A day after being impeached, Trump calls House vote a 'phony deal' and a 'hoax'
A day after being impeached, President Donald Trump on Tuesday continued calling the historic House vote a "hoax," repeating that "it doesn't feel like I'm being impeached."
"I don't feel like I'm being impeached because it's a hoax, it's a set up, it's a horrible thing they did," Trump said Thursday speaking to reporters in the Oval Office.
He sat alongside Jeff Van Drew, who after voting against the president's impeachment as a New Jersey Democrat Wednesday evening, came to the White House to announce that he was switching to the Republican Party.
Trump went on to say that his impeachment was a "phony deal" and that Democrats "cheapen the word."
"That should never again happen to another president and I think you will see some very interesting things happen over the coming few days and weeks," Trump said.
The blueprint for the upcoming Senate impeachment trial is still being negotiated and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday doubled down on her position that the House will not send the Senate the just-passed articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump until she sees “the process that is set forth in the Senate” -- how a trial would be structured.
As Pelosi spoke, Trump tweeted, "Pelosi feels her phony impeachment HOAX is so pathetic she is afraid to present it to the Senate, which can set a date and put this whole SCAM into default if they refuse to show up! The Do Nothings are so bad for our Country!"
When asked what his strategy is for the impeachment trial in the Senate now that the House has voted, Trump said that the Senate is "very capable."
"We think that what they did is wrong. We think that what they did is unconstitutional, and the Senate is very, very capable," Trump said.
On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump tweeted that he wants an “immediate trial” on impeachment in the Senate, saying Democrats have “zero proof of anything.”
The president then fired off another tweet claiming that the Democrats “don’t even want to go to trial.”
Trump also indicated that White House counsel Pat Cipollone would be named the lead lawyer for the impeachment trial in the Senate and he said, "I think so, yes."
He added, "We have a couple of others but he's been fantastic as White House counsel."
