Washington — Former senior administration officials say they’re worried the White House lacks senior advisers who are able to help President Trump avoid missteps that could threaten his presidency. 

Recently, two sources close to Mr. Trump’s reelection campaign expressed frustration with the current White House response to Democrats’ impeachment inquiry over the absence of a unified Republican message.

Former senior White House sources are unhappy with the lack of a designated spokesperson to handle the impeachment inquiry. They would like to see someone take charge of the messaging, similar to the role played by former Arizona Senator Jon Kyl in the contentious Senate hearing process for Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. Now, former South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy, a former prosecutor, is one person the president’s outside counsel is considering adding to the team.

When President Bill Clinton was impeached, he had a war room of defenders, and some Trump confidants are concerned that the Trump White House has not created a similar operation. Instead, the president has been serving as his own defender, on Twitter and in impromptu gaggles with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House as he leaves Washington. Some of these confidants believe the campaign is evolving to serve that role, either amplifying or attacking depending on the president’s message — and battle — of the day. The Trump campaign has already spent millions on ads mentioning impeachment. 

As one former senior official noted, Mr. Trump’s go-it-alone approach to possible impeachment is very different than Clinton’s, a former senior official said, and the official fears that strategy might hurt Mr. Trump with groups he needs in 2020.

Clinton “very much kept a business as usual feel to his presidency during impeachment,” the source said. “The president’s approach seems likely to stoke up his base further, but it may come at the cost of more centrist voters.”

Another issue that has caused these officials concern is the handling of president’s phone call this summer with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the administration’s decision to release a summary of that call and the lack of a cohesive message from within the White House to counter the impeachment inquiry as recent examples of White House officials failing to intervene.

“There is no one really left who can say, ‘that’s a bad idea,'” a former senior Trump aide said. 

Several former senior administration aides said that while the president still has good staff surrounding him, there are no longer enough senior aides who possess either the standing or willingness to talk him out of questionable decisions.

One such decision was the sudden announcement Sunday night that Mr. Trump had approved the pullback of about two dozen troops from northeast Syria, which met with condemnation by some of the president’s staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill because it is considered to be an outright betrayal of Kurdish allies who have been crucial to defeating ISIS. The move leaves them vulnerable to Turkish forces that may invade Syria, creates an opening for the reemergence of ISIS, and sends a troubling message to other allies about the dependability of the U.S.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that we are no longer with the ‘A-team’ or even the ‘B-team,'” one former senior administration official told CBS News. “The leadership team which is now in place was chosen with the full intent that they would not counter or try to dissuade the president in any way. Their job is simply to implement the president’s wishes, period.”

The decision to release the Ukraine call transcript — which the president praised as “perfect” but was the basis for a whistleblower complaint that is at the heart of House impeachment proceedings — is especially perplexing to not only former senior White House officials, but to some current senior administration officials.

Two current senior administration officials tell CBS News they tried to stop the summary from being released to the public because they feared doing so would be tactically shortsighted and could result in a negative outcome for the White House. There was a collective push against the call summary’s release by many others in the White House who shared similar sentiments with CBS News.

There is not complete agreement on this, however. Some of the former senior White House officials CBS spoke with believe Mr. Trump did the right thing in releasing the log of the call. 

“I actually think it was smart,” a former senior White House official said. The official added, “I think it would have gotten out anyway for sure, and I think it shows that they truly believe that they have nothing to hide.”

Another former senior White House official went as far as to call it “brilliant,” arguing that otherwise, “it only would have been the whistleblower’s account. The president cleared the air.” And a third former official agreed, suggesting that it was better for the White House to control the release of the information. Congress, the official said, “would have just made it a slower and more painful trickle-out process otherwise.”

Many have advocated for a more aggressive push against the attacks on the president over his missteps. As a former aide points out, this is easier said than done. He trusts his own instincts over those of even his top advisers.

According to the former aide, that self-assurance has only increased over his time in office.

“He’s been on the job now for a while,” the former aide explained.

A former administration official claimed Mr. Trump solicits advice from lower- to mid-level staffers and taps outside sources including Fox News hosts.

The former senior White House aide imitated the president, saying “‘Look at all this stuff I have done … I can’t talk about this? I have done a great job! This all is B.S. What do you mean I can’t say that?'” 

Weijia Jiang and Major Garrett contributed to this report.

London — Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office told British journalists Tuesday that reaching a Brexit deal with the European Union ahead of the upcoming October 31 deadline was “essentially impossible.” Johnson’s government was reacting to a call between the him and German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier in the day, during which Merkel reportedly said it was “overwhelmingly unlikely” any deal could be reached based on proposals Johnson sent to the EU last week.

