US President Donald Trump on Wednesday squared off against the US House of Representatives as lawmakers expanded an inquiry into impeachment, promising a broad new subpoena for documents and witnesses.
Democratic leaders said that the wide-ranging subpoena would be coming for information about Trump’s actions in Ukraine, the latest move in an impeachment probe.
They said they would be going to court if necessary.
Amid the legal skirmishing, it was a day of verbal fireworks.
The president said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was handing out subpoenas “like cookies,” called a government whistle-blower “vicious,” and called the media corrupt and the “enemy.”
The whistle-blower reported a July phone call that Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which Trump pressed for an investigation of former US vice president Joe Biden and his family. Trump subsequently declassified the transcript of the call.
“We take this to be a very sad time” for the American people and the country, Pelosi said. “Impeaching the president isn’t anything to be joyful about.”
Standing beside her, intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff accused Trump of “an incitement to violence” with his attacks on the unnamed whistle-blower, who is provided anonymity and other protections under federal law.
Trump said that Schiff “probably helped write” the whistle-blower’s complaint.
The whistle-blower’s lawyers said the person had never met or spoken with Schiff about the matter, although the whistle-blower did speak to staffers on the House Intelligence Committee before filing the complaint, giving Democrats advance warning of the accusations that triggered their impeachment inquiry.
Pelosi told Good Morning America that Trump is “scared” of the impeachment inquiry and the arguments against him.
Trump, in appearances in the Oval Office at the White House and a news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, defended his phone call with Zelenskiy and decried the impeachment inquiry.
Earlier in the day he said that even though he popularized the phrase “fake news,” he now preferred to say “corrupt” news.
“This is a hoax,” Trump said.
At the news conference, Niinisto urged Trump to work with European leaders and said: “Mr President, you have here a great democracy. Keep it going on.”
His comments about working with Europe came after Trump complained about persistent trade deficits with the EU and said that “we’re going to have to start doing something.”
Biden on Wednesday gave a preview of a potential general election face-off with Trump by taking a more aggressive tone, and accusing the president of “abuse of power” and for “smearing” him and his family.
“Let me make something clear to Trump and his hatchet men, and the special interests funding his attacks against me — I’m not going anywhere,” Biden said to applause in a speech in Reno, Nevada. “You’re not going to destroy me and you’re not going to destroy my family.”
Biden said that “like every bully in history,” Trump is “afraid.”
“He’s afraid of just how badly I would beat him next November,” Biden said.
Biden has been linked to his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine. The former vice president has been accused of using his office to intervene with the eastern European country’s law enforcement to protect Hunter Biden.
Meanwhile, US Senator Bernie Sanders said he was “feeling good” after having a heart procedure for a blocked artery.
The Democratic presidential hopeful thanked well-wishers on Wednesday and said in a tweet: “I’m fortunate to have good health care and great doctors and nurses helping me to recover.”
“None of us know when a medical emergency might affect us. And no one should fear going bankrupt if it occurs. Medicare for All!” he wrote.
Sanders’ campaign said the 78-year-old experienced chest discomfort during an event in Las Vegas on Tuesday and sought medical evaluation. He had two stents inserted.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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