Donald Trump bashed House Democrats for slowing down the impeachment process, calling them ‘liars’ for claiming they wanted to move fast as there’s still no indication on when Speaker Nancy Pelosi will transmit the articles.
‘The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats said they wanted to RUSH everything through to the Senate because “President Trump is a threat to National Security” (they are vicious, will say anything!), but now they don’t want to go fast anymore, they want to go very slowly. Liars!,’ he tweeted on Thursday morning.
And he took Pelosi to task personally, hitting her over her San Francisco district and suggesting a Democrat should primary the speaker.
Donald Trump bashed Democrats for slowing down the impeachment process
‘Nancy Pelosi’s District in California has rapidly become one of the worst anywhere in the U.S. when it come to the homeless & crime. It has gotten so bad, so fast – she has lost total control and, along with her equally incompetent governor, Gavin Newsom, it is a very sad sight!,’ he wrote on Twitter.
‘Crazy Nancy should clean up her filthy dirty District & help the homeless there. A primary for N?,’ he added.
Pelosi’s congressional district is heavily liberal and Republicans have very little chance of winning it. A primary opponent would be needed to remove her from office.
She has a challenger this year – Democratic socialist Shahid Buttar. But his campaign is considered a long shot against the powerful speaker.
In 2007, Pelosi drew a primary challenger who some saw as a possible threat: anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in the Iraq War. Sheehan was running against Pelosi for not impeaching then President George W. Bush. Sheehan got 16 per cent of the vote to Pelosi’s 72 per cent.
The president – throughout his holiday – has repeatedly expressed his frustration that Pelosi hasn’t transmitted the articles as his Senate trial – where he’s expected to be acquitted in the GOP controlled chamber – cannot begin until they arrive.
Republicans had accused Pelosi of rushing the impeachment process through the House. She announced the official investigation in September and pushed her lawmakers to have the investigation done and a vote held before the end of the year.
But the process has slowed considerably now that Pelosi has held on to the articles. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said he wants to hold the trial in January but cannot do so until the speaker transmits the articles.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has given no indication when she’ll transmit the articles to the trial can begin in the Senate
The president returned to Twitter with a vengeance after noticeably slowing down on his social media action through the Christmas holiday.
Trump bemoaned about the impeachment process Wednesday night and Thursday morning in a series of tweets.
‘Why should Crazy Nancy Pelosi, just because she has a slight majority in the House, be allowed to Impeach the President of the United States? Got ZERO Republican votes, there was no crime, the call with Ukraine was perfect, with “no pressure,”‘ he wrote Wednesday night.
‘She said it must be “bipartisan & overwhelming,” but this Scam Impeachment was neither. Also, very unfair with no Due Process, proper representation, or witnesses. Now Pelosi is demanding everything the Republicans weren’t allowed to have in the House. Dems want to run majority Republican Senate. Hypocrites!,’ he added.
The president is spending his holiday at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he had Christmas Eve dinner with the first lady and a random assortment of guests, including Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Washington Capitals Captain Alex Ovechkin, and Eddie Gallagher, the Navy Seal to whom Trump restored his rank.
He’s also played several rounds of golf at his Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach.
The upcoming impeachment trial was obviously on the president’s mind throughout the holiday as he ranted about it on Christmas eve after a phone call with U.S. troops to wish them a Merry Christmas.
‘She hates the Republican Party. She hates all of the people that voted for me and the Republican Party,’ he told reporters at Mar-a-Lago after he talked to the troops.
Donald Trump claimed Nancy Pelosi ‘hates the people who voted for me’
The president has been attacking Speaker Pelosi for not sending impeachment articles to Senate
Pelosi, meanwhile, has not shown her hand and has given no indication when she’ll send the articles over.
The president predicted she would lose control of the House in next year’s election.
‘Look she got thrown out a speaker once before. She lost like 63 seats, 61 or 63, tremendous, a record setting number of seats. I think it’s going to happen again,’ he said on Tuesday.
Democrats lost the House in the 2010 midterm election in the wake of controversy over President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which had been passed earlier that year. Republicans picked up 63 House seats in that election.
‘She’s doing a tremendous disservice to the country. She’s not doing a good job. And some people think that she doesn’t know what she’s doing. A lot of people think that. A lot of people have said it,’ Trump continued.
The president also took to Twitter Tuesday morning to charge Democrats with having ‘gone crazy’ and making it difficult for him to govern.
‘The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats have gone CRAZY. They want to make it as hard as possible for me to properly run our Country!,’ he wrote.
Pelosi has said she won’t send the articles over to the Senate until she knows what kind format the trial will take.
Negotiations between McConnell and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer are at an impasse and the Republican leader indicated Monday it may not be resolved until lawmakers return from their recess in early January.
‘We will find out when we come back in session where we are,’ McConnell said at a press conference in Kentucky.
‘I can’t imagine what purpose is served by her holding on to the papers. So sooner or later, I’m assuming she’s going to send them over,’ McConnell told ‘Fox and Friends’ Monday morning.
And the president claimed Democrats are doubting they have enough evidence so they are using the Senate trial to search for more.
‘Everything we’re seeing from Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer suggests that they’re in real doubt about the evidence they’ve brought forth so far not being good enough, and are very, very urgently seeking a way to find some more evidence. The only way to make this work is to,’ Trump complained on Twitter.
Democrats want to call additional witnesses – including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
McConnell’s preference is to have a short, speedy trial.
President Trump took questions from reporters Tuesday after he talked to U.S. troops
Trump also discredited Pelosi’s role in passing his USMCA trade deal – a high legislative priority of the president’s – by saying she ‘knows nothing’ about it.
‘The ONLY reason we were able to get our great USMCA Trade Deal approved was because the Do Nothing Democrats wanted to show that they could approve something productive in light of the fact that all they even think about is impeachment. She knows nothing about the USMCA Deal!,’ the president tweeted on Tuesday.
Both the president and the speaker have wrestled for credit over passage of the deal, which the House approved on Thursday before lawmakers left for their holiday break.
‘Of course we’ll take credit for it,’ Pelosi said at a press conference in the Capitol on Thursday. ‘It would have collateral benefit for the president. I don’t care about that. We had an opportunity to do something very important for America’s people.’
The path to passage was a bumpy one as Democrats expressed concerns over enforcement and Mexico’s treatment of its workers.
Additional negotiations led by U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer came up with a deal endorsed by both sides and given the blessing of the AFL-CIO.
The House voted on it the day after lawmakers approved two articles of impeachment against the president on a party line vote.
Now the USMCA goes to the Senate, where Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the chamber would vote on it after it handles President Trump’s impeachment trial.