Trump to travel 'unannounced' to fake 'hearing' on election fraud -- after aides failed to talk him out of it: reports

President Donald Trump is planning to make a surprise visit to a fake legislative "hearing" in Pennsylvania, CNN and The New York Times reported Tuesday night.

"Trump is expected to join [Rudy] Giuliani in Gettysburg, PA tomorrow where GOP state lawmakers are holding a 'hearing' on allegations of fraud in the 2020 election, two sources familiar with the plans tell me. Not on his schedule, but being planned as an unannounced movement," CNN's Jeremy Diamond reported Thursday.

Maggie Haberman of The New York Times confirmed the report.

"Confirmed to me by two people briefed on the plans. Some aides had tried talking him out of this," Haberman reported.

The hearing is not a formal legislative hearing, but is being held by the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee, which is a subset of the GOP caucus. It is not being held at the capitol, but at a Wyndham Hotel.

Edward-Isaac Dovere of The Atlantic argued that the point of the event had nothing to do with discovering fraud.

"The president will take a taxpayer funded trip on Air Force One and commit police resources to protect him so he can participate in a staged event meant to undermine the legitimacy of American democracy rather than have any actual legal effect," Dovere wrote.