Domestic abuse allegations against a senior aide were ignored, pointing to a potential high-level coverup. Two Cabinet secretaries were caught charging taxpayers for luxury travel. A Playboy centerfold alleged an extramarital affair with the president. And the special counsels Russia investigation was intensifying. The tumult was so intense that there was fervent speculation that President Trump might fire his chief of staff.
But a gun massacre at a Florida high school last Wednesday, which left 17 dead, seemed to shift the media glare away from the Trump scandals and gave embattled aides an opportunity to re focus on handling a crisis not of their own making. While the White House mourned the loss of life in Parkland, Fla., some aides privately acknowledged that the tragedy offered a breather from the political storm.
A tentative plan for White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly to address the media from the briefing room Wednesday where he would have faced intense scrutiny over his role in the mishandling of the domestic abuse allegations against former staff secretary Rob Porter was scuttled.
Press staffers cited the tragedy as a reason to cancel on-camera briefings for the remainder of the week, allowing them to avoid questions about the swirling controversies. The White House could hold its next briefing Tuesday, a full week after press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders last faced reporters.
For everyone, it was a distraction or a reprieve, said one White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect internal conversations. A lot of people here felt like it was a reprieve from seven or eight days of just getting pummeled.
The official likened the brief political calm to the aftermath of the October 2017 gun massacre in Las Vegas that left 58 dead and hundreds more injured. That tragedy united White House aides and the country in their shared mourning for the victims and their families.
But as we all know, sadly, when the coverage dies down a little bit, well be back through the chaos, the official said.
In the few instances in which officials answered questions, the focus was mostly on the shooting. In two appearances Friday on Fox News Channel, deputy press secretary Raj Shah was not asked about Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin charging taxpayers for his wifes lavish travel a controversy that in a normal media environment might have prompted questions about whether the president would fire Shulkin.
From an awful, cynical, purely political point of view, the tragic events in Florida probably helped the White House this week by distracting from the awful wave of scandal and bad news they have faced, said Michael Steel, a Republican strategist.
The three-day Presidents Day weekend added to the hiatus, with Trump traveling to his private Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., with only a few aides and giving others on his beleaguered staff a chance to rest and recuperate.
Among those accompanying the president was Kelly, who earlier in the week appeared in serious jeopardy of losing his job. The chief of staff had lost the support of some senior aides, and last Tuesday evening rumors were rampant that his days or even hours were numbered because Trump had been sounding out friends and advisers about possible replacements. ... The national tragedy in Florida has really, for now, turned the page on some of these crises, said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist close to the White House. Theyre going to come back, but what it does do is give the White House a chance to collect itself and, if they can, organize a communications strategy and get their ducks in a row.