The New GOP Strategy Appears to Be Misdirection

Aaron Blake: “In recent days, Republicans have maintained a laserlike focus on a very narrow defense of Trump: that there was nothing illegal about his July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s president. In doing so, they are glossing over and even outright ignoring a growing mountain of evidence that much more explicit quid pro quos existed outside that call.”

“I’ve said from the beginning that the call contains no explicit quid pro quo, but that doesn’t mean one didn’t exist elsewhere. Indeed, six people have now said as much publicly — including three under oath. If anything, the call fills out the details of a president who badly wanted these investigations, and now we’re learning about what people did behind closed doors to make them happen — including allegedly dangling hundreds of millions of U.S. government dollars and a long-sought White House meeting.”