Former official acknowledges final days in office a ‘black eye’ for Trump

Former Trump campaign spokesman and White House official Hogan Gidley conceded in an interview released Friday that President Trump’s final days in office were a “black eye” for his presidency.

“There’s no question this last little bit was a black eye,” Gidley told Alex Wagner for Showtime’s “The Circus” when pressed about the Jan. 6 pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Wagner told Hogan that “the thing he’s going to be remembered for, the final act of his presidency, is a white supremacist mob storming the Capitol and trying to kill lawmakers.”

“There are a lot of things in that administration that happened in four years that people are going to try and point to as, like, one seminal thing,” Hogan said.

Wagner interjected to note that former President Trump was impeached for a second time by the House under the charge of inciting insurrection, with lawmakers in both parties casting blame on his rhetoric before the riot unfolded.

“I’m just trying to point out the fact that he accomplished a lot from a policy standpoint. He was a lightning rod from a personality standpoint,” Gidley said, defending his former boss.

Wagner asked the former spokesman if he believes Trump regrets his actions and how he handled everything. 

“I don’t know because I — we didn’t talk about that particular thing,” Gidley said. “I don’t want to guess or try to put thoughts in his head or words in his mouth. All I can do is look at what he said in real time.”

“I don’t know if he regrets anything or not,” Gidley said.

The Senate is set to begin its impeachment trial on Feb. 9. The House will send over the impeachment article to the Senate on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, with senators sworn in the following day and a summons issued to Trump.

The Senate would need a two-thirds majority to convict Trump. That would require 17 Republicans to vote for impeachment. GOP sources previously told The Hill that only a handful of Republicans seem likely to vote to convict.

The House voted to impeach Trump for a second time on Jan. 13, one week after the riot on Capitol Hill, with 10 House Republicans voting with all Democrats to impeach Trump. Democrats have pushed to convict Trump in part to prevent him from running for office again.