concerned Trump could depress turnout among his base if he continues to rail against Georgia's election system and launches more attacks against Kemp.
"It's not helpful if he goes down there and attacks the governor for an hour and a half. But really, what needs to happen is he needs to say a couple things -- the right things -- that will be loaded into a teleprompter and that we can cut up and use for TV," a Trump adviser said. "If he says the few things that we need him to say, it'll be helpful.
Despite his popularity with Republicans, Trump was reluctant to campaign in Georgia and grudgingly agreed to visit one month before the critical race after being lobbied by several allies, according to multiple sources.
Perdue and Loeffler both called Trump before Thanksgiving, urging him to come campaign in their state ahead of the runoff, a Republican familiar with the conversation said.
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Others, such as Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, have also encouraged Trump to campaign in Georgia, plying him with the prospect that he can take credit for a Loeffler and Perdue victory in January if he campaigns in the Peach State.
Trump will hold a rally at an airport hangar in Valdosta, Georgia on Saturday following a visit by Vice President Mike Pence to the state Friday. Kemp, who Trump called "hapless" this week, had been scheduled to meet Pence on the tarmac but canceled at the last minute over a "family emergency." It's not clear if he will meet Trump on the tarmac Saturday.
Several sources who have spoken with Trump in recent days described a President more obsessed with his own election loss than preserving the power of Republicans in the Senate, despite how many members of his party have privately expressed a desire to put the 2020 election behind them and focus on the Georgia runoff.
Trump taped a 46-minute video this week that was mainly filled with recycled grievances and lies about the election, despite his own attorney general stating this week that the Justice Department had uncovered no evidence of voter fraud that would change the election outcome. Trump questioned how Republicans could have fared so well in the 2020 race while he lost.
"It is statistically impossible that the person, me, that led the charge lost," Trump falsely claimed in the video.
Trump's rally is being funded by the RNC instead of his campaign, which usually foots the bill, but not because of a lack of cash. In the last month, Trump's campaign has inundated supporters with fundraising appeals over his baseless claims the election was rigged. Refusing to concede the White House race has proved to be a lucrative endeavor for the President, given his political operation has raised more than $207 million since Election Day.
Asked about Trump's reluctance to travel to the state, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told CNN: "Control of the US Senate is on the line in Georgia's two runoff elections and the President knows it's imperative that Sen. Perdue and Sen. Loeffler are successful. The President is going to Georgia to rally Republicans and remind them what's at stake."
CNN reported this week that Georgia Republicans are increasingly worried about Trump's rally as some brace for a tirade to overturn his loss that could hurt the party's effort to keep control of the chamber. A group of prominent former Georgia Republican officials, including former Gov. Nathan Deal and former Sens. Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, released a statement on Wednesday urging the party to unify and to shift attention to the challenge of protecting their Senate majority.
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When asked if he thought the President would change his tune on Saturday, Chambliss told CNN that he does not predict what Trump will do. "And that's part of the concern that I have," he said.
"I want him coming down here talking about Kelly and David, and how important they are to the future of the country, and how their election is so critical to his legacy," said the former senator. "If he wants his legacy to remain, then he needs to ensure that we win both these seats -- and he needs to say that in no uncertain terms."
Trump's team and the RNC have been coordinating with the Perdue and Loeffler campaigns to get out the vote in Georgia. Donald Trump Jr. has made it clear that his father's supporters need to back the GOP ticket. Trump Jr. is starring in a series of ads that will air on conservative media outlets designed to get out the Trump vote.
The Trump administration must post a public notice that it will accept new applications for the Obama-era program shielding undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation, a federal judge ordered Friday.
Judge Nicholas Garaufis' latest order builds on his November ruling where he found that Chad Wolf was not legally serving as acting Homeland Security secretary when he signed rules limiting applications and renewals for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The Trump administration tried ending DACA in 2017, but the US Supreme Court blocked its attempt in June. In light of the Supreme Court's ruling, Wolf issued a memo in July saying that new applications for DACA would not be accepted and renewals would be limited to one year instead of two amid an ongoing review. The memo had sought to buy time while the administration decided its next steps.
Plaintiffs welcomed Friday's order.
