IMPEACHMENT/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “When Corey Lewandowski showed up to testify this summer during an early impeachment hearing, the former Trump campaign manager had two top White House lawyers hovering over his shoulder the whole time. They whispered in his lawyer’s ear. They strategized with Republicans during breaks. In short, the White House was omnipresent. But on Wednesday [12-4-19], the White House is expected to be a complete no-show at the House Judiciary Committee’s biggest impeachment hearing yet — no attorney to represent President Donald Trump’s interests, not even a staffer to sit in the audience. The approach is part of the Trump administration’s strategy for the final stages of the House impeachment process, according to half a dozen people familiar with the situation: refuse to engage unless certain demands are met, blast Democrats from the outside in the meantime and wait for a friendlier Senate landscape.”
–Anita Kumar and Darren Samuelsohn, “Trump’s impeachment participation strategy: Insult, sit out, wait,” Politico, December 4, 2019 5:02 am