According to Yahoo’s Mike Isikoff, Kasowitz wasn’t necessarily the White House’s top choice. Five sources familiar with the decision-making process said that at least four major law firms turned down inquiries to represent Trump in the Russia matter. “The concerns were, ‘The guy won’t pay and he won’t listen,’” one source said. That left only Kasowitz: a longtime Trump lawyer who is considered overly bullish and has little experience in Washington but is deeply loyal to the president.

Such loyalty counts for a lot, especially in a White House under siege. But as the walls have begun to close in on Trump, it has also become increasingly clear that his loyalty may be a one-way street. Nearly every member of Trump’s inner circle, with the exception of his daughter Ivanka, has found themselves temporarily out of favor with the president. And practically everyone in the Trump administration has found themselves, at one point or another, thrown under the bus. This week it was reported that even Jeff Sessions, who is among Trump’s earliest and most loyal supporters, offered to resign after the president continued to harp on his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. On Monday, as the president’s frustrations with the Justice Department boiled over, he launched an early-morning Twitter tirade, lashing out at his own administration for having “watered down” what he insisted on calling a “travel ban,” directly undercutting Sessions’s effort to defend his immigration executive order. Nor does it seem like he intends to stop. Multiple sources close to the president told The Washington Post that Trump “has chafed against the pleas for caution from his lawyers and political advisers, tweeting whatever he wants, whenever he wants.”

With Trump’s aides increasingly wary of attempting to speak for him, the president is reportedly planning to respond to Comey’s testimony in a familiar way: by acting as his own spokesperson. According to two senior administration officials who spoke with the Post, Trump may tweet during the former F.B.I. director’s hearing, offering his characteristically unfiltered responses to the event in real time. “He’s infuriated at a deep-gut, personal level that the elite media has tolerated [the Russia story] and praised Comey,” former House speaker Newt Gingrich said. “He’s not going to let some guy like that smear him without punching him as hard as he can.” Roger Stone, a longtime Trump confidant, told the Post, “He’s not going to take an attack by James Comey laying down.”

At least a few Trump surrogates are currently set to appear on TV after Comey’s testimony, including R.N.C. co-chair Bob Paduchik and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. But for the most part, Trump’s “war room” has been reduced to an army of one: the president himself, broadcasting his grievances to the world from his smartphone. Trump’s tweets are, as White House press secretary Sean Spicer noted Tuesday, “official statements by the president of the United States.” Whether Kasowitz will have any control over what Trump says next remains to be seen.