Donald Trump has launched a fuming response to his impeachment from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, just hours after the Senate swore in its presiding officer and jurors to consider the charges against him.
“I got impeached for absolutely no reason,” Mr Trump complained during a rant that included at least nine denials that he knows Lev Parnas, the man who has now claimed that the highest echelons of the White House were well aware of the effort to use American military aid money to force Ukraine to launch an investigation into one of the president’s domestic rivals.
The president’s appearance came after a busy morning in US politics, with the Senate voting earlier in the day to approve the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal before turning their attention to impeachment actions.
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During his comments, Mr Trump said his impeachment trial “should go very quickly”, and insisted repeatedly that the phone call he had with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in July was “perfect”.
“Well I think it should go very quickly, it’s a hoax. It’s a hoax. Everybody knows that, ”Mr Trump said. “It’s a complete hoax. The whole thing with Ukraine. So you have a perfect phone call – it was actually two phone calls, you people don’t report that. They were both perfect calls. In fact probably among the nicest calls I’ve ever met-made to foreign leaders. ”
While the president has called for a speedy trial, developments like Mr Parnas’s claims could make it more difficult for Republicans to proceed quickly. A handful of Republicans in the Senate have said they would be open to hearing further testimony from witnesses who were not called before the House, and could ban together with Democrats to force those witnesses to present themselves.
Shortly after Mr Trump’s appearance in the Oval Office, Mr Trump followed up on his remarks with a tweet in all caps.
“I JUST GOT IMPEACHED FOR MAKING A PERFECT PHONE CALL!” He wrote.
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