By Byron Tau and Tarini Parti Updated Nov. 10, 2019 4:33 pm ET WASHINGTON—Top Republicans on Sunday offered sharply divergent views of President Trump’s interactions with Ukraine, showcasing the party’s challenges to mount a unified defense of the president in advance of public impeachment hearings set to begin this week.
As the public phase of the impeachment inquiry opens, Mr. Trump’s Republican allies Capitol Hill are trying to formulate a message that will resonate with the broader public. Though the president maintains strong backing from the GOP base, opinion polls show support for removing Mr. Trump from office hovers close to 50% among the broader public.
The Bidens deny any impropriety, and there is no evidence to suggest they broke any laws. Hunter Biden has said his acceptance of the seat showed “poor judgment.”Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the intelligence committee, said Saturday he was evaluating the GOP witness requests—but suggested he wouldn’t allow the hearings to be used to launch an investigation of Mr. Biden.
During his Senate trial in January 1999, Mr. Clinton had a public approval rating of 68%, and only 32% of adults were in favor of the Senate removing him, while 60% were opposed, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll at the time. The polling shows a sharp partisan split, with support for removing Mr. Trump from office among Democrats at 88%, while opposition to such a move stood at 90% among Republicans.
Former Republican Rep. Tom Davis, who served on the House Oversight Committee during the Clinton impeachment, said the scattershot messaging stems in part from the fact the Trump White House doesn’t have a war room dedicated to crafting a daily messaging strategy as the Clinton White House did. But Sen. John Kennedy said that if Mr. Trump pushed for an investigation into a political rival for his political benefit, that could amount to an impeachable offense.
“I think if you’re trying to get information on a political rival to use in a political campaign, it is not something a president or any official should be doing,” Mr. Hurd said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think everybody—most Republicans have said that that would be a violation of the law.”
Some might applaud the administration from not interfering with the congress.
Now comes the wuss factor. Who stands with POTUS?
I just read Rupert Mudoch basically controls WSJ. I get impression he is a liberal. It would be funny to marry rich liberal and flip him conservative. ;) Hey, Rupert!
That once again is total bull shi-
Whatever the nuances of opinion, Republicans are not going to vote to impeach the President for something like this if they want a future in politics. They don't have to mount a unified defense. Impeachment s/be DOA when it reaches the Senate.
Major part of that defense might be the former Vice President was lying about the interest of the United States in Burisma. How could our government not have an interest when there was the question of whether the gas from Ukraine was going east or west?
This is from the news pages. An unbiased summary of some GOP views
Republicans wouldn’t need to have different defenses if they weren’t lying to defend Trump Russiagate
There will not be a unified defense. The guilt is obvious and not everyone will line up to go down with the ship. The only ones who will stick with him to the end are either also guilty, or very stupid.
One question reporters ought ask these representatives trying to defend Trump, 'Would you be pleased if your son grew up to be just like DJT'? I'm genuinely curious if they feel the way he conducts himself, having no humility, bullies others would be a great model to emulate.
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RT🚨Trump to release transcript of a second call with Ukrainian president Tuesday Trump continues to yank Schiffless and Piglosi's chains. I can only hope that President Trump does a 'fireside chat' and reads both scripts to all of US on live television!
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Partisan for - Bipartisan Against! What do you think will happen in the senate? House will impeach, most not all Dems voting Yay... Senate will dismiss! America is pissed and GOP will win House and retain Senate and WH!!!
Or, you know... stop defending the president because he's an amoral, clueless, sleaze. And it's been crystal clear for a long time. Story now is why GOP and Fox continue to cover for his weakening the country.
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What will Trump do to try to take attention away from the hearing? What emergency will the country have? Only Trump knows!
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They just follow the way the Democrats operate and now, they are winning.
DeepStatePropaganda Trump2020 USA MAGA realDonaldTrump
The opposite. It appears the Democrat narrative has totally collapsed and are now stuck trying to justify the circus they created.
It's not the congressional republican'ts job to defend anything but the Constitution.
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You have a defense? I thought calling names, conspiracy theories and lies that makes no sense was it.
To Republicans in Congress. Why don't you re-read the oath you took and follow it. Country first, not party. If you need to find some courage we can have a local vet give you some balls they cut off Chihuahua's.
By “divergent views” you mean the republicans have diverging explanations between different conspiracy theories‽
Wall Street Journal has really been bungling its coverage on this for clicks. After promoting Taranto, Strassel seems like the only writer there with a brain
Top Republikkkans obfuscating for Trump like they did with the Mueller report. That isn't a divergence that is criminally and morally wrong.
No, Republicans are united behind President Trump. Americans with morals support President Trump.
SIMPLE those that are receiving a share of the graft and those that aren't. those with morals and those without
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