The Trump team began its opening arguments in the Senate trial on Saturday, as Trump’s lawyers tried to sow doubt about the Democrats’ evidence that Trump asked Ukrainian leaders to investigative his political rival. The trial could conclude this week, depending on the mindset and demands of a handful of moderate Republican senators with whom the president’s immediate fate now rests. If they vote with Democrats to call witnesses, then the trial could easily last an additional week and would buttress both the president’s State of the Union address as well as the Iowa caucuses.

Undercutting the White House’s strategy is new reporting that Trump told former national security adviser John Bolton to continue to withhold military aide to Ukraine until the country agreed to investigate his political opponents. The allegations, revealed by the New York Times, come from an excerpt of Bolton’s upcoming book. Already it has renewed the Democrats’ push to call witnesses during the Senate impeachment trial.

White House aides had been hoping to use the State of the Union address to lay out Trump’s agenda for the rest of the year as well as a potential second term, and lately Trump has tried to cast impeachment and the investigations into his conduct as one of his many accomplishments for the country.

“I consider what I've done here, with this whole witch hunt, from day one — with the insurance policy; with the horrible statements made between Strzok and Page; and McCabe; and Comey, who lied to Congress and did so many other bad things,” he said during a press conference at Davos last week. “He lied and he leaked. When I finish, I think that this is going to go down as one of the greatest things I've done for our country. These are bad, corrupt people. These are bad people, and very bad for our country.”

Meanwhile, the White House is doing its best to control and dominate the news cycle this week, with the goal of turning the coverage to Trump’s political advantage. Current and former administration officials like the “counter-programming” approach to drown out negative news.

During the heart of the Senate impeachment trial this week, the White House will host a slew of activities including the presidential signing of USMCA, a major trade deal with Mexico and Canada; a visit from top Israeli leaders; the unveiling of the long-awaited Middle East peace plan; and a campaign rally in New Jersey. That’s just the schedule Monday through Wednesday.

The tactic is seen by aides as one of the most effective tools to make Trump look presidential and busy with governing, while Democrats, they hope, look obsessed with the intricacies of impeachment. One senior administration official said it shows the president has not been driven into a “bunker” and consumed by the minute-by-minute updates from the Senate floor — even if it’s clear from Twitter that he’s following along with the trial developments.