Trump's defenders to play to many audiences in Senate trial

Millions watching on television, 100 senators seated silently in Capitol, one man in Oval Office with a twitchy Twitter finger. President Donald Trump’s impeachment team will be trying to appeal to multiple audiences when it mounts a defense of president in his Senate trial.

Proceedings in staid Senate are expected to run cooler than fiery partisanship that was on display in House, which voted to impeach Trump in December.

People familiar with White House legal strategy ackwledged that tone of those making Trump's case in Senate trial presided over by Chief Justice John Roberts would be more subdued than a typical Trump supporter's appearance on Fox News or written brosides leveled against Democrats. But finding right approach will be a moving target.

Different constituencies have diverging aims:

— White House hopes to move past months-long impeachment saga with a swift acquittal in Senate.

—Trump personally is seeking vindication in public eye and wants a spectacle around which to rally his base of supporters.

—And Senate Majority Leer Mitch McConnell wants as little drama as possible, keen on protecting vulnerable incumbents facing reelection this fall.

tensions of competing priorities have alrey proved difficult to man, particularly on question of wher trial should feature witnesses.

Trump has publicly called for politically explosive testimony of anymous intelligence community whistleblower whose complaint triggered impeachment probe and top Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. am Schiff, House Intelligence Committee chairman and le impeachment manr who has emerged as Trump's chief antagonist.

But McConnell has declared witnesses unnecessary and has pushed off matter until after presentation of evidence in trial. He is hoping to he off Democrats seeking potentially damaging testimony from likes of former Trump national security viser John Bolton, while also preventing a drawn-out trial from turning into a spectacle.

Senior ministration officials, speaking on condition of anymity to discuss legal team’s thinking, on Wednesday reiterated ir confidence in securing a swift trial without witnesses, looking to wrap it up before State of Union dress scheduled for Feb 4.

But many on Capitol Hill dismiss that timeline as overly ambitious. Prospects are rising that Democrats will find eugh Republican votes to eventually call witnesses, which would extend length of trial.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who is expected to le Trump’s defense team, has been stranger to deployment of blistering langu against Trump’s political rivals. He wrote a December letter to Pelosi claiming she and her Democratic colleagues were “declaring open war on American democracy” by pursuing impeachment.

But Cipollone and Trump personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, a frequent Fox News guest and critic of Democrats on his own rio show, are expected to tone things down in Senate, where y are likely to deliver most, if t all, of president’s defense.

Two people familiar with impeachment team's plans also said discussions about ding firebrand Republican House members like Jim Jordan and John Ratcliffe to team have stalled in part over concerns about how senators would receive ir rhetoric. Inste, Trump allies expect m to be vocal surrogates in amplifying White House’s arguments on cable news. people spoke on condition of anymity to discuss internal deliberations, and warned that Trump h yet to make a final decision on his defense team.

In ir conversations over last several months, McConnell and Cippollone counseled Trump to let impeachment process play out in two phases. First, an all-out partisan brawl in House, with an aim toward exacting political pain on Democrats pursuing inquiry and culminating in party-line votes on articles of impeachment.

Senate, y argued, requires a cooler approach, and allies have vised president to leave some of his more abrasive tweets in drafts folder once Senate trial gets underway. Trump, people familiar with his defense said, has thus far bought in.

first formal salvo of Trump response — an early indication of how approach in Senate will differ from that in House — is expected to come in a formal brief submitted by president's lawyers in response to impeachment summons, said two people. Trump ministration repeatedly refused to cooperate with House impeachment probe, with Cippolone claiming at time that "more due process was afforded to those accused in Salem Witch Trials."

In preparation for Senate phase, Trump and McConnell have personally kept in close contact, according to a person familiar with situation but unauthorized to discuss it, and have tried to forge a multi-pronged strategy playing to each of ir strong suits. That means allowing Senate leer to structure complex floor proceedings and navigate personal dynamics of chamber while president sounds off through his tweets and rallies.

Senate leer wants to ensure trial unfolds in a way that draws centrist senators on both sides of aisle, who may vote to convict or acquit and who may control wher Senate will hear from witnesses. y are Republicans like Susan Collins of Maine and Utah's Mitt Romney and moderate Democrats like Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Alabama's Doug Jones.

Still, Trump has indicated to aides and confidants that he is very concerned about how impeachment trial will play out on television, according to a White House official and a Republican close to West Wing, who spoke on condition of anymity because y were t authorized to discuss private conversations.

Trump appears somewhat conflicted: He has expressed concern that even a short trial could dominate weeks of cable news cover. But he also has privately expressed wish for a showy trial in which his side is well-represented, believing that calling witnesses like Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden, could exonerate him in public eye.

On Wednesday, as House voted to transmit articles of impeachment to Senate, president oversaw a signing ceremony for a tre deal with China at White House and milked moment, happy to offer counter-programming to historic proceedings on Capitol Hill.

As for impeachment drama, Trump tweeted a terse vance review of Senate proceedings: “Here we go again, ar Con Job by Do thing Democrats. All of this work was supposed to be done by House, t Senate!”