President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that the impeachment inquiry against him is a “coup.”
Last week, Democrats formally opened an impeachment inquiry to look into allegations that Trump leveraged military aid to Ukraine to pressure that country to investigate former Vice President and political rival Joe Biden and his son for business ties to the country.
“As I learn more and more each day, I am coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP, intended to take away the Power of thePeople, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!” Trump claimed in a series of tweets.
Calling the inquiry a coup mirrors Trump’s tone regarding previous investigations into him, and he has already labeled this one as “witch hunt garbage” and “presidential harassment.”
The president has claimed attempts of a coup before, telling a crowd at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in April of the Mueller Report: “They tried for a coup, it didn’t work out so well. And I didn’t need a gun for that one, did I?”
The Department of Justice released the summary of the conversation between Trump and Ukraine counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that was reported to include talks of investigating Biden.
The release came the day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California., authorized the impeachment inquiry into Trump.
A whistleblower complaint made public last week also accused the White House of taking steps to conceal that information, and Trump told reporters on Monday that “we’re trying to find out” the identity of the whistleblower. Previously, Trump suggested that the people who informed the whistleblower’s complaint are “close to a spy.”
Following his claim of a coup attempt, Trump tweeted: “The Greatest Witch Hunt in the history of our Country,” accompanied with a video of prominent Democratic politicians talking about impeachment, saying it is now being used for “political payback.”
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