GOP backs Trump after diplomat’s testimony

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

Wednesday was a day of careful counter-argument 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 Taylor. 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,” he said. “That’s the nature of the beast.”

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.

While officials don’t believe there will be enough votes to remove the president, as Democrats hope, the West Wing believes more must be done to shore up party support to avoid embarrassment and genuine political peril.