“More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials,” the president wrote.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday savaged House Democrats’ impeachment proceedings in a six-page letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi that read like a collection of his most vitriolic tweets.
The fiery missive, frequently punctuated with exclamation points, came loaded with hyperbolic assertions — including the president’s claim that “more due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials” and his accusation that Pelosi and House Democrats “view democracy as your enemy!”
Trump charged that the current impeachment drive “represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power” by Democratic lawmakers that he argued has been “unequaled in nearly two and a half centuries of American legislative history.”
“By proceeding with your invalid impeachment, you are violating your oaths of office, you are breaking your allegiance to the Constitution, and you are declaring open war on American democracy,” he wrote.
The heated correspondence comes a day before the House is expected to vote on articles of impeachment charging the president with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, likely making Trump the third president in U.S. history to be impeached.
But the broader intent of the letter to the speaker — which appeared to represent little more than a messaging document, rehashing the same grievances Trump has frequently aired mixed with legal defense — was not immediately clear.
……..
Trump’s letter Tuesday, however, represented his first formal, written rebuke to House Democrats since they launched the process to remove him from office.
In one portion of the letter, Trump falsely accused Democrats of denying him due process throughout the inquiry. The White House has twice been offered the chance to have lawyers present in different phases of public hearings for the inquiry and declined both opportunities. Instead, Trump’s legal team has begun to coordinate with members of the Republican-led Senate for an upcoming trial.
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- Discussion
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BREAKING: President Trump savages impeachment proceedings in letter to Nancy Pelosi https://t.co/6MMOsrq94t
— POLITICO (@politico) December 17, 2019
Read Trump's letter to … by kballuck1 on Scribd
Trump's letter is his way of pleading innocent to the charges of impeachment on the grounds of insanity. https://t.co/DpwHhjmQXo
— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) December 17, 2019
I guess we could skip impeachment if the Cabinet would read this enough times to think about the 25th amendment, but I guess it's going to have to be impeachment. https://t.co/O85ajCkg74
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 17, 2019
The author of that letter has access to nuclear weapons. Have a good night!
— John L.T. (@JohnLT12) December 17, 2019
I don't think it's Trump's abuses of power that will shock future generations. It's his obvious unfitness for office, displayed in letters like this one, and the way the Republican Party rationalized it as authenticity and plain-spokenness https://t.co/2UCaJacyoZ
— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) December 17, 2019
"I am incapable of expressing how crazy this letter is." —@JeffreyToobin pic.twitter.com/rPNiFNJKn0
— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) December 17, 2019
Classy.
And by the way, how has he been denied due process? He has had opportunities to testify and to produce evidence. But he refused to cooperate and has blocked the testimony of witnesses.
More drama from the 2-year-old in the White House.
The only ones denied due process in this is the American people every time he obstructed and prevented witnesses from testifying.
Please list who gave you good marks for the letter. Most prominent people first. https://t.co/iS3UC3vKWM
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) December 18, 2019
If you can read that letter from Trump, including attacks on Pelosi’s faith and its open attempt to incite civil disorder, and still be an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump, you are a morally disordered person.
It’s not about politics, it’s about your lack of character.— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 18, 2019
Question: "Your reaction to the president’s letter?"
Speaker Pelosi: "I don’t have a reaction. It’s ridiculous."
Question: "You have no reaction — why not?"
Pelosi: "I mean, I haven’t fully read it. We’ve been working. I’ve seen the essence of it though and it’s really sick." pic.twitter.com/R1qe9JVIki
— The Hill (@thehill) December 18, 2019
I know I've said that it's time to stop paying attention to Hewitt, but this is a trifecta of comedy, sycophancy, and hackery. https://t.co/xjkDZJF0ck
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 18, 2019
It *is* a historic document and it will be cited by scholars, but only with a lengthy preface that assures readers it was not, in fact, a crayon-scribbled manifesto discovered in the shack of a lunatic. https://t.co/nxb7XCTpRP
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) December 18, 2019
Less likely to be seen as the defining example of anything like that, imho. More likely to be seen as a pristine example of how Trump himself is patient zero of Trump Derangement Syndrome. https://t.co/GsbxaBldud
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) December 18, 2019
I defer to your experience. But I’ll be legitimately shocked if you’re right, particularly if textbooks take this absurd and embarrassing document seriously on the merits. As a contextual document it may be significant. As a legal document it’s strikes me as bonkers. https://t.co/Eczmv97nTQ
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) December 18, 2019
What I think people are really objecting to — whether they have #TDS or not — is the perceived insinuation that you think it is a serious and worthwhile document on the merits. Do you? In fairness, lots of things can be "historic" and ludicrous at the same time. https://t.co/e2pN9kZvjx
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) December 18, 2019
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