Mark Wilson/Getty Images U.S President Donald Trump (R) and Vice President Mike Pence participate in a roundtable on empowering families with education choice, in the Cabinet Room.
Democrats announced articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump today at 9:00 AM. President Trump preemptively responded to the announcement on Twitter with a flurry of Tweets.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. spoke first at a press conference at 9 AM press conference in the Rayburn Room where he unveiled two articles of impeachment against the President, one for abuse of power and one for obstruction of Congress. Nadler said they are charging Trump “with committing high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Nadler said Trump exercised “the power’s of his public office to obtain an improper personal benefit” and engaged in “indiscriminate defiance of the impeachment inquiry.”
Adam Schiff spoke next. “The president’s continuing abuse of power has left us no choice,” Schiff said, as he outlined the evidence against the President. He said the president’s impeachable conduct is “overwhelming and uncontested” regarding abuse of power with regard to Ukraine.
Schiff also said that the impeachment inquiry had to move swiftly in order to protect the 2020 election and could not wait for court challenges to congressional subpoenas to play out.
Pelosi ended the press conference and called it a “solemn” occasion that was similar to when members of congress take an oath to protect the Constitution.
“Sadly, but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our founders and our heart full of love for America, today, I am asking our chairmen to proceed with articles of impeachment,” Pelosi said in a brief televised statement from the Capitol.
The Democrats left the press conference without taking questions in order to reinforce the somber, serious nature of the event.
President Donald Trump started reacting to the articles of impeachment 2 hours before the announcement took place. He got out ahead of the announcement and started questioning the legitimacy of the impeachment and calling it “sheer political madness”.
Trump started his Twitter rant off by quoting Fox News journalist Brit Hume on the FBI investigation. “You have to look at the 17 instances of misconduct cited in the Report, they are very bad. The FISA Court was clearly taken for a ride on this, a failure of the FBI up and fown the chain of command. It’s about as strong a medicine as I’ve seen in a report of this kind…” he Tweeted, ….in a very long time. The FBI has had some dark day in its past, but nothing like this. This was VERY SERIOUS MISCONDUCT ON THE PART OF THE FBI.”
He then attacked the current FBI Director Christopher Ray and said he will “never be able to fix the FBI.” “I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me. With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken despite having some of the greatest men & women working there!”
To Impeach a President who has proven through results, including producing perhaps the strongest economy in our country’s history, to have one of the most successful presidencies ever, and most importantly, who has done NOTHING wrong, is sheer Political Madness! #2020Election
….in a very long time. The FBI has had some dark day in its past, but nothing like this. This was VERY SERIOUS MISCONDUCT ON THE PART OF THE FBI.” @brithume @BretBaier Are you listening Comey, McCabe, lovers Lisa & Peter, the beautiful Ohr family, Brennan, Clapper & many more?
I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me. With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken despite having some of the greatest men & women working there!
He then quoted Hume one more time who said simply “I can’t remember anything quite like this (the I.G. Report).”
“I can’t remember anything quite like this (the I.G. Report).” @brithume @BretBaier
His last tweet made his case that he has had “one of the most successful presidencies in history” and has “done NOTHING wrong”.
To Impeach a President who has proven through results, including producing perhaps the strongest economy in our country’s history, to have one of the most successful presidencies ever, and most importantly, who has done NOTHING wrong, is sheer Political Madness! #2020Election
All of these tweets occurred before the impeachment announcement even began. Once the announcement was over, the President shifted topics to talk about the upcoming USMCA bill in an attempt to divert attention from the impeachment announcement. He called it “the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA”
America’s great USMCA Trade Bill is looking good. It will be the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA. Good for everybody – Farmers, Manufacturers, Energy, Unions – tremendous support. Importantly, we will finally end our Country’s worst Trade Deal, NAFTA!
He ended his Twitter storm by saying there was “very good Democrat support for USMCA” and that the deal would be “great for our Country!” In an attempt to show unity between the parties.
Looking like very good Democrat support for USMCA. That would be great for our Country!
Trump quickly returned to attacking the Democrats in charge of the impeachment hearing and repeating his talking point that the entire thing is a “witch hunt!”
Nadler just said that I “pressured Ukraine to interfere in our 2020 Election.” Ridiculous, and he knows that is not true. Both the President & Foreign Minister of Ukraine said, many times, that there “WAS NO PRESSURE.” Nadler and the Dems know this, but refuse to acknowledge!
WITCH HUNT!
He then accused House Intelligence Committee Chiarman Adam Schiff for making up a “horrible and fraudulent statement” then reading it to congress. He doesn’t say what he’s referring to in the tweet.
Shifty Schiff, a totally corrupt politician, made up a horrible and fraudulent statement, read it to Congress, and said those words came from me. He got caught, was very embarrassed, yet nothing happened to him for committing this fraud. He’ll eventually have to answer for this!
He then claims that “Us” in his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky referred to “USA”. The “us” he’s referring to happens during the call when President Trump asks President Zelensky to look into a debunked conspiracy theory involving the DNC server and Crowdstrike, an American company based in California.
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 would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike … I guess you have one of your wealthy people… The server, they say Ukraine has it”
Read the Transcripts! “us” is a reference to USA, not me!
The tweetstorm is over for now, but will likely continue as the impeachment moves forward.
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