Trump Lashes Out at Democrats, Reporters as Inquiry Intensifies
Published on 03 Oct 2019. | Source: theedgemarkets.com
(Oct 3): Donald Trump lashed out at Democrats and the news media during a fiery news conference Wednesday as he was questioned about the impeachment inquiry that threatens his presidency.
Trump began his remarks indicating he’d cooperate with the House investigation, but his tone quickly turned defiant, accusing Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of engaging in treason and blasting reporters for their coverage of the fast-developing inquiry.
Standing in the White House’s East Room alongside Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Trump’s anger flared when a reporter asked what he had requested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate involving former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Trump didn’t answer the question. Instead, he said: “Biden and his son are stone cold crooked.” The allegations Trump has raised against the Bidens have been discredited.
When the reporter repeated the question, Trump called him “rude” and demanded that he ask Niinisto a question instead.
When the reporter then asked Niinisto a question about the World Trade Organization, Trump then answered it himself. Niinisto cut in, saying, “The question is for me.”
Trump ended the news conference without taking a second question from the Finnish press, as is customary during a foreign leader’s visit, and abruptly walked off the stage without shaking Niinisto’s hand.
Even as Trump spent much of the his 40-minute session venting his frustration with the impeachment push, he insisted he is used to being under siege from his political opponents. And despite his demeanor, he added that he is “very, very happy living the way I’m living.”
“I’ve lived with it from the day I got elected,” Trump said. “I’m used to it. For me it’s like putting on a suit in the morning.”
He also expressed disappointment at the prospect of facing impeachment, indicating he believed he escaped legal trouble at the conclusion of the special counsel probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, which ended without proving a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
“I thought that I would finish off the first term without the threat of people making false claims,” Trump said.
Trump also threatened to launch a “major lawsuit” against the people who were behind the Russia probe.
“I have every right to do that because the way they’ve treated me and other people. They’ve destroyed people, they’ve destroyed their lives with a phony charge that never existed, and that was collusion,” he said.
Niinisto at times appeared visibly uncomfortable as Trump responded with pointed answers to reporters. The news conference came after an Oval Office meeting, during which Trump repeated many of the same attacks on the investigation.
During Niinisto’s opening statement, he praised American democracy and urged Trump to “keep it going.” He repeated the sentiment after Trump berated the reporter.
Asked later what he meant by the remark, the Finnish leader said he has visited several museums and Washington that left him “impressed” with American democracy.
“I just wanted to tell him that I’m impressed with what the American people have gained during these decades,” he said. “So keep it going on.” - Bloomberg
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