Trump Unloads After Impeachment Trial: ‘We Went Through Hell Unfairly’
On Thursday, one day after being acquitted by the Senate in his impeachment trial, President Donald Trump railed against being treated “unfairly.”
Receiving a standing ovation from Republican lawmakers in the White House’s East Room, the newly-acquitted but forever-impeached president told his supporters, “We’ve all been through a lot together, and we probably deserve that hand for all of us, because it’s been a very unfair situation.”
“We went through hell unfairly. Did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong. I’ve done things wrong in my life, I will admit — not purposely — but I’ve done things wrong,” Trump said.
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“But this is what the end result is,” he added, holding up a copy of The Washington Post with a headline that read “Trump Acquitted.”
He then lambasted the Democratic officials who brought forward the impeachment inquiry and ultimately impeached him in the House of Representatives. “They took nothing,” Trump boasted. “They took a phone call that was a totally appropriate call. I call it a ‘perfect call’ because it was and they brought me to the final stages of impeachment. But now we have that gorgeous word. I never thought that word would ever sound so good. It’s called ‘total acquittal.'”
Trump announced the speech Wednesday in a tweet, declaring he was ready to talk about the “impeachment hoax.” When the entire thing ended, networks made quick work of dissecting it for viewers. CNN declared it “vindictive.” Fox News got a special preview ahead of the event, when White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham appeared on-air and said Trump would “talk about how just horribly he was treated and that maybe people should pay for that.”
The Senate voted to acquit Trump on both articles of impeachment against him Wednesday, ending the months-long saga that began when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry last fall.
34 “not guilty” votes were needed for each article to acquit Trump. Senators voted 52-48 in favor of acquitting the president of the first article of impeachment — abuse of power. They voted 53-47 in favor of acquitting him on the second article — obstruction of Congress. In December, the House impeached Trump on both charges. The House voted on the two articles of impeachment, drafted by the House Judiciary Committee.
Earlier on Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump made a veiled dig at Mitt Romney, the only Republican to cast a “guilty” vote on Wednesday.
“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that that’s not so,” Trump said, without naming the Utah senator.
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