GOP lawmakers fear Trump becoming too consumed by impeachment fight | TheHill – The Hill, The Hill

**************Donald John TrumpTrump says Republicans should release their own transcripts in impeachment probeTrump keeps NYT, WaPo apps on his phone despite canceling subscriptions: reportThe big deception behind tariffs and geopoliticsMOREto focus more on his agenda and not let himself become personally consumed by the House impeachment inquiry, which is likely to hit a dead end in the Senate.

Senate Republicans have urged the president on multiple occasions to key his eye on top policy priority and let his allies on Capitol Hill handle more of the day-to-day skirmishing over impeach ment, according to GOP sources familiar with communications with the president.

One instance came late last month during a meeting between Trump and Republican senators at the White House, when Sen.Rob PortmanRobert Rob) Jones PortmanSynagogues ramp up security in year since Tree of Life shootingHillicon Valley: Facebook launches ‘News Tab’ | Senate passes bill to take on ‘deepfakes’ | Schumer outlines vision for electric carsRomney, Collins, Murkowski only Senate GOP holdouts on Graham’s impeachment resolutionMORE(R-Ohio) urged the president to follow the model of how PresidentBill ClintonWilliam (Bill) Jefferson ClintonDemocrats will win back the Senate majority in 2020, all thanks to President TrumpIsolationism creeps back over America, as the president looks out for himselfIf Donald Trump is guilty of bribery, Democrats are guilty of solicitationMOREhandled impeachment in 1998 and 1999.

The GOP senator, who is an adviser to Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellDemocrats will wi n back the Senate majority in 2020, all thanks to President TrumpCyber ​​officials tout reforms with one year to Election DayDemocrats feud over health care, Trump strategy in IowaMORE(R-Ky.), urged Trump at the Oct. 24 meeting to keep his focus on the agenda and let Republican lawmakers do more of the heavy lifting in fighting back against the Democratic impeachment push.

The senator’s comments reflected the belief among many Senate Republicans that the public cares more about issues such as the strength of the economy, health care and national security than impeachment.

“The dual-track strategy would be a better strategy. He’s been told this a number of times. Let us worry about impeachment, that’s our job. You worry about your job, ”said a person familiar with communications between Senate Republicans and the president.

In 1998, Clinton made it a priority to compartmentalize his impeachment defense and his policy agenda, which sent a clear message to voters that he was continuing to pursue the nation’s business despite the partisan fighting in Congress.

Trump, by contrast, has declared on multiple occasions that the House Democrats’ pursuit of impeachment makes it all but impossible to pass bipartisan legislation.

“Then they all wonder why they don’t get gun legislation done, then they wonder why they don’t get drug prices lowered,” Trump said in September. “Because all they do is talk nonsense. No more infrastructure bills, no more anything. ”

The president’s frequent expressions of anger and frustration, to the press and over Twitter, has caused some GOP lawmakers to worry that impeachment is consuming too much of the president’s focus.

Trump’s latest idea of ​​reading the transcript of his July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a fireside chat on live television – something the president thinks would quash public support for the impeachment inquiry – strikes some Republicans as a bad idea. They think the president would be better off to devote his national television addresses to his policy goals, such as a new round of tax cuts before the (election.

Trump discussed impeachment once again with a small group of GOP senators he invited to the White House for lunch this past Thursday, where he reiterated many of the same arguments against the House Democratic inquiry that he has made in public.

He extolled on several occasions the reconstructed transcript of his call with Zelensky, which Trump believes makes it clear that he didn’t do anything wrong.

“He said a number of times he was really glad there was a transcript and that he was really glad he released it, ”said Sen.Josh HawleyJoshua (Josh) David HawleyTwitter shakes up fight over online political adsGOP senators discuss impeachment with Trump after House voteRepublicans to introduce legislation condemning China’s actions in Hong KongMORE(R-Mo.), Who attended the meeting.

“In terms of the transcript, what the president said over and over is he was delighted there was a transcript, glad that there was one and he

Democrats, by contrast, view the partial transcript as evidence that Trump tried to inappropriately pressure Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential candidateJoe BidenJoe BidenCastro hits Buttigieg over ‘bad track record with African Americans’Harris struggling with substance to match the aspirationHarris: Buttigieg ‘naive’ to suggest it’s becoming two-person race between him and WarrenMORE.

