Trump blasts impeachment trial

DAVOS, Switzerland — President Donald Trump lashed out at congressional Democrats and the news media during a wide-ranging news conference before he left the World Economic Forum in Davos to return to Washington on Wednesday.

The solo news conference, which had not been on his original schedule, has become a staple of the president’s overseas trips, a coda to numerous bilateral meetings that offers him — and him alone — a final opportunity to shape the news cycle, although his remarks often distract from the central themes of the conference.

Trump blasted the impeachment case and claimed that national security concerns were preventing administration officials from testifying.

“It’s a total hoax, it’s a disgrace,” he said. “They had no case, it’s a con job.”

Trump has repeatedly directed administration officials to defy subpoenas for documents and testimony, but he said Wednesday that he would “love to have” them appear before Congress.

However, Trump said, “it’s a national security problem.” People such as John Bolton, the former national security adviser, know too much about sensitive issues involving foreign policy to let them speak freely on Capitol Hill, he said.

Trump described Democrats including Reps. Adam B. Schiff of California and Jerrold Nadler of New York as “corrupt” and “sleazebags,” and he said his economic success had made them lose their minds.

“You know what’s driven them crazy? All of these record numbers.”

After boasting about economic gains and how “beautifully” he had been treated in Davos, Trump joked about another World Economic Forum attendee, 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, who he noted had earned an honor he covets: Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” recognition.

“She beat me out on Time magazine,” Trump said.

A day after decrying climate change activists as “perennial prophets of doom” in a speech, Trump said he “would have loved to have seen her speak.” And when asked if he thought climate change was a hoax, Trump responded: “No, not at all.”

But he recommended that Thunberg “start working on those other countries,” asserting that the United States, which withdrew from the Paris climate accord in 2017, is doing its part to combat climate change. “Our water numbers, our numbers on air, are tremendous,” he said.

“You have another continent where the fumes are rising at levels that you can’t believe ... I think Greta ought to focus on those places.”