This is not a criminal investigation, like the Mueller investigation was. This is a political process. And they’re leaning heavily into that idea with the eight-page letter the White House counsel sent tonight. We also see that in the polls: How people view Trump’s actions and the actions of House Democrats is split by party.

We also already know how this story almost certainly ends : Mr. Trump is not going to be convicted by the Senate. Does it matter for him whether there are one or two charges? His, and the White House’s, calculation is: no.

But isn’t that kind of resistance just going to harden Democrats’ belief that there’s some kind of cover-up?

Some witnesses could be really bad for the president, so the White House wants to have a broad position that they’re not going to play along. There were differing opinions internally about the case of Sondland, who some people thought would have had a story to tell that would have been helpful to Trump. But they ultimately decided — really late at night — that their position was about something broader.

Remember when they decided to release the transcript of Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president? In that case, they clearly made the opposite calculation: Looking like we’re hiding something is worse than the facts in the transcript, which were pretty bad. Now, they’ve basically decided that looking like they’re hiding something is better than looking like they’re cooperating with what they’re calling an illegitimate investigation. House Democrats have only had one witness so far, Kurt Volker, and look how much House Democrats got! They have in writing that there could have been a quid pro quo. What else could they find with even just one more?