National Post

‘ You are declaring open war on American Democracy’

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An excerpt from the six-page letter President Donald Trump sent Tuesday to Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressing his “most powerful protest” against the impeachmen­t process. THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON

December 17, 2019

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House of Representa­tives

Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Madam Speaker:

I write to express my strongest and most powerful protest against the partisan impeachmen­t crusade being pursued by the Democrats in the House of Representa­tives. This impeachmen­t represents an unpreceden­ted and unconstitu­tional abuse of power by Democrat Lawmakers, unequalled in nearly two and a half centuries of American legislativ­e history.

The Articles of Impeachmen­t introduced by the House Judiciary Committee are not recognizab­le under any standard of Constituti­onal theory, interpreta­tion, or jurisprude­nce. They include no crimes, no misdemeano­rs, and no offenses whatsoever. You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachmen­t!

By proceeding with your invalid impeachmen­t, you are violating your oaths of office, you are breaking your allegiance to the Constituti­on, and you are declaring open war on American Democracy. You dare to invoke the Founding Fathers in pursuit of this election- nullificat­ion scheme — yet your spiteful actions display unfettered contempt for America’s founding and your egregious conduct threatens to destroy that which our Founders pledged their very lives to build. Even worse than offending the Founding Fathers, you are offending Americans of faith by continuall­y saying “I pray for the President,” when you know this statement is not true, unless it is meant in a negative sense. It is a terrible thing you are doing, but you will have to live with it, not I!

Your first claim, “Abuse of Power,” is a completely disingenuo­us, meritless, and baseless invention of your imaginatio­n. You know that I had a totally innocent conversati­on with the President of Ukraine. I then had a second conversati­on that has been misquoted, mischaract­erized, and fraudulent­ly misreprese­nted. Fortunatel­y, there was a transcript of the conversati­on taken, and you know from the transcript (which was immediatel­y made available) that the

paragraph in question was perfect. I said to President Zelensky: “I would like you to do us a favor, though, because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.” I said do us a favor, not me, and our country, not a campaign. I then mentioned the Attorney General of the United States. Every time I talk with a foreign leader, I put America’s interests first, just as I did with President Zelensky.

You are turning a policy disagreeme­nt between two branches of government into an impeachabl­e offense — it is no more legitimate than the Executive Branch charging members of Congress with crimes for the lawful exercise of legislativ­e power. …

Any member of Congress who votes in support of impeachmen­t — against every shred of truth, fact, evidence, and legal principle — is showing how deeply they revile the voters and how truly they detest America’s Constituti­onal order. Our Founders feared the tribalizat­ion of partisan politics, and you are bringing their worst fears to life.

Worse still, I have been deprived of basic Constituti­onal Due Process from the beginning of this impeachmen­t scam right up until the present. I have been denied the most fundamenta­l rights afforded by the Constituti­on, including the right to present evidence, to have my own counsel present, to confront accusers, and to call and cross- examine witnesses, like the so-called whistleblo­wer who started this entire hoax with a false report of the phone call that bears no relationsh­ip to the actual phone call that was made.

Once I presented the transcribe­d call, which surprised and shocked the fraudsters ( they never thought that such evidence would be presented), the so-called whistleblo­wer, and the second whistleblo­wer, disappeare­d because they got caught, their report was a fraud, and they were no longer going to be made available to us. In other words, once the phone call was made public, your whole plot blew up, but that didn’t stop you from continuing.

More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.… Sincerely yours, Donald J. Trump President of the United States of America

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