DEMS/IMPEACHMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump has set his strategy for the impeachment fight with House Democrats — minimum cooperation, maximum confrontation. Whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats have learned how to counter him is the big question. Trump dramatically upped the political ante on Tuesday [10-8-19], with White House counsel Pat Cipollone blasting the Democrasts’ impeachment inquiry as ‘illegal’ and ‘dangerous,’ and insisting the administration won’t cooperate with a probe it considers constitutionally improper. Democrats now have to work quickly to determine how to contest Trump’s broadside as they push ahead with an investigation into whether the president abused his power in pressuring Ukraine to intervene in the 2020 election and investigate Joe Biden…But Trump’s anti-impeachment offensive — a mix of legal, political and personal attacks, some logical and some simply bombastic — poses a real challenge for Democrats.”
–John Bresnahan, Heather Caygle and Sarah Ferris, “Trump’s all-out blockade threatens Democrats’ impeachment drive,” Politico, October 8, 2019 6:51 pm