Since Donald Trump thinks he can do no wrong, he apparently didn’t fully comprehend the danger inherent in releasing the transcript of his call with Ukraine’s new president.
But less brain-damaged Republicans apparently understand the gravity of the situation that the 8,000-pound White House gorilla has put them in.
The Washington Post:
Several Senate Republicans were stunned Wednesday and questioned the White House’s judgment after it released a rough transcript of President Trump’s call with the Ukraine president that showed Trump offering the help of the U.S. attorney general to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
One Senate Republican, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly, said the transcript’s release was a “huge mistake” that the GOP now has to confront, even as they argue that House Democrats are overreaching with their impeachment effort.
Behind the scenes, Senate Republicans have reportedly expressed frustration about the transcript’s release. According to three Senate GOP aides The Post contacted, their bosses were “grousing” about the transcript and about “being forced into the difficult position of defending Trump while contending with what many see as an alarming or at least problematic transcript.”
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney — who can always be counted on to challenge Trump when he’s not trying to get an administration job or when it seems politically safe to do so — said the transcript was “troubling in the extreme.” (You might even say it’s “severely” troubling — right, Mittens?)
The Post also reports that “cracks” are beginning to form privately within the GOP that “could foreshadow how Senate Republicans ultimately handle a trial, should the House impeach the president, according to several lawmakers and aides.”
One early divide among Senate Republicans is between the “Burr camp” and the “Johnson camp,” according to two senior GOP aides who were not authorized to speak publicly, referring to Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. Burr’s faction of the Senate GOP has a darker, frustrated view of Trump’s handling of Ukraine, while Johnson’s wing is more focused on probing Biden, the aides said.
Any chance that a leak in the dam could turn into a deluge? We’ll see. Many people are saying that. This is a scandal like we’ve never seen before. Believe me.
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