From “The Cover-Up Betrays Trump’s Guilt“:
No one has accused one key person of being part of the cover-up: Trump himself. While his aides tried to hide his behavior, the president himself has been fairly forthcoming….
He has said he wanted Ukraine to investigate corruption, and he has insisted that what he was doing was a proper exercise of his prerogatives in setting American foreign policy….
Trump might have had the better argument politically…. The president recognizes that when he brazens out a scandal, acknowledging the basic facts but insisting he did nothing wrong and attacking his opponents, he has been able to survive.
If that analysis is right, and Trump is not responsible for the Ukraine coverup, his tactic may not work this time.