The dire outlook presented by Johnson’s government sparked a war of words with European Council President Donald Tusk, who tweeted directly at the prime minister: “What’s at stake is not winning some stupid blame game. At stake is the future of Europe and the UK as well as the security and interests of our people. You don’t want a deal, you don’t want an extension, you don’t want to revoke, quo vadis?” (Quo vadis is Latin for “where are you going.”)

The U.K. is set to leave the EU on October 31, but legislation recently passed by Britain’s Parliament requires Prime Minister Johnson to ask Brussels for an extension if the House of Commons doesn’t endorse a deal or consent to a no-deal Brexit by October 19. It’s unclear whether Johnson’s government might be able to find a loophole in that legislation that would enable it to stick to his promise to pull Britain out of the EU, with or without a deal, on the 31st.

There was “skepticism” within EU circles over the U.K.’s description of Johnson’s call with Merkel, CBS News partner network BBC News reported. A spokesman for Merkel’s office declined to comment on confidential conversations.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the U.K. government published a “No-Deal Readiness Report,” outlining preparations it has made in the event the U.K. does leave the EU without an agreement.

Previously leaked government documents laid out the possibility of medicine and food shortages in the U.K. should Britain leave with no deal, as well as potential civil unrest. 

The plan published Tuesday detailed what the government has done to try and avoid those worst-case scenarios — many of which had been previously discussed. The “Readiness Report,” for example, notes the government has created a dedicated unit to support suppliers of medical goods in Britain, which could soon need to jump through additional hoops to ensure the integrity of  their supply chains.

“While we remain optimistic, we are also realistic about the need to plan for every eventuality,” the author of the report, Parliamentarian Michael Gove, said in the preface. “If we cannot secure a good agreement with the EU, we must be prepared to leave without a deal.”

What comes next

Parliament is expected to be suspended Tuesday evening until October 14 to give Johnson’s government the chance to set out a new legislative agenda in a “Queen’s Speech.” This comes after the Supreme Court ruled Johnson’s previous request for a suspension of Parliament — or “prorogation” — was illegal, because it shut down debate for what it said was an unreasonable amount of time.

On October 17 and 18, a summit of EU leaders will take place in Brussels ahead of the crucial date of October 19, when Johnson must ask the EU for a Brexit delay if a deal, or a no-deal Brexit, hasn’t been approved by Parliament.

The U.K. is currently set to leave the EU, with or without a Brexit deal, on October 31.

Three suspects have been identified in the case of a slain witness who testified in the murder trial of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, Dallas police announced Tuesday. One suspect was in custody, and two others are being sought on capital murder charges in the death of Joshua Brown.

Police said Tuesday that Brown was killed in a drug deal gone bad, and they emphasized his death was not related to his testimony in the Guyger case.

Brown was a key prosecution witness in the trial of Guyger, who was convicted last week in the killing of her neighbor, Botham Jean. Brown lived across the hall from Jean and testified that he heard two people “meeting by surprise,” followed by two shots, the night Jean died.

Brown, 28, was shot to death at a separate apartment complex on Friday, just 10 days after taking the stand.

Dallas Police Assistant Chief Avery Moore said the three suspects had traveled from Louisiana to buy drugs from Brown, and one of the men shot Brown twice and killed him.

One of the suspects, 20-year-old Jacquerious Mitchell, was wounded and treated at a hospital. He’s expected to be charged with capital murder. Police are still searching for Thaddeous Charles Green, 22, and Michael Diaz Mitchell, 32, who they believe fled the state.  

Jacquerious Mitchell told police it was Green who contacted Brown to buy the drugs, according to police. Mitchell said Green and Brown were talking when the conversation escalated into a physical confrontation. During the dispute, Brown shot Jacquerious Mitchell and Green shot Brown, killing him, according to Jacquerious Mitchell’s account. Mitchell said he was driven to a hospital before the other two suspects fled.

Dallas Police said “numerous tips” led them to search Brown’s apartment, where they confiscated 12 pounds of marijuana, 149 grams of THC cartridges and more than $4,000 in cash.  

Brown was concerned for his safety and didn’t want to testify in the Guyger trial because he believed he had been targeted in a previous November 2018 shooting, according to his family lawyer, Lee Merritt. The shooting at a Dallas strip club last year left Brown wounded and killed Nicholas Shaquan Diggs, reports CBS Dallas-Fort Worth.

Brown was also expected to testify in an upcoming trial in Diggs’ death, the station reports.

Merritt told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth that the day Brown testified, someone posted on one of Brown’s social media accounts, “Now we know where to find you.” The post was later deleted.

Merritt and others have called for an outside agency to investigate Brown’s death. Dallas Police did not immediately respond to a request for a response from CBS News.