Washington: The move of the opposition Democratic party to impeach US President Donald Trump is a blatant and partisan action to overturn the results of a free and fair elections, the White House said Thursday.
Alleging that Trump has abused power, undermined national security and jeopardised the integrity of the elections, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi announced that the US president ‘leaves us no choice but to act’ by going ahead with the process to impeach him.
“Democrats’ sham impeachment is a blatant, purely partisan attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election. By their own admission, Democrats say they have to ‘impeach the President’ because they cannot defeat him at the ballot box,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told reporters.
Democrats believe that Trump has abused the power of his office and his conversation with the Ukrainian president is a key instance of that.
Trump has although denied the allegations. He has said he did no wrong. He asserts that his call with his Ukrainian counterpart July 25 was perfect.
The White House said the Democrats and its leaders are abusing their power. “Democrats in Congress have clearly abused their power. Democrats in Congress have lied to the American people. Democrats in Congress have made a mockery of the law,” Grisham asserted.
“How many Democrats will join her (Pelosi) driving right off the cliff with this illegitimate impeachment hoax? Speaker Pelosi’s instruction to advance this impeachment process – one that has violated every precedent – moves this country towards the most partisan and illegitimate subversion of the Constitution in our history.
“At this (Thursday) morning’s press conference, Speaker Pelosi could have announced a vote on the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement that would immediately help America’s farmers, ranchers, businesses, and workers; or outlined a plan to work with the President to lower prescription drug prices; or addressed our Nation’s infrastructure. Instead, she did exactly what she always does — ignore the needs of the American people and advance her selfish political desires,” Grisham added.
Earlier, Trump slammed the Democrats for their latest announcement on impeachment.
“This will mean that the beyond important and seldom used act of Impeachment will be used routinely to attack future Presidents. That is not what our Founders had in mind. The good thing is that the Republicans have NEVER been more united. We will win!” Trump tweeted soon after Pelosi’s announcement.
Trump also joked about a ‘Russia room’ inside the White House after a visiting Russian envoy told him that during a tour of the building, he came across a China room but none named after his country.
The lighter exchange between Trump and the Russian envoy happened during a luncheon meeting the president had at the White House with members of the UN Security Council. Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
It all started with the remarks of the Chinese Ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun. “We have made a tour around this – a number of rooms – the green one, the red one, and also the China Room, said Jun. “We were very much impressed.”
Soon, the Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, told Trump that he did not see a ‘Russia room’ inside the White House.
“We saw the China Room, but we didn’t see the Russia Room yet,” he said. “Oh, well, we’ll have to take care of it,” said Trump jokingly. amid laughter.
Agencies