Christmas at Mar-a-Lago and the month ahead was weighing heavily on President Trump’s mind. In between glad-handing at holiday parties and 18 holes of golf in the winter sun, he was glued to his phone, sounding out friends about the looming Senate impeachment trial and how to play what could be the defining moment of his presidency.
It came down to a critical question of strategy. Should Trump push for a full trial, filled with witnesses and evidence that could simultaneously damage his opponents and vindicate his actions over Ukraine? Or was it better to go for a truncated version to get the whole sorry mess over and done within days, denying Democrats a chance to grandstand?
According to a source familiar with their conversations, he mulled the options in a series of calls with Mitch McConnell, the Senate leader who would have to do the heavy lifting to ensure that 53 Republican senators delivered a “not guilty” verdict.
McConnell’s guidance was simple. “Leave it to me. You are getting a lot of advice,” the Capitol Hill veteran told Trump, “but no one is better placed than me to deliver the votes. Trust me on this.”
“I know the Senate better than any of those people you’re talking to, and I know how to make my members feel comfortable,” was the message delivered, according to the source. “Don’t sweat the details. Ignore the ups and downs, and I will deliver on the big vote at the end.”
The worry was Trump’s mercurial attention and his fondness for the bully pulpit of Twitter. Would he use his frequent Q&A sessions with the press to heap pressure on senators who expressed public uncertainty, perhaps with one eye on their electorate — such as Susan Collins, a centrist who is up for reelection in Maine this year? They needed to be free to make up their minds without worrying about Trump setting Fox commentators and his base on them.
And it worked.
“Once he got over being pissed about this whole thing, he could see the wisdom of sitting still and letting the Senate come to its conclusions,” an administration official told the Wall Street Journal.
For the period of his trial, Trump even eschewed one of his favorite moments of the week, the impromptu press conferences on the south lawn of the White House, where he likes to linger, taking questions from journalists before climbing aboard Air Force One. He came and went with barely a wave for the press.
The biggest test came when details from John Bolton’s draft memoir began leaking, intensifying demands that the Senate call witnesses. Trump reacted with a string of attacks on his former national security adviser. A sample tweet said, “Why didn’t John Bolton complain about this ‘nonsense’ a long time ago when he was very publicly terminated,” while the White House circulated anti-Bolton talking points.
But for all the fire and fury, none of the brimstone was directed at the senators. They were left to McConnell, who, in a series of meetings, reminded his troops the trial was as much about preserving their majority as about protecting the president and that a shorter trial was better for everyone, according to a senior Republican source. The crisis was averted with a 51-49 vote by the end of January, paving the way for the president’s eventual acquittal.
Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, said it would have been counterproductive for the White House and its Office of Legislative Affairs (which was coordinating with Capitol Hill Republicans) to wade in and tell senators what to do.
“I think the leg affairs team has done a great job managing the process, but I think that any sort of overexertion of pressure here could certainly have negative consequences,” he said. “There’s been a lot of space given for them to do what they think is in their best interest.”
