12-01-2020, 09:46 AM
![[图: _115702815_gettyimages-1288454308.jpg]](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/CA6C/production/_115702815_gettyimages-1288454308.jpg)
As the Trump White House reaches its final days, an eerie quiet has descended on the premises as attempts to challenge the election result founder in the courts.
Brian Morgenstern, the deputy communications director, was wearing a jacket with a White House emblem in his office in the West Wing. The jacket was zipped all the way up, as if he were on his way out. The room, a few doors away from the Oval Office, was dark, with the shades drawn.His boss, the president, was in another part of the White House. In that moment, Donald Trump was on speaker phone with Rudy Giuliani, the head of his legal effort to challenge the election, and a group of state lawmakers who had gathered for a "hearing", as they put it, at a hotel in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
"This election was rigged and we can't let that happen," the president said on the phone.
Morgenstern was monitoring the event on his computer screen, in a distracted manner. A moment later he swivelled in his chair and spoke to a visitor about college, real estate, baseball, and, almost as an afterthought, the president's achievements.
Trump's effort to contest the election results in Pennsylvania failed on Friday, not long after the so-called hearing, and even that had a shaky legal foundation. An appeals court judge said there was "no basis" for his challenge. A certification of ballots showed President-elect Joe Biden won the state by more than 80,000 votes.
Being with Trump the day he lost the election
The votes in Arizona were certified on Monday and in Wisconsin that could happen soon - both states Biden won. Government officials have started working towards a transition to the new administration, and the new president starts on 20 January.
Click to read more>>ทางเข้าjoker
Brian Morgenstern, the deputy communications director, was wearing a jacket with a White House emblem in his office in the West Wing. The jacket was zipped all the way up, as if he were on his way out. The room, a few doors away from the Oval Office, was dark, with the shades drawn.His boss, the president, was in another part of the White House. In that moment, Donald Trump was on speaker phone with Rudy Giuliani, the head of his legal effort to challenge the election, and a group of state lawmakers who had gathered for a "hearing", as they put it, at a hotel in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
"This election was rigged and we can't let that happen," the president said on the phone.
Morgenstern was monitoring the event on his computer screen, in a distracted manner. A moment later he swivelled in his chair and spoke to a visitor about college, real estate, baseball, and, almost as an afterthought, the president's achievements.
Trump's effort to contest the election results in Pennsylvania failed on Friday, not long after the so-called hearing, and even that had a shaky legal foundation. An appeals court judge said there was "no basis" for his challenge. A certification of ballots showed President-elect Joe Biden won the state by more than 80,000 votes.
Being with Trump the day he lost the election
The votes in Arizona were certified on Monday and in Wisconsin that could happen soon - both states Biden won. Government officials have started working towards a transition to the new administration, and the new president starts on 20 January.
Click to read more>>ทางเข้าjoker
Trump continues to claim victory. Yet backstage at the White House, people see things the way they are. They know their days in the West Wing are numbered. They also know that when their boss is losing, it is best to steer clear of him.
Morgenstern says it is business as usual: "We're upbeat. We're still working hard." He was the only one in a warren of West Wing offices, however. He held a cloth mask in his hands, and he fiddled with the mask's strings, as if they were worry beads. The only sound was the low hum of a TV in another room.
Usually those offices are full of people - aides working all hours. But not now.
Jack O'Donnell, who once managed a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, for Trump, says he understands why the people who work for the president would clear out at a time like this.
Morgenstern says it is business as usual: "We're upbeat. We're still working hard." He was the only one in a warren of West Wing offices, however. He held a cloth mask in his hands, and he fiddled with the mask's strings, as if they were worry beads. The only sound was the low hum of a TV in another room.
Usually those offices are full of people - aides working all hours. But not now.
Jack O'Donnell, who once managed a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, for Trump, says he understands why the people who work for the president would clear out at a time like this.