Surrounded by shrinking circle of aides, a brooding Trump lays into Pence

[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump has increasingly isolated himself in the White House, relying on a small group of diehard loyalists and lashing out at those who dare to cross him, including Vice-President Mike Pence, said four sources familiar with the matter.

Some longtime advisers are steering clear of talking to Mr Trump after he fired up hundreds of supporters who swarmed the US Capitol in what even fellow Republicans called a deep stain on Mr Trump's legacy.

The unprecedented breach of the Capitol building on Wednesday forced Mr Pence and members of Congress to be evacuated just as they had convened to certify the 2020 election victory of President-elect Joe Biden over Mr Trump. Four people died in the mayhem, including a woman shot by police.

"Don't want to," said one adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, when asked if there had been any recent contact with the president.

Mr Trump has repeatedly lambasted Mr Pence, publicly and privately, for refusing to try to prevent Congress from certifying Mr Biden's win, and has been seething at Mr Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, for stating that Mr Pence would perform his constitutional duty, the sources said.

This week Mr Trump berated Mr Pence to his face, one source said.

The vice-president's office declined to comment.

But Republican Senator Jim Inhofe told the Tulsa World newspaper he spoke to Mr Pence on Wednesday night.

"I've known Mike Pence forever," he said. "I've never seen Pence as angry as he was today."

A former senior administration official said the rift between the two men was deep and they may never speak to each other again.

Mr Pence, a former Indiana governor and former Republican lawmaker who harbours presidential ambitions, has been loyal to Mr Trump throughout the president's four years in office.

A Pence adviser said "everyone around him is very proud of him" for how he performed his constitutional duty and that he had told Mr Trump ahead of time what he planned to do.

"Mike Pence does not surprise the president. He was honest about what he was going to do," said the adviser.

LOYALISTS 'EGGING HIM ON'

Mr Trump has surrounded himself with an ever-smaller group of loyalists who cater to his whims, including digital director Dan Scavino, personal aide John McEntee, trade adviser Peter Navarro, speechwriter Stephen Miller, and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, one source said.

"It's sad. These are the people around him and egging him on," said the source, who also asked not to be identified.

The White House declined to comment.

A source familiar with the matter said it took an intervention by Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump to help persuade him to change his tune a day after the president told supporters who ransacked the Capitol to "go home, we love you, you're very special."

Mr Trump had initially been reluctant to criticise his supporters at all, the source said, but under pressure he released a new video on Thursday night criticising those who defiled the Capitol, and calling for calm. He also vowed to ensure a "smooth transition" to a new administration on Jan 20.

"Serving as your president has been the honour of my lifetime," he said in the video.

Earlier on Thursday it was Mr Scavino who, after Congress certified Mr Biden's victory, tweeted out a statement from Mr Trump to say the president would go along with an orderly transition of power to Mr Biden.

Mr Trump himself was suspended from Twitter at the time and could not send the tweet himself.

In that statement, Mr Trump clung to the notion that the Nov 3 election was rigged against him but acknowledged he would be leaving the White House on Biden's Inauguration Day.

"Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on Jan 20," he said.

The statement was seen by some close to the White House as an attempt to forestall a wave of resignations.

One former Trump White House official said the president had shown a failure of leadership for not immediately going on television to tell his supporters at the Capitol to stand down and leave.

"He has blood on his hands from yesterday. A woman died," he said.

There has been some talk among Cabinet members such as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and allies about invoking the 25th amendment to the US Constitution as a way to remove Mr Trump from office, but a source familiar with that effort doubted it would take place given the little time left in his term.

Some White House officials, stunned by Mr Trump's downward spiral in recent days, were debating whether to resign in protest or to stay for the last two weeks to ensure a proper transition to the Biden team, one aide said.

US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the wife of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, on Thursday became the first Trump Cabinet member to quit since the Capitol siege.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos followed her.

Former Trump aide Sam Nunberg said Mr Trump's temperament reflected his aversion to losing.

"This is him at the end, when he loses something. This is the way it is, the end," Mr Nunberg said.

REUTERS