Trump rages as Democrats seek White House records
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:
“They’ve been trying to impeach me since the day I got elected.”
The U.S. president on Wednesday (October 2) raged at Democrats as they move forward with their impeachment inquiry. Sitting next to the president of Finland, Trump accused Democratic House Intelligence chairman Adam Schiff of treason.
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:
“He should resign from office in disgrace, and frankly they should look at him for treason.”
Trump’s outburst came after House Democrats Wednesday said they are readying subpoenas to compel the White House to produce key documents as part of their inquiry, after weeks of ignoring requests.
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) U.S. DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF, SAYING:
“We’re not fooling around here, though. We don’t want this to drag on for months and months and months, which appears to be the administration’s strategy.”
Chairman Schiff said that stonewalling only strengthens Democrats’ case against the president.
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) U.S. DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF, SAYING:
“It’s why I say the White House needs to understand that any action like that, that forces us to litigate or have to consider litigation, will be considered further obstruction of justice.”
Trump meanwhile sent a barrage of furious tweets, arguing Democrats were “wasting everyone’s time and energy on BULLSHIT.”
The Democratic leaders called Trump’s comments and behavior dangerous, especially his desire to expose the anonymous whistleblower, whose complaint has sparked the inquiry.
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:
“The whistleblower was so dishonest. The whistleblower said terrible things about the call. But I then found out that he was second hand and third. In other words, he didn’t know what was on the call…He either got it totally wrong, made it up, or the person giving the information to the whistleblower was dishonest, and this country has to find out who that person was, because that person’s a spy, in my opinion.”
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) U.S. DEMOCRATIC HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI, SAYING:
“The president probably doesn’t realize how dangerous his statements are when he says he wants to expose who the whistleblower is.”
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) U.S. DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF, SAYING:
“This is a blatant effort to intimidate witnesses. It’s an incitement to violence.”
The whistleblower complaint claimed that Trump abused his power in a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Trump on Wednesday again insisted repeatedly that the call was “perfect.”
In notes of the call released by the White House, Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate unsubstantiated claims against Joe Biden and to look into conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton’s server.
Over the past few days, the Democratic House committees have issued subpoenas to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and scheduled depositions with a series of other current and former officials, as well as associates of Giuliani.
