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The Trump administration’s impeachment strategy is becoming clearer: Deny, deflect and deflate.

Deny. Step one for President Trump and his allies is to deny the obvious reality that he was putting pressure on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to help the Trump campaign smear Joe Biden.

You can see this when Trump repeatedly describes his phone call with Zelensky as “perfect.” You can see it when White House aides and congressional Republicans try to discredit the whistle-blower, even though his central allegation — the phone call — has already been confirmed. And you can see it when Republicans keep claiming that there was not an explicit “quid pro quo” with Zelensky, despite the clear signals Trump was sending: “I would like you to do us a favor though.”

Deflect. Step two involves trying to get Americans to focus on anything other than Trump’s behavior.

On Tuesday, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, tried to change the subject by complaining that House Democrats did not want State Department lawyers to be present when State Department officials were questioned. Yesterday, Trump and his defenders seized on a Times report that Adam Schiff, the House Democrat leading the inquiry, had heard about the whistle-blower’s concerns before a formal complaint was filed — which merely confirmed the whistle-blower’s (appropriate) level of alarm.