Trump lashes out at Pelosi, Democrats
Dems decry lack of holiday spirit
PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump lashed out again Tuesday at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democrats involved in his impeachment after a teleconference in which he exchanged holiday greetings with members of the military around the globe from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
“She hates the Republican Party,” Trump said of Pelosi, predicting that she would lose her speakership. “She hates all of the people who voted for me and the Republican Party. … She’s doing a tremendous disservice to the country.”
Speaking to reporters who had just witnessed his teleconference, Trump aired an array of grievances about the impeachment process, claiming that Democrats “had no evidence at all” about misconduct in his dealings with Ukraine and that he is “in a very good position” as he faces a trial in the Senate.
His comments come amid a standoff regarding the timing and scope of a Senate trial. Pelosi has declined to send the two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — to the Senate as Democrats demand more information about the parameters of a trial.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has requested subpoenas for several witnesses and documents that were not part of the House impeachment inquiry because of stonewalling by the White House.
Trump repeated claims that he did not receive “due process” in the House proceedings, although he was invited to participate in the Judiciary Committee hearings that preceded his impeachment, but refused to do so. He was impeached for obstruction of Congress after blocking several witnesses from his administration from providing documents and testimony sought by House Democrats.
At the heart of the Democrats’ abuse-of-power case is the allegation that Trump tried to leverage a White House meeting and military aid, sought by Ukraine to combat Russian military aggression, to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, as well as a probe of an unfounded theory that Kyiv conspired with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump also again took aim Tuesday at House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a key player in gathering evidence, calling him “a sick, corrupt politician.”
“Fortunately, we have a president who was able to plow through all of the stuff that went on and that goes on,” Trump said.
Trump’s comments to reporters echoed complaints made about the impeachment process in a series of morning tweets.
“The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats have gone CRAZY,” Trump said in one of them. “They want to make it as hard as possible for me to properly run our Country!”
Democrats responded to Trump’s attacks by noting how they were out of sync with the holiday spirit.
“It’s Christmas Eve. Get. A. Life,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., tweeted to Trump in response to the president’s claim that Pelosi “knows nothing” about the trade agreement with Mexico and Canada recently passed by the House.
Around the same time Tuesday, Trump’s campaign launched a new website aimed at helping Trump supporters win arguments with their relatives during the holidays. The site, snowflakevictory. com, includes videos coaching Trump supporters on how to argue with “liberal snowflakes” about several issues.