Trump made his first public statement before the media after being acquitted of two impeachment charges in the Senate on Wednesday, and offered some choice words to characterize the impeachment process.
Trump said the impeachment debacle has “been a very unfair situation,” calling it a “witch hunt” that “started the day we came down the elevator … and it never really stopped.”
“We’ve been going through this now for three years,” Trump said. “It was evil, it was corrupt, it was dirty cops, it was leakers and liars. This should never ever happen to another president.”
“It was a disgrace,” Trump said. “Had I not fired James Comey – who was a disaster by the way — it’s possible I wouldn’t even be standing here right now. We caught him in the act.”
“If this happened to President Obama, a lot of people would’ve been in jail for a long time already,” Trump said.
“It was all bullshit,” Trump said, later calling it “crooked politics.”
Trump referred to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who led the impeachment charge — and other Democrats “vicious people” adding, “they stuck together, and they’re vicious as hell, and they’ll probably come back for more.”
“They took nothing and brought me to a final vote of impeachment,” he said. “They took a phone call that was a totally appropriate call … and brought me to the final stages of impeachment.”
Trump said many people were on the infamous July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and none of them found the call to be inappropriate.
Trump referred to treaties between the U.S. and Ukraine to work together and fight corruption, adding that Zelensky’s political promise was to target corruption, and that corruption was the purpose of his request for Zelensky to conduct investigations.
“Tell me, why isn’t Germany paying money? Why isn’t France? Why isn’t the United Kingdom paying money? I said ‘find out what the hell is going on,'” Trump said, recalling a conversation he had with Vice President Mike Pence.
“Think of what we could’ve done if the same money was put into infrastructure, prescription drug prices,” he said.
Trump also recognized and thanked several people on his team that have worked closely with him and have been key in his administration and the impeachment defense.
