Trump unprepared for impeachment and Democrats taking the House in 2018, says report

'Winter is coming,' says one of the president's allies

President Donald Trump sits behind his desk as he announces a bilateral trade agreement with Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at the White House in Washington, 27 August 2018 (REUTERS)

Donald Trump's impeachment could arrive sooner than the president seems to think, with aides worried that the president and his team are ill-prepared for a potential crisis.

His aides have repeatedly discussed the possibility of impeachment proceedings arriving next year — along with an onslaught of subpoenas and congressional investigations — should the Democratic Party takeover the House in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections, according to the Washington Post.

"We’ve talked a lot about impeachment at different times," Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, confirmed in the report. "It’s the only thing that hangs out there. They can’t [criminally] charge him."

The paper spoke with 26 White House officials, presidential advisers and strategists close to Mr Trump’s White House throughout the week, to gain a better understanding of how the administration is preparing for a "potential crisis" in the months ahead.

What they reportedly found was a White House in conflict: those "within Trump’s orbit" do not believe his legal team is currently prepared to "navigate an onslaught of congressional demands," which could include impeachment charges or other political scandals.

Meanwhile, the president has not advised his legal teams or political advisers to begin preparing action plans in the event of his impeachment, "leaving allies to fret that the president does not appreciate the magnitude of what could be in store next year."

Mr Giuliani appeared to confirm his client has not fully considered what potential impeachment charges could mean for his presidency.

"I don’t know if he’s really thought about it in depth yet," the lawyer said.

However, his advisers have reportedly developed at least one contingency plan in case of Mr Trump’s political demise: bringing Abbe Lowell, a respected defence attorney in Washington, onto the president’s personal legal team if impeachment charges or other significant crises arose after the midterms. Mr Lowell currently represents Mr Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

The president has also teased new blood will join his White House legal team — which currently has about 25 attorneys — directly after the midterms, as Don McGahn and other White House lawyers have had their departures announced in recent weeks.

"I am very excited about the person who will be taking the place of Don McGahn as White House Counsel!" Mr Trump tweeted on Thursday morning. "I liked Don, but he was NOT responsible for me not firing Bob Mueller or Jeff Sessions. So much Fake Reporting and Fake News!"

One close ally of Mr Trump’s reportedly issued a warning about the White House’s apparent unpreparedness for a potential Democratic takeover: "Winter is coming".

"Assuming Democrats win the House, which we all believe is a very strong likelihood, the White House will be under siege. But it’s like tumbleweeds rolling down the halls over there," they said, speaking anonymously to the Washington Post in order to talk candidly. "Nobody’s prepared for war."