Trump’s ‘apoplectic’ rage at Boris over Huawei deal
BORIS Johnson endured a phone call with an ‘apoplectic’ Donald Trump following the decision to approve a deal with Huawei, it was claimed yesterday.
The Prime Minister spoke to the US President last week soon after he announced that the Chinese manufacturer would be allowed to work on the UK’s next-generation 5G mobile phone network – despite strong opposition from the US.
A source briefed on the phone call told the Financial Times that Mr Trump was ‘apoplectic’ with Mr Johnson. A second official confirmed the call between the pair was ‘very difficult’.
British officials with knowledge of the exchange said they were taken aback by the force of the president’s language towards Mr Johnson, the FT reported.
Downing Street and the White House declined to comment. However, a government source told the Mail: ‘These calls can get overheated at times.’
The briefings came as Mr Trump savaged those who tried to unseat him as ‘dirty cops, liars and leakers’ yesterday after victory at his impeachment trial.
A day after the Senate voted to acquit him of all charges, the President brandished a copy of the Washington Post with the front page headline ‘Trump acquitted’. ‘It was the only good headline I’ve ever had in the Washington Post,’ he said of the newspaper owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
In an hour-long, unscripted and rambling speech, Mr Trump said the bid to remove him from office was ‘bull****’, adding: ‘It was evil, it was corrupt, it was dirty cops... it was leakers and liars. I don’t know if other presidents would have been able to take it.
‘This should never ever happen to another president, ever.’ Describing the impeachment process as a ‘disgrace’, he added: ‘We went through hell, unfairly. We did nothing wrong.’
He denounced Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff as ‘vicious horrible people’, and the FBI leadership as ‘scum’. Mr Trump had been accused of abusing his power by asking Ukraine to dig for dirt on potential 2020 rival Joe Biden. However, his opponents fell well short of the two-thirds majority required to remove him – losing the Senate votes 53-47 and 52-4 .