Trump tests limits of defense strategy
President, GOP allies largely ignore Ukraine details, focus on investigation process
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is confronting the limits of his main impeachment defense.
As the probe hits the one- month mark, Trump and his aides have largely ignored the details of the Ukraine allegations against him. Instead, they're loudly objecting to the House Democrats' investigation process, using that as justification for ordering administration officials not to cooperate and complaining about what they deem prejudicial, even unconstitutional, secrecy.
But as a near-daily drip of derogatory evidence emerges from closed-door testimony on Capitol Hill, the White House assertion that the proceedings are unfair is proving to be a less- than- compelling counter to the mounting threat to Trump's presidency. Some senior officials have complied with congressional subpoenas to assist House Democratic investigators, defying White House orders.
Asked about criticism that the White House lacks a coordinated pushback effort and could do a better job delivering its message, spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said, “It's hard to message anything that's going on behind closed doors and in secret.”
“It's like you're fighting a ghost, you're fighting against the air. So we're doing the best we can,” she said on Fox News.
It was a rare public admission from the White House that despite the president's bravado, real risks remain.
White House officials, who have been treating unified Republican support for Trump as a given, have grown increasingly fearful of GOP defections in a House impeachment vote and a potential Senate trial.
While they do not believe there will be enough votes to remove the president, as Democrats hope, the West Wing believes more must be done to shore up Republican support to avoid embarrassment and genuine political peril.
Trump himself has been upset with his own top aides — including Grisham and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney — for not sufficiently changing the story line. Instead he relies on his Twitter account and Q&A sessions with reporters to launch daily attacks on the probe. And while Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy
Giuliani, has added to the smoke screen, much as he did during the Russia probe, the former New York City mayor has dramatically scaled back his media appearances since several of his associates were arrested in connection with Ukraine.
Complaining privately and publicly that Democrats “stick together” better than the GOP, Trump has leaned on Republican congressional allies to do more, according to White House officials and Republicans close to the West Wing. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations.
At first, Trump was angry that his surrogates failed to defend him effectively. Those included House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who stumbled through a “60 Minutes” interview. Trump urged the GOP earlier this week to fight back, a lesson that was taken to heart by a group of conservative Republicans, including members of the Freedom Caucus, who stormed a Capitol Hill hearing room on Wednesday to disrupt testimony in the probe.
Trump allies cheered that maneuver, believing it showed that Republicans throughout Washington were coming to grips with the severity of the situation.
But the GOP complaints still are largely about process and may have limited potency: Trump's defenders are complaining that the interviews are being conducted in secret, which may soon change, and that Republicans are not involved, though GOP members can ask questions right alongside the Democrats.
The contradictions are telling.
On Thursday, GOP Sen.
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a top ally of Trump, introduced a resolution condemning the Democratic-controlled House for pursuing a “closed door, illegitimate impeachment inquiry.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is a cosponsor of that measure.
But Graham also said he's talked to Mulvaney about what seems to be a lackluster White House pushback.