"Immigrant youth have resisted this cruel administration's continuous attacks, and once more we have won," said Johana Larios. "Now, first-time applicants like me will be able to have access to the DACA program and current recipients will be able to breathe a little easier as DACA is restored to its original form. I am now able to look forward to returning to school, and feel safe that I won't be separated from my community."
CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Garaufis' Friday order appears to nod to the administration's handling of the Supreme Court ruling, calling for DHS to publicly -- and prominently -- provide notice that it will accept new applications and return to two-year renewals.
"DHS is DIRECTED to post a public notice, within 3 calendar days of this Order, to be displayed prominently on its website and on the websites of all other relevant agencies, that it is accepting first-time requests for consideration of deferred action under DACA, renewal requests, and advance parole requests, based on the terms of the DACA program prior to September 5, 2017, and in accordance with this court's Memorandum & Order of November 14, 2020," Garaufis wrote.
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Garaufis also again slammed Wolf's appointment, which has repeatedly come under scrutiny.
The Department of Homeland Security tried to self-correct its line of succession by having Pete Gaynor, who is the Senate-confirmed Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, temporarily exercise the authority of Homeland Security secretary to try to alleviate concerns over Wolf's legitimacy as acting chief of the department.
"Neither Administrator Gaynor nor Mr. Wolf currently possesses, nor have they ever possessed, the powers of the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security," Garaufis wrote in a footnote.
Garaufis ordered that Wolf's memo detailing new DACA rules be vacated.
But early in the week, word came from the Pentagon that the Biden team would have no engagement with defense intelligence agencies until it had submitted questions in advance and listed the names of the people with whom it wanted to interact.
At that point, the Biden team's requests would be reviewed by the Defense Department's general counsel and Kash Patel, the Trump loyalist appointed to lead the Pentagon's transition last month amid President Donald Trump's purge of civilian leadership at the department.
"That's a big FU from Defense to the incoming intelligence community transition team," the former official said.
Sue Gough, a Defense Department spokesperson, denied there has been any issue with the Biden teams' ability to meet with intelligence officials at the Pentagon.
"The DOD Agency Review Team has not been denied any access," Gough said in a statement. "We continue to work with the DOD ART to schedule all requested interviews, briefings and updates."
Biden transition team spokesman Ned Price declined to comment. The National Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
A defense official said the Biden transition team for intelligence had "made direct coordination with DOD intelligence agencies for interviews, briefings and site visits," and the Pentagon had then asked that it reach out to Patel for all of its requests for interviews and site visits "per the statute, GSA guidance" and the memorandum of understanding between the White House and the President-elect.
"In case that isn't clear," the defense official said, "the schedule change/delay happened because the (Biden team) didn't reach out to DOD before scheduling a meeting with DOD agencies, PER THE GUIDANCE and MOU. They weren't denied, they just had to follow the proper procedure."
Gough said in her statement that visits were "tentatively scheduled for early next week," and that Patel and the acting under secretary of defense for intelligence and security are working closely with others "and are completing coordination" for the Biden teams to visit.
The Defense Department's stand on the issue has angered Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, according to the former intelligence official, who said Ratcliffe intended to take the issue to the White House.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created to coordinate efforts among the intelligence agencies across the administration.
"Ratcliffe was hot. He saw it as insubordination," the former intelligence official said. "It was his authority as DNI to set the stage for and processes of the transition."
Vince Stewart, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and former deputy director of US Cyber Command who now co-leads Biden's intelligence transition team, visited the Office of the Director of National Intelligence this week to lay the groundwork for a visit by Biden's pick to replace Ratcliffe, Avril Haines.
Trump appointed Patel and Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the acting under secretary of defense for intelligence and security, to their posts as part of a slew of major changes at the Pentagon, where he has jettisoned much of the civilian leadership in recent weeks, replacing them with political loyalists as his administration winds to a close.
Cohen-Watnick gained notoriety in March 2017 for his alleged involvement in providing intelligence materials to then-House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, a California Republican who went on to claim that US intelligence officials improperly surveilled Trump associates.
Since firing Defense Secretary Mark Esper by tweet November 9, the President has ousted at least three other top officials and replaced them with perceived loyalists. Trump has also replaced the members on two advisory boards, installing his former campaign manager on one of them.