Trump makes the wall his Alamo
President claims speech was ‘totally appropriate’ but is set to be first leader to be impeached twice
Donald Trump said the new drive to impeach him was ‘very dangerous’ for the US on a visit to the Us-mexico border wall in Alamo, Texas. The president denied he was responsible for the storming of the US Capitol
DONALD TRUMP yesterday dismissed suggestions he was personally responsible for the mob that stormed the US Capitol last week, arguing that his incendiary speech to supporters hours earlier had been “totally appropriate”.
In his first public appearance since the violence in Washington DC, the US president branded new attempts to impeach him “absolutely ridiculous” and “a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics”.
Attempting to hang on in office for one more week before the inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden, Mr Trump yesterday visited a section of Us-mexico border fencing i n Texas in a trip designed to underscore his achievements in the White House.
However, today he is expected to become the first US president to be impeached twice. The US House of Representatives is due to vote on a single article of impeachment accusing Mr Trump of “incitement of insurrection”.
Given the Democrats hold the House majority and almost all of their caucus has already endorsed the article, the vote to impeach is all but certain to pass.
If that were to happen, it would then be for the US Senate to decide whether to remove Mr Trump. Two thirds of senators would have to back the move, meaning that at least 17 Republican rebels would be needed.
Last night, The New York Times reported that Mitch Mcconnell, the Republican Senate leader, is privately supportive of the impeachment drive. That could make it more likely that Republican senators will vote to convict Mr Trump in any Senate trial.
John Katko yesterday became the first Republican congressman to publicly commit to voting for impeachment. “To allow the president to incite this attack without consequence is a direct threat to the future of our democracy,” the New York congressman said. No Republicans in the House voted for Mr Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.
After five days in which Mr Trump remained isolated and largely silent in the White House since the Capitol riot, he finally appeared in public yesterday.
“As far as this is concerned, we want no violence. Never violence,” he told reporters at the White House as he left for Texas. Later, when boarding a plane at Joint Base Andrews, Mr Trump was asked what his “personal responsibility” was for the clashes at the Capitol. He said: “If you read my speech … it’s been analysed and people thought that what I said was totally appropriate.”
At the border, Mr Trump warned that the new impeachment drive was “very dangerous for the US, especially at this tender time”. In an apparent attempt to distance himself from the attacks on police by the pro-trump mob last Wednesday, Mr Trump claimed support for law enforcement was “the foundation of the Maga agenda”, in reference to his 2016 election campaign slogan, Make America Great Again.
Mr Trump also warned Democrats against their drive to have him removed via the 25th Amendment. “The 25th Amendment is of zero risk to me, but it will come back to haunt Joe Biden. Be careful what you wish for,” he said.
The speech in question was one Mr Trump delivered to a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters by the White House last Wednesday morning in which he urged them to march on the Capitol and “stop the steal”.
Just a few hours later hundreds of pro-trump extremists smashed their way into the Capitol. A police officer was among the five who died.
The speech is at the centre of the Democrats’ attempt to remove him from office. The article of impeachment accuses Mr Trump of encouraging his supporters to commit “lawless actions”.
Reacting to the president’s defence of his speech, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader said: “What Trump did, blaming others for what he caused, is a pathological technique used by the worst dictators. Trump causes the anger, he causes the divisiveness, he foments the violence and blames others for it.”
The commercial consequences for Mr Trump continued as Deutsche Bank, a longtime lender to the president, vowed not to do business with him or his supporters after the assault on the Capitol, according to The New York Times. Meanwhile, Signature Bank, where Mr Trump also has accounts, called for him to step down. A statement on its website said: “The resignation of the president … is in the best interests of our nation and the American people.”
Mr Trump also yesterday criticised social media companies which have locked him out of their sites, saying they had made a “terrible mistake”.
Meanwhile, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state seen as a Trump loyalist, yesterday unexpectedly cancelled a planned trip to Europe. A State Department official claimed it was to help Mr Biden’s transition, but Reuters reported it came after Luxembourg’s foreign minister and top European Union officials declined to meet him.