Impeachment ‘far fetched’, says Putin
Opponents ‘trying to hit back at 2016 defeat’
WORLD: Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that US president Donald Trump was impeached for “far-fetched” reasons, calling the move by Democrats a continuation of their fight against the him.
“The party that lost the election, the Democratic party, is trying to achieve results by other means,” Mr Putin said.
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin has said that US president Donald Trump was impeached for “far-fetched” reasons, calling the move by Democrats a continuation of their fight against the Republican leader.
“The party that lost the (2016) election, the Democratic party, is trying to achieve results by other means,” Mr Putin said at his annual news conference in Moscow.
He likened Mr Trump’s impeachment to the earlier US probe into collusion with Russia, which Mr Putin played down as groundless.
Former special counsel Robert Mueller concluded earlier this year that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 US presidential election in a “sweeping and systematic fashion”.
Noting the Republicans have a majority in the Senate, where a trial of Mr Trump will be conducted, Mr Putin said: “They will be unlikely to remove a representative of their own party from office on what seems to me an absolutely far-fetched reason.”
On Wednesday night, Mr Trump was impeached by the US House of Representatives, becoming only the third American chief executive to be formally charged under the constitution’s ultimate remedy for high crimes and misdemeanours.
The historic vote split along party lines, much the way it has divided the nation, over the charges that the 45th president abused the power of his office by enlisting a foreign government to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election.
Having approved that abuse of power charge by a vote of 230 for to 197 against, the House then approved the second article of the impeachment resolution – that Mr Trump obstructed Congress in its investigation – by 229 votes to 198.
The articles of impeachment, the political equivalent of an indictment, now go to the
The Democrat Party is trying to achieve results by other means,
Russian president Vladimir Putin, speaking at his annual news conference in Moscow.
Senate for trial, most likely in January.
Mr Trump is expected to be acquitted by the Republican-led chamber, but would still then have to run for re-election carrying the enduring mark of impeachment on his purposely disruptive presidency.
Democrats led Wednesday night’s voting, framed in what many said was their duty to protect the Constitution and uphold the nation’s system of checks and balances.
Republicans stood by their party’s leader. Mr Trump called the whole affair a “witch hunt,” a “hoax” and a “sham”.
Mr Trump began the historic
day tweeting his anger at the proceedings, before heading for an evening rally in Battle Creek, Michigan.
As the House debated the articles of impeachment, Mr Trump’s tweets switched to all capital letters: “SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS. THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY !!!! ” he wrote.
At the rally, a defiant Mr Trump pumped his fist before an enthusiastic crowd, boasted of “tremendous support” in the Republican Party and said: “By the way it doesn’t feel like I’m being impeached.”