GOP stands by Prez Trump after diplomat’s testimony

WASHINGTON DC: They pleaded ignorance, saying they’d not read the diplomat’s damning statement. They condemned the Democrats’ tactics as unfair. They complained that the allegations against President Donald Trump rested on second- or third-hand evidence.

Wednesday was a day of careful counterargument by congressional Republicans, the day after America’s top envoy in Ukraine gave House impeachment investigators an explosive, detailed roadmap of Trump’s drive to squeeze that country’s

leaders for damaging information about his Democratic political rivals.

Most Republicans were still standing by Trump but in delicately calibrated ways after Tuesday’s closed-door testimony by acting ambassador William Tay

lor. And as lawmakers struggled to balance support for Trump with uncertainty over what might still emerge, some were willing to acknowledge the strains they were facing.

Asked if Taylor’s testimony was a rough day for the White House and Republicans, No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Thune of South Dakota said, “Probably one of many.” “Obviously, we have a lot of incoming right now,” Thune said. “That’s the nature of the beast.”

On Thursday, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s chief GOP allies, said he would introduce a resolution condemning the Democraticcontrolled House for pursuing a “closed door, illegitimate impeachment inquiry.”

The nonbinding resolution gives Senate Republicans a chance to show support for Trump at a moment when Trump is urging his Republican allies to get tougher and fight harder for him.

White House officials, who have been treating unified Republican support for Trump as a given, have grown increasingly fearful of defections in a potential impeachment vote by the Democratic House and even in an eventual trial in the Republican Senate.