últimas notícias

“I think Mick was very clear in cleaning up his statement, that there was no quid pro quo,” Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader, said at a news conference at the time. “You have the transcript to prove it.”

But as House Democrats conclude the fact-finding portion of their inquiry and prepare to make the case in public that Mr. Trump abused his presidential power to pressure Ukraine into investigating his political rivals, Republicans, recognizing that their process argument has a looming expiration date, have cast about for a new line of defense.

Adding to the angst is Mr. Trump himself, who implored Republicans last week to stop defending him on process and instead defend the substance of his call in July with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, in which Mr. Trump asked the Ukrainian leader to “do us a favor” and investigate Democrats. Lawmakers have since resigned themselves to the notion that the president will continue to use his Twitter feed as an unvarnished, one-man war room, two Republican aides said, and can only hope he will not go off on too many tangents.

On Sunday, Mr. Trump suggested a path forward: After The Washington Post reported that Republicans were grappling with a way to combat growing testimony that the president abused his power to pressure a foreign leader, Mr. Trump’s denial also contained a marching order.

“False stories are being reported that a few Republican Senators are saying that President Trump may have done a quid pro quo,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday, “but it doesn’t matter, there is nothing wrong with that, it is not an impeachable event. Perhaps so, but read the transcript, there is no quid pro quo!”