As the impeachment inquiry moves to the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said that the GOP “has never been more unified ever.”
“They’ve never been as unified as they are right now. I’ve never seen anything like it, where you have 197 to oh—to zero, where the Senate is very angry about it. I think the Senate, I can say, is angry and the Republican Party is angry,” he told reporters. He was referring to October’s procedural House vote on the inquiry, where all 196 Republicans voted against it.
“So, I mean, it’s going good. I’ve never seen anything like it where the Party has come together. And it’s going to stay that way for a long time. I think we’re going to have a tremendous 2020. I’m sure you’ve all seen the polls that have come out, especially in the swing states. We’ve gone way up in the polls.”
Trump then told reporters that it’s unusual for the House to be holding an impeachment hearing while he is out of the country at a NATO meeting in London.
“They had a hearing with somebody on the same day ... now they do it with NATO. These people, you almost question whether or not they love our country. And that’s a very, very serious thing—do they, in fact, love our country,” the president said.
Of Wednesday’s House Judiciary Session, Trump told reporters that he believes it will be a dud.
“It’ll be boring,” Trump said. “Not many people will be watching today.”
House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) invited Trump and his lawyers last week to attend the hearing, but the White House sent a letter back saying it was an unfair process.
Trump was expected to hold a press conference before departing London for Washington but called it off and said he would head back to Washington.
CNN hosts Jake Tapper and John King noted that Republican unity in Congress is at a high point.
“The Republican loyalty, you’re right, it has increased,” King said on the air. “The fact that even the retiring Republicans are not putting on the table the possibility of splitting, we’ll see if it happens, but there’s zero indication right now that any Republican is going to leave the president in the House and really zero indication that we’re going to see that in the Senate.”
