Trump compares impeachment inquiry to 'lynching'

US President Donald Trump has compared his impeachment to being killed by a lynching mob without a proper trial.

News ID: 447543

Date: 22 October 2019 - 20:43

RNA - Trump faces an impeachment inquiry in the wake of a recent whistleblower complaint alleging that he asked Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election.

"So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights," Trump wrote in a Tuesday tweet condemned by Democrats. "All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here - a lynching. But we will WIN!"

So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here - a lynching. But we will WIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2019

Trump's latest tweet came as William B. Taylor Jr., the acting US ambassador to Ukraine, prepares to testify before House investigators about Trump's infamous telephone call and other efforts to force Ukraine's president to find "dirt" on former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

Trump impeachment inquiry hero

Trump's secret efforts to secure victory in the 2020 presidential election with the aid of Ukraine's president are to be unraveled by the 72-year-old retired career civil servant, Taylor.

Taylor was made the US Ambassador to Ukraine earlier this year after the administration abruptly ousted his predecessor Marie Louise Yovanovitch.

He then grew alarmed after finding out that the Trump administration was using US military aid for Ukraine as leverage against he Democrats.

“I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign,” he wrote at one point in excerpts of text messages released by impeachment investigators in Congress.

Now, members of Congress will hear directly the former Army office's testimony behind closed doors to determine if Trump committed impeachable offenses.

On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) described Trump's Ukraine policy as a “shakedown,” a “pressure campaign” and a “coverup.”

She distributed a “fact sheet” outlining what her office called a gross abuse of presidential power.

Taylor's text messages with US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland have surfaced as a central thread in the probe, which focuses on whether Trump withheld $400 million in US aid to Ukraine earlier this year.

Taylor's testimony is set for Tuesday.

'This is a lynching in every sense'

US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)  said Trump is absolutely right to described the House impeachment process as a “lynching.”

“This is a lynching in every sense. This is un-American,” Graham told reporters on Tuesday.

“I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where somebody is accused of a major misconduct who cannot confront the accuser, call witnesses on her behalf and have the discussion in the light of day so the public can judge,” he said.

Graham endorsed the president, saying, “I think that’s pretty well accurate.”

“I think lynching is being seen as somebody taking the law in their own hands and out to get somebody for no good reason,” he noted.

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