They argued to Pulte that naming individuals involved in an alleged cover up of election fraud could lead to conspiracy theorists to take the law into their own hands.
Pulte, who flew to New York with Trump on Friday, did not respond to a request for comment but the two officials said he backed down.
“Pulte got really scared by the whole thing and pulled back,” said one of the two senior officials. “He got POTUS all spun up and then was incredibly scared when he realized people could die with his reckless behavior.”
Simultaneously, several Trump officials urged the president to remain restrained and on script, a notoriously difficult task for the president, whose aides often learn what the president is going to say as he says it.
“They explained the way to be taken seriously is not to be crazy,” the senior official told POLITICO.
The combination of a full-court press from some aides and Pulte’s retreat convinced the president to stay “on the rails” as the senior official put it.
“President Trump and millions of Americans agree that we must have integrity in our elections, otherwise we have no country at all,” said Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson. “Congress should immediately pass the SAVE America Act.”
