Republicans are already looking past impeachment, sensing a looming Democratic plot to gradually release more Ukraine bombshells as Donald Trump fights for re-election.

Even with the president’s impeachment trial racing toward a swift acquittal for Trump, Republicans have seen a drip, drip, drip of information in recent days about Trump’s role in pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival. They liken it to the repeated allegations of misconduct lodged against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his 2018 confirmation fight, and fear they're witnessing an election-year repeat.

Publicly, Trump appears agitated, lashing out in record-setting tweet storms that often targeted House Democrats, who have released more evidence about the Ukraine saga this week despite their portion of the impeachment process being over. On Friday, Trump started tweeting at 6:18 am. Less than two hours later, he already sent more than 50 tweets, including one lamenting that his defense team was being forced to present its case Saturday during the “Death Valley” of broadcast time slots.

“The Impeachment Hoax is interfering with the 2020 Election - But that was the idea behind the Radical Left, Do Nothing Dems Scam attack,” he wrote. “They always knew I did nothing wrong!”

Privately, however, Trump and his allies are relieved that the trial hasn’t resulted in any surprises and that none of the recent information dumps have appeared to hurt the president politically, according to interviews with half a dozen Republicans. In part, they say, Americans have been inundated with information, meaning none of it is sticking. In the short run, they feel they’ve won.

Impeachment managers: Trump orchestrated a ‘corrupt scheme’ and ‘cover-up’

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Behind closed doors on Thursday night, Trump cracked jokes and mocked Democrats for what he dubbed “impeachment lite” — a term he’s used at recent campaign rallies — and remarked that no one was watching the trial at a Republican National Committee meeting at his resort, according to a person familiar with his remarks. Most of his 90-minute speech focused on the 2016 race and his accomplishments as president, the person said. Trump told others that the trial was “boring” and that he didn’t think the process had damaged him, according to a person who spoke to him this week.

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It was the same message the White House was sending out to its surrogates.

“The House’s impeachment managers recycled the same tired attacks Congressional Democrats have been using for months,” according to White House talking points obtained by POLITICO. “We learned nothing new from their presentation – just wasted more time on this partisan hoax.”

Over at the Trump campaign, officials credit impeachment with energizing their supporters, contributing to record donations and volunteers. The campaign previously announced that it raised $46 million during the final three months of 2019, its largest quarterly haul, using fundraising appeals that portrayed Trump as a victim of Democrats out to destroy him during impeachment. The campaign didn’t respond to questions about more recent fundraising numbers.

In the long run, however, Trump’s allies worry something more sinister looms. More document releases. More investigations.

"No one in this building believes House Democrats are done with impeachment,” a White House official said. “I wouldn't be surprised if they launched a dozen more sham investigations between now and Election Day."

Trump is accused of conditioning millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, as well as a much-desired White House meeting for the country’s leader, on Kyiv launching an investigation into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Trump and his allies contend that the desired probe was part of a broader effort to eradicate corruption and uncover foreign wrongdoing in the 2016 presidential race, not an attempt to undermine a potential 2020 rival.

The House eventually impeached Trump over the scheme, approving two articles: one alleging abuse of power, and the other alleging obstruction of Congress. The articles were approved along a near party-line vote.

Long before the Senate trial kicked off in earnest Tuesday, new information about Trump’s role in pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival surfaced. Republicans pounced on the timing.

“It looks political,” said Scott Jennings, who worked under President George W. Bush and is close to the Trump White House. “Democrats are only doing this to influence election.”

It was the latest in a string of new reports and evidence that has come out since the new year — and after the House impeached Trump.

On Jan. 2, the national security website Just Security published internal emails that indicated Trump personally directed staff to withhold U.S. aid to Ukraine. On Jan. 14, House Democrats released documents that included photos of an indicted associate of Trump’s attorney with Trump’s family and top aides. Two days later, the Government Accountability Office concluded the White House budget office violated the law when it froze U.S. military aid to Ukraine. And the next day, House Democrats released newly obtained texts capturing a discussion about the surveillance of the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

The drip-drip continued into this week as Trump's impeachment trial ramped up. On Friday, ABC News reported the existence of a recording that appeared to capture Trump telling a small group that he wanted Yovanovitch fired, potentially linking Trump more closely to the campaign to oust the ambassador. The gathering included Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, the now indicted former business associates of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Republicans blame Democrats for the release of new information, even though only some came from House Democrats after they received new evidence. Other pieces have been released through news outlets, while the GAO is a non-partisan agency that reports to Congress.

"Democrats are going to keep releasing to their media friends supposedly 'new' info to demand more investigation and witnesses anytime the trial is nearly over,” said a Senate GOP aide, who described it as a “rolling production.”

House Democrats are using some of the new information as they make their case against Trump in the Senate. During the House's initial investigation, the White House blocked numerous witnesses from testifying and withheld requested documents, leaving Democrats to argue that they couldn't get a complete picture of what had occurred.

“Democrats don’t seem to have another gameplan,” said Michael Caputo, former top adviser to Trump during his 2016 campaign. “It’s the continual escalation strategy. The American people are on to it now. Death by a 1,000 cuts now takes 10,000 cuts.”

A former Trump adviser who remains close to the White House insisted the tactic could backfire on the Democrats because it shows that they failed to gather all the evidence before voting to impeach him in December.

“It hurts the Democrats,” the former adviser said. “They clearly didn’t go through the lengthy process. They made a political decision on timing.”

It's a situation that has Republicans recalling the Kavanaugh confirmation process.

Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in July 2018 and fought hard for his confirmation by the Senate even as the judge faced allegations of sexual misconduct. The Senate narrowly confirmed Kavanaugh with a near-party line vote. Trump often mentions Kavanaugh's confirmation as one of his greatest accomplishments, repeatedly decrying how Democrats treated the judge.

“It’s the same exact model,” said an outside adviser. “We lived this with Kavanaugh.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/25/trump-ukraine-revelations-impeachment-103862