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As Bad News Piles Up, Senate

Republicans Hardly Flinch
Image

“His credibility is going to be a critical issue,” Senator John Cornyn said of

Michael D. Cohen, who implicated President Trump in criminal
activity.CreditErin Schaff for The New York Times
By Carl Hulse
 Aug. 22, 2018
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WASHINGTON — For those wondering if the latest disclosures from the

Trump legal file are finally weighty enough to cause top congressional
Republicans to break from the president, the answer is no.

Twenty-four hours after President Trump was hit with a double-barreled

barrage of felony convictions against two former close advisers, leading Senate
Republicans did not appear particularly agitated. They found several reasons
to look past sworn testimony by the president’s former personal lawyer that
Mr. Trump had directed him to break the law by preventing two women from
providing pre-election accounts of their sexual relationships with Mr. Trump
— accounts that could have conceivably changed some votes in November
2016.

There were mentions of the strained credibility of the former Trump lawyer,
Michael D. Cohen. And references to Bill Clinton’s dalliances and how
Democrats didn’t think those were such a big deal 20 years ago. And a belief
that some of that misbehavior was far in Mr. Trump’s past.

“Eight years ago to 10 years ago, Trump was not what I consider to be a pillar
of virtue,” said Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the senior Republican member
of the Senate. “I think he has changed a lot of his life once he was elected. I
think Trump is a much better person today than he was then.”

Mr. Hatch continued: “I think most people in this country realize that Donald
Trump comes from a different world. He comes from New York City, he comes
from a slam-bang, difficult world. It is amazing he is as good as he is. If
anything, you have to give him plaudits for the way he has run the country as
president.”

In addition to crediting Mr. Trump’s presidential performance, other top

Republicans suggested that Mr. Cohen was not to be believed and that this was
a matter for the courts — not Congress — to explore.

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“His credibility is going to be a critical issue because he’s, frankly, told a lot of
different and inconsistent stories,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No.
2 Republican in the Senate. (The No. 1 Republican, Senator Mitch McConnell
of Kentucky, did not publicly address the guilty plea by Mr. Cohen or the near
simultaneous conviction on Tuesday of Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former
campaign chairman, on financial fraud charges.)

“I’m sure there will be some drumbeat for impeachment, but I, perhaps having
been a lawyer and a judge, I just think we ought to see how this thing plays
itself out,” Mr. Cornyn said. “It is hard to make a rush to judgment based on
just what we saw yesterday.”

For those eagerly awaiting a rupture between Mr. Trump and Republicans on
Capitol Hill, the current straw should always be the last one.

The attacks on Senator John McCain’s stint as a prisoner of war in Vietnam

were going to end any chance that they could support him. Then the “Access
Hollywood” tape. Once in office, he suffered few defections even as he
equivocated over white nationalists in Charlottesville and made disparaging
remarks about undocumented immigrants and just-as-disparaging remarks
about some of their home nations. So far it seems that his determined push for
tariffs against party orthodoxy has been the biggest friction point.

Publicly and privately, Republicans conceded that the guilty pleas did not look
good and were not optimal heading into the midterm election — especially as
the party struggles to keep its hold on the House. But there was no obvious
movement to do anything about them, and lawmakers said they were focused
on the business at hand, which did not include castigating the president.
Image

“I think most people in this country realize that Donald Trump comes from a
different world,” Senator Orrin G. Hatch said.CreditErin Schaff for The New
York Times

“It is bad news for the country, bad news for these people involved who either
pled or were found guilty,” said Senator Richard C. Shelby, the Alabama
Republican who is the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. But for Mr.
Shelby, appropriations bills are what are occupying him these days.

“I don’t know other than what I read and see,” Mr. Shelby said. “I’m going to
focus on what we’re doing here, try to, and move on.”

Republicans also pointed to the continuing Senate Intelligence Committee

investigation into Russian interference in the last presidential election and the
inquiry by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, as reasons to hold back
judgment on Mr. Trump’s actions.

“What am I waiting for?” asked Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina
Republican who, as a House member, helped lead the impeachment of Mr.
Clinton. “My No. 1 goal right now is to keep doing my day job, help the
president where I can, but let Mueller do his job.”
Mr. Graham said his own experience with Mr. Clinton, who was acquitted by
the Senate, showed him that it would be fruitless to move against a president
without a solid foundation of public opinion.

“Removing a president from office, I’ve learned once before, you can feel
passionate about your case, but if you can’t convince the people, then you are
not going to be successful,” he said.

With the Russia investigation in mind, Mr. Cornyn called on Mr. Mueller to
bring his investigation to a speedy conclusion to clear the air before the
election.

“It would be nice for him to wrap this up, the Russian investigation, because
otherwise the Department of Justice is going to become one of the main actors
in the upcoming election as well, just as they were in the 2016 election, which
is traditionally something the Department of Justice has tried to avoid like the
plague,” he said.

House Republicans, no doubt grateful to be out of town on their August recess,

were generally spared having to face reporters’ questions about their reaction
to the convictions. Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s office said he was awaiting more
information before rendering his verdict.

Democrats were not about to allow Republicans to dismiss the growing

number of Trump intimates about to become prison inmates, and called for
Republicans to delay the coming Supreme Court confirmation hearings given
mounting legal questions around the president. That request was denied.

“History will judge us harshly if we collectively shrug our shoulders and

disregard our constitutional responsibility to oversee the executive branch in
this moment,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and the
longest-serving member of his party in the Senate. “We represent a coequal
branch of government. It is time we act like it.”

Republicans saw such appeals as purely partisan and braced for more as
Democrats sought to capitalize not only on Mr. Trump’s problems, but also on
the indictment of two House Republicans — both early Trump supporters —
on insider trading and campaign finance violations. But they weren’t budging on
Mr. Trump, and showed little sign that they ever will.

Get politics and Washington news updates via Facebook, Twitter and the Morning
Briefing newsletter.
 A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 23, 2018, on Page A13 of the New
York edition with the headline: As the Bad News Piles Up, Republicans Hardly
Flinch. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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