President Trump said Tuesday an effort to impeach him for allegedly inciting last week’s Capitol riot is causing “tremendous anger.”
“The impeachment, it’s really a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics. It’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn as he departed to tour the US-Mexico border.
“This impeachment is causing tremendous anger, and you’re doing it and it’s really a terrible thing that they’re doing. For Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumer to continue on this path, I think it’s causing tremendous danger to our country and it’s causing tremendous anger.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to begin impeachment proceedings and a potential vote Wednesday.
The Senate won’t hold Trump’s trial until after he leaves office on Jan. 20, but if he’s convicted in a Democrat-led body, he could be barred from holding office again.
On Tuesday, the House debated in the Rules Committee a bill demanding Trump’s immediate removal under the 25th Amendment before a full House vote on the measure tonight.
“They’ve analyzed my speech and my words and my final paragraph, my final sentence. And everybody to the tee thought it was totally appropriate,” Trump said.
Trump on Tuesday also lashed out also at Big Tech companies that have censored him following the riot and purged alleged conspiracy theorists. Trump was permanently banned by Twitter and banned from using Facebook or Instagram until at least after Biden’s inauguration.
“I think Big Tech has made a terrible mistake and very, very bad for our country. And that’s leading others to do the same thing. And it causes a lot of problems and a lot of danger. Big mistake. They shouldn’t be doing it,” Trump said before boarding Air Force One.
He added: “But there’s always a counter move when they do that. I’ve never seen such anger as I see right now and that’s a terrible thing, terrible thing. And you have to always avoid violence and we have tremendous support. We have support, probably like nobody’s ever seen before. Always have to avoid violence.”