Can Trump Tweet His Way Out of Impeachment?

Hunter DeRensis

Politics, Americas

President Donald Trump’s allies say he’s not taking impeachment proceedings seriously enough.

How seriously should we be taking impeachment? President Donald Trump’s allies say he’s not taking it seriously enough.

Since Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday over the accused abuse of power stemming from Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, the president has declined to hire more lawyers or create a “war room” specially designed to handle impeachment. Instead, Trump continues to rely on Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer and former New York City mayor.

“Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called “Whistleblower,” represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way,” tweeted Trump yesterday. “Then Schiff made up what I actually said by lying to Congress. . . . His lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber. He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States.”

“I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason,” concluded the president, referring to House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff’s opening statement during acting DNI Joseph Maguire’s testimony last Thursday. Schiff purposely made inaccurate statements and attributed them to the president, calling later referring to his actions as an obvious “parody.”

The whistleblower, who filed the complaint that got this ball rolling, was reported by the New York Times last week to be a CIA officer who was for a time stationed at the White House. CBS News is now reporting that the whistleblower is under federal protection to preserve his safety.