President Donald Trump weighed in on the House’s announcement on Sept. 24 that they have formally launched an impeachment inquiry into the president, accusing House Democrats of pursuing another “witch hunt.”
“Such an important day at the United Nations, so much work and so much success, and the Democrats purposely had to ruin and demean it with more breaking news Witch Hunt garbage. So bad for our Country!” Trump wrote on Twitter following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) announcement on Tuesday afternoon.
“Pelosi, Nadler, Schiff and, of course, Maxine Waters! Can you believe this?” he continued. “They never even saw the transcript of the call. A total Witch Hunt!”
“PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!” he concluded.
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham shared a statement Sept. 24, commenting on the Democrats’ attack on the president.
“Americans deserve elected officials who focus on key issues to improve the lives of families, strengthen our communities, grow our economy, and keep our country safe. In President Donald J. Trump they have someone who has not only focused on those goals, but delivered results,” the statement reads.
“In a far departure from all of the work and results of this President, House Democrats have destroyed any chances of legislative progress for the people of this country by continuing to focus all their energy on partisan political attacks. Their attacks on the President and his agenda are not only partisan and pathetic, they are in dereliction of their Constitutional duty.
“The Trump Administration will continue to be vigorous in laying out the facts and standing up for the many forgotten men and women who elected him.”
“This week, the president has admitted to asking the president of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically,” Pelosi said. She alleged that Trump’s presidency “revealed dishonorable facts of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections.”
Pelosi had publicly resisted the move despite other top Democrats pushing for it in legal filings and in the media. Calls by Democrats to impeach the president were stalled after former special counsel Robert Mueller was unable to back up claims of Russian collusion.
Earlier in the day, Trump announced that he has authorized the release a “fully declassified and unredacted transcript” of the phone call with Zelensky.
“You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call. No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“I know what the conversation was about and I think there was no pressure,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko told Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske. “This conversation was long, friendly, and it touched on many questions, sometimes requiring serious answers.”
Trump said in a separate post late Tuesday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had received permission from the Ukraine Government to release the transcript of the telephone call with Zelensky.
“Secretary of State Pompeo recieved permission from Ukraine Government to release the transcript of the telephone call I had with their President. They don’t know either what the big deal is. A total Witch Hunt Scam by the Democrats!” Trump wrote.
In a separate tweet, Trump posted a compilation video of Democratic lawmakers saying that would like or support the impeachment of the president.
More than 180 House Democrats said they support launching an inquiry into impeachment charges.
Following the announcement, many congress members and members of the Trump administration reacted to the news of the inquiry.
Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) also took to Twitter to weigh in on the announcement, saying that the “decree changes absolutely nothing.”
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) made similar comments in a statement on Twitter.
“House Democrats cannot help themselves. Instead of working together across party lines on legislation to help American families and strengthen our nation, they will descend even deeper into their obsession with relitigating 2016,” he said.
“This rush to judgment comes just a few hours after President Trump offered to release the details of his phone conversation with President Zelensky. It comes despite the fact that committee-level proceedings are already underway to address the whistleblower allegation through a fair, bipartisan, and regular process.
“It simply confirms that House Democrats’ priority is not making life better for the American people but their nearly three-year-old fixation on impeachment,” he added.
Meanwhile, Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) went further to call for impeachment proceedings.