WASHINGTON -- In its effort to regain control of its message, the White House has curtailed news briefings, redirected questions on the Russia investigation to an outside lawyer and planned an infrastructure policy rollout for this week.
"To the extent that there is a process for making decisions and communicating them, [President Donald Trump] seems to ignore it more often than not," said Alex Conant, a top adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio's presidential bid.
On Monday morning, Trump on Twitter assailed his Justice Department for its legal strategy to defend his travel ban as his administration seeks the Supreme Court's backing for the order, and renewed his criticism of the mayor of London, a city recovering from a weekend vehicle-and-knife attack that left seven people dead.
Administration efforts to create a "war room" stocked with former campaign officials and top-flight lawyers now appear stalled. Three people briefed on the matter said the process has been bogged down by a lack of decision-making in the West Wing over how to proceed, as well as reluctance from some of those the White House hoped to recruit about serving a president who keeps getting in his own way.
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"Anybody with press chops looks at this and they're fearful there's not a path to succeed," said Sara Fagen, former White House political director for George W. Bush.
Even George Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, appeared to give voice to the frustrations Monday. Mimicking a favorite Trump expression, Conway wrote on Twitter that the president's comment on the travel ban won't help the administration get votes in the Supreme Court, "which is what actually matters. Sad."
Conway confirmed to The Associated Press that the tweet was authentic. His comments came days after he announced he was withdrawing from consideration for a top Justice Department post.
His wife took a different approach. During a Monday morning appearance on the Today Show, Kellyanne Conway condemned the media's "obsession with covering everything he says on Twitter and very little of what he does as president."
Trump supporters have long touted his unfiltered tweets and other communications as an unparalleled advantage. Yet some allies are now urging caution given the legal questions shadowing the White House.
"My personal view is that there should be a review process because of the sensitivity of so many of them," said Chris Ruddy, a longtime friend of Trump and chief executive officer of the conservative outlet Newsmax.
White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that she was not aware of the president's tweets being vetted by lawyers before being blasted out to the world.
Marc Short, White House director of legislative affairs, meanwhile insisted that the president's efforts were "often very effective" and said Trump was elected because voters were hungry for a nonconformist candidate who would change the culture in Washington.
"And so he may not have a conventional style in doing that, but many of his efforts are extremely helpful to us in getting our legislation accomplished," Short said.
As part of the White House's efforts to recalibrate, Sanders is taking on a more visible role at daily briefings instead of spokesman Sean Spicer, who has gained national celebrity for his often combative interactions with reporters. Spicer appeared in the briefing room last week, but his appearances were brief, including a 12-minute question-and-answer session that the White House would not allow to be aired on television.
On Monday, Sanders took the podium and acknowledged that Spicer would be a less frequent on-camera presence for the White House.
"He is taking on a little bit of extra duty at this point," she said. "There are a lot of demands on his schedule, particularly given the fact that there's not a communications director."
Mike Dubke resigned as communications director last month and served his final day in the White House on Friday. He has not yet been replaced.
The White House also has decided to redirect questions about the Russia probes, referring inquiries to Marc Kasowitz, the president's outside counsel. Kasowitz so far has not commented on the investigations.
The cloud of investigation -- which the war room would handle -- has put even some of Trump's backers and potential defenders in an uncomfortable position, according to interviews. One active supporter of the president said that while he was willing to defend Trump in public against allegations from fired FBI Director James Comey or Democrats, he was less comfortable weighing in on specific claims about Jared Kushner's interactions with Russian officials.
The supporter, as well as those briefed on the White House's Russia response efforts, insisted on anonymity in order to disclose private deliberations.
The FBI is said to be looking into Kushner's contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S., as well as a meeting with a Russian banker. White House officials deny there was anything inappropriate about Kushner's interactions.
Information for this article was contributed by Jill Colvin of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/06/2017