Exclusive: ‘I’m just not going to leave’, the new book reveals that Trump swore to stay in the White House

Bannon surrenders to authorities and faces prosecution 4:11 (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump repeatedly told aides in the days after his 2020 election loss that he would stay in the White House rather than letting incoming President Joe Biden take over, according to information provided to CNN from an upcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. “I’m just not going to leave,” Trump told an adviser, according to Haberman. “We’re never going to leave,” Trump told another. “How can you leave when you have won an election?” Trump’s previously unreported insistence that he would not leave the White House adds new detail to the chaotic post-election period in which Trump’s refusal to accept defeat and numerous efforts to overturn the election result led to the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by pro-Trump rioters. Haberman’s book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,” goes on sale Oct. 4. The book’s revelations come as investigators from the US House of Representatives and the Justice Department investigate Trump’s refusal to relinquish power after the 2020 election. House select committee investigating Jan. 6 is planning more hearings and a final report this fall, while federal investigators have recently served several former Trump aides with subpoenas. Haberman, a CNN political analyst, has covered Trump for The New York Times since his 2016 presidential campaign. Her reporting made her a frequent target of Trump’s attacks on Twitter. Haberman writes that, immediately after the November 3 election, Trump seemed to acknowledge that he had lost to Biden. He asked his advisers to tell him what had gone wrong. She comforted an adviser by saying, “We did the best we could.” Trump told lower-ranking press aides, “I thought we had it,” apparently almost embarrassed by the result, according to Haberman. What challenges does Trump face after the Mar-a-Lago raid? 5:43 But at some point, Trump’s mood changed, Haberman writes, and he abruptly told aides that he had no intention of leaving the White House at the end of January 2021 for Biden to move in. He was even heard to ask Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel: “Why should I leave if it was stolen from me?” Trump’s promise that he would refuse to vacate the White House was historically unprecedented, Haberman writes, and his statement left aides wondering what he might do next. The closest parallel might have been Mary Todd Lincoln, who remained in the White House for nearly a month after her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, was assassinated, the author noted. Publicly, Trump dismissed questions about whether he would leave office. On November 26, 2020, he was asked by a reporter if he would leave the White House if the Electoral College voted for Biden. “I certainly will, and you know it,” Trump said in response, as he continued to spread lies about stealing the election. Haberman, a longtime New York-based reporter who has worked for both of the city’s tabloids, writes that Trump’s post-election period was reminiscent of his attempts to dig himself out of financial dire straits three decades earlier, in which he tried to keep all options open for as long as he could. But Trump couldn’t decide which way to go after his 2020 loss. Haberman writes that he quizzed nearly everyone on what options would lead to success, including the valet who brought Diet Coke when Trump pressed a red button on his desk. of the Oval Office. Information provided to CNN from the upcoming book also reveals new details about what those around Trump were doing after an election loss he refused to accept. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was reluctant to confront Trump about the loss, according to Haberman. When he encouraged a group of aides to go to the White House to brief the then-president, Kushner was asked why he didn’t join them himself. Trump’s son-in-law compared it to a deathbed scene, Haberman writes. “The priest comes later,” Kushner said.