Just hours after starting Christmas day with a subdued and scripted video address celebrating the "warmth and bliss of this holiday season," President Donald Trump late Wednesday fired off a pair of tweets calling Speaker Nancy Pelosi "crazy" and questioning why the House of Representatives was "allowed" to impeach him.
"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?" Trump tweeted Wednesday night. "Got ZERO Republican votes, there was no crime, the call with Ukraine was perfect, with 'no pressure.'"
"She said it must be 'bipartisan and overwhelming," the president continued, "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!"
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.” She said it must be “bipartisan...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2019
...& 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2019
Critics suggested that Trump consult the Constitution, which grants the House "sole power of impeachment."
"You should read it sometime," tweeted CNN legal analyst Renato Mariotti.
Translation: Why should [a democratically elected leader], just because she has [statutory authority granted by the Constitution], be allowed to [exercise that authority]?
The words of an aspiring dictator. https://t.co/ns0GxJQvw8
— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) December 26, 2019
The House last week approved two articles of impeachment charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, but Pelosi said she will not send the articles to the Republican-controlled Senate until it is guaranteed they will get a fair hearing.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has faced calls to recuse himself from the impeachment trial for openly stating that he is coordinating with the White House on the impeachment proceedings.
"The Constitution requires that after articles of impeachment pass the House of Representatives, the president must be given a fair trial in the Senate," Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) said in a statement earlier this month. "Senator McConnell has promised to sabotage that trial and he must recuse himself. No court in the country would allow a member of the jury to also serve as the accused's defense attorney."
On Tuesday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) became the first Republican senator to publicly raise concerns about McConnell's handling of the impeachment process.
"In fairness, when I heard that I was disturbed," Murkowski said of McConnell's comments. "To me it means that we have to take that step back from being hand in glove with the defense, and so I heard what leader McConnell had said, I happened to think that that has further confused the process."
Senate Democrats need at least four Republicans to break from their party in order to approve witnesses for the impeachment trial.
Republished from Common Dreams (Jake Johnson, staff writer) under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
