PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump wanted reporters to cover a private event he was hosting.
Advisers then had to explain why he could no longer call on a press pool for his events.
Advisers found reporters who happened to be working near the area for his event, the Washington Post reported.
Aides and advisers to former President Donald Trump said he had a difficult time transitioning from the White House to life as a private citizen, according to a new report from the Washington Post.
According to the Post, one example of this was when Trump wanted his team to call on a press pool — reporters who travel with presidents — for an event at Mar-a-Lago. Advisers had to break the news to Trump that this was no longer a possibility.
“We had to explain to him that he didn’t have a group standing around waiting for him anymore,” an unnamed former aide told the Washington Post.
The advisers ended up pulling reporters who were near Mar-a-Lago for other reasons, two sources told the Post.
Once Trump left office, he was frustrated at his downsized life, which included a smaller number of Secret Service, no access to Air Force One, and little press coverage compared to when he was president, four unnamed advisers to Trump told the Post.
Trump has spent most of his post-presidency in isolation at Mar-a-Lago, playing golf six days a week and using dinner at the club as an opportunity to revel in the attention of admiring fans who applaud his entrances and exits from the dining room.
The praise he receives from guests at his Palm Beach, Florida, and Bedminster, New Jersey, clubs is how he gets the attention he became used to as president, an aide told the Post.
“The appetite for attention hasn’t waned, but that’s where he gets it now,” an unnamed Trump confidant told the Washington Post.”The networks don’t carry his rallies. He doesn’t get interviews anymore. He can’t stand under the wing of Air Force One and gaggle [with reporters] for an hour.”
He has also spent less time being challenged by aides and listening to opposition from political opponents, colleagues, and independent journalists, the Post reported.
Trump is now seeking a second term in the White House. On November 24, he announced his bid for president in 2024. Meanwhile, he continues to face mounting legal and political challenges.
The January 6 committee investigating Trump’s role during the 2021 insurrection at the Capitol is expected to recommend at least three criminal charges — insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to defraud the US government — against the former president to the Department of Justice.
Although the recommendations hold no legal weight, the committee hopes the action will influence Attorney General Merrick Garland to take action against the former president, Politico reported.
Trump is also still facing an investigation from the Department of Justice after the FBI, executing a search warrant, found classified documents that the former president took with him from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago home.
A representative for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.