Trump a one-person ‘war room’ on impeachment

WASHINGTON —“He is the war room,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told Fox News of President Donald Trump as the House launches official impeachment hearings.

Trump told the Washington Examiner on Thursday, “At some point, I’m going to sit down, perhaps as a fireside chat on live television, and I will read the transcript of the call, because people have to hear it. When you read it, it’s a straight call.”

The transcript to which Trump referred is a rough account of a July 25 phone conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during which Trump urged Zelenskiy to find dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. (Hunter Biden made $50,000 a month serving on the board of Burisma Holdings, a natural gas concern in Ukraine.)

The conversation is the basis for the impeachment inquiry approved by a 232-196 House vote Thursday.

Two decades ago, then-President Bill Clinton assembled a war room to fight impeachment charges.

David Bossie, a happy GOP warrior in 1998 who later worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign, recalled butting heads with a Clinton team with members both inside and outside the government that worked so seamlessly “you didn’t know where the White House ended and the outside group began.”

Bossie fondly rattled off the roster of Clinton partisans who became household names — message gurus James Carville, Paul Begala, George Stephanopoulos, Mark Fabiani and Ann Lewis.

They were “killers,” Bossie recalled, adding, “I say this out of complete respect.”

Asked if Trump needs his own team to fight House Democrats pushing for impeachment, Bossie said, “This is the president’s call. I believe he would be successful either way, but it would be easier” if Trump had a small group of people ready to take on House Democrats who frequently appear on cable news to trash talk the president.

After the House voted for a resolution outlining impeachment inquiry procedures Thursday, the president found a friendly reception when he called in to Brexiteer Nigel Farage’s London radio program. Later Trump chatted with Washington Examiner reporters, and he chimed in on Twitter throughout the day.

“My first thought is, no one can do it alone,” public communications specialist Ruth Sherman told the Review-Journal. “Then again, Trump has broken just about every rule.”

Over time, Trump has made himself his own top spokesman as staff has learned to let the president do all the talking. The last full White House press briefing occurred on March 11 — before Grisham, Trump’s third press secretary, took the helm of the communications operation.

Max Bergmann of the left-wing Center for American Progress believes Trump is not his best spokesman. “What he’s shown in this process is a total lack of discipline. In fact, his own actions have helped escalate the scandal.”

Bergmann referred to Trump’s decision to release the phone call transcript — which Trump has argued absolves him by showing he has nothing to hide.

“The thing he released confirmed the crime,” by establishing that Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate Biden as Ukraine sought military aid frozen by the administration, Bergmann said.

Republicans in Congress don’t want to defend Trump’s actions, Bergmann contended, so they are stuck criticizing the tactics and the process employed by the pro-impeachment Democrats.

Nonetheless, Bergmann added, Republicans don’t want to criticize Trump because they’ll be “pummeled and pilloried by Trump and his acolytes.”

Bergmann sees a dynamic likely to foster resentment among Republicans who have to defend him. He predicted that a couple of GOP lawmakers will break, and a floodgate could open.

“This is just going to be ‘The Trump Show,’ ” Bergmann added, as in “a disaster.”

While he has been his own spokesman, the American public has supported the House inquiry.

The latest RealClearPolitics polling average registered 51 percent of Americans in support of the impeachment process and 42 percent opposed.

Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.