10/24/2019

CONGRESS/GOP/IMPEACHMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Republicans in Congress struggled for a second consecutive day Thursday [10-24-19] to defend President Trump against Democrats’ impeachment inquiry amid a steady stream of damaging revelations about his conduct, leveling another symbolic objection to a process they said was fundamentally unfair. One day after House lawmakers tried to block an impeachment witness by sowing chaos with a protest in the Capitol’s secure meeting rooms, Senate Republicans joined the fray by offering a resolution condemning the House investigation and demanding that Democrats hold a formal vote authorizing the inquiry. But the move left the president’s allies in the same awkward place they have been for more than two weeks: unable or unwilling to mount a vigorous defense on the substance of the allegations and focused instead on trying to shake the public’s faith in the House’s impeachment process.” 

Michael D. Shear, Maggie Haberman and Nicholas Fandos, “Republicans Fight Trump’s Impeachment by Attacking the Process,” The New York Times online, October 24, 2019