The senators at Thursday’s meeting mostly listened to Trump and when they spoke, they were eager to put policy issues on his radar that have gotten lost in recent weeks amidst the uproar over impeachment.

“I talked about prescription drugs, prescription drug pricing, and said I think we got to take action, ”Hawley said. “Sen. [John] Barrasso [R-Wyo.] brought up infrastructure. ”

Some Republican senators are frustrated that major issues, in particular the National Defense Authorization Act and the annual spending bills, have become stalled while the capital is consumed by the impeachment fight.

The defense authorization bill and the spending bills are being held up in large measure because of the lack of a resolution on how to fund the US-Mexico border wall, one of Trump’s top priority. Democrats don’t want to move defense legislation without a guarantee the president won’t redirect military funds to build the border wall.

One Republican senator expressed frustration to The Hill that Trump is not giving negotiators a clear sense of how he wants to handle the stalled defense bill.

Senate Armed Services Committee ChairmanJim InhofeJames (Jim (Mountain Inhofe) Who is holding up the war on global warming? You may be surprisedThe Hill’s 12: 30 Report – Presented by Nareit – White House cheers Republicans for storming impeachment hearingGOP senators frustrated with Romney jabs at TrumpMORE(R-Okla.) Says he is prepared to move a skinny defense authorization bill – which would be stripped down to the bare essentials – just to avoid the embarrassing prosp ect of not passing one for the first time in 59 years.

Senate Republicans think Trump would boost his approval numbers, which have dipped in recent weeks, by focusing more on policy and spending less time lashing out at the Democrats impeachment inquiry.

Sen.Lisa MurkowskiLisa Ann MurkowskiThe Memo: After Vindman, GOP anxiety deepensTrump’s defenders are running out of optionsSenate GOP in bind on impeachment(MORE)(R-Alaska) said focusing on policy is a smart idea.

“He just needs to keep wor king. We need to keep working and that’s what it’s all about, ”she said.

That strategy helped Clinton win the public relations battle with Republicans before the 1998 midterm election, when the president’s party uncharacteristically picked up seats in the House.

“Clinton came out of impeachment more popular than he did going in and he did that in part because he made a concerted effort to show the country he was still working on their behalf on various issues, ”said a Senate GOP aide.

A White House spokesman said Democrats have become consumed by impeachment and lost focus on governing, not Trump.

“The President has never lost focus on his promises to the American people unlike the Speaker and her caucus,” Judd Deere, the White House spokesman, wrote in a response emailed to The Hill.

“While the Do Nothing Democrats continue with their kangaroo court, President Trump and his Administration keep working on behalf of the American people, delivering on lower drug prices, border security, USMCA, greater choice in healthcare, infrastructure, and more, ”he added. “This President is going to continue to build on his record-setting success, and keep fighting for the forgotten men and women of this country.”

An Emerson Polling survey of voters in Iowa, a key battleground state, last month showed that even Democratic voters don’t rate impeachment as highly as other issues. They rated the economy and health care as the top two issues. Impeachment ranked in seventh on the list of their priority.

At the same time, GOP lawmakers realize that Trump is extremely frustrated with SpeakerNancy Pelosi(Nancy Pelosi)Willie Brown: Don’t bet that impeachment will be a winner for DemocratsTrump allies assail impeachment on process while House Democrats promise open hearings soonWhistleblower would answer Republicans quest ions in impeachment inquiry: lawyerMORE(D-Calif.) And other Democrats.

“I think he’s just offended. The Democrats have been after him since Day One, ”said Sen.Joni ErnstJoni Kay ErnstDemocrats will win back the Senate majority in 2020, all thanks to President TrumpPro-impeachment group pressures vulnerable GOP senators in new adsTrump’s defenders are running out of optionsMORE(R-Iowa).

They also realize that Trump is going to be Trump and that past efforts to tamp down on his Twitter habit haven’t

“He’s not Bill Clinton. He’s unique, ”observed Sen.Pat RobertsCharles (Pat) Patrick RobertsMenendez seeks probe into if Pompeo violated Hatch ActKansas City Star to Pompeo: ‘Focus on your day job’ or launch Senate bidPompeo expected to visit Kansas on ThursdayMORE