Trump: If you’re going to impeach me, ‘do it now, fast’

WASHINGTON — Just get on with it.

After months of fighting the House impeachment inquiry, blocking witnesses and ignoring subpoenas, the White House is now publicly embracing a strategy it has privately signaled for weeks: It will accept the reality that President Trump will likely be impeached by the House and focus instead on a made-for-TV trial on friendlier turf in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Democrats, Trump tweeted Thursday, “have gone crazy. Therefore I say, if you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair…. trial in the Senate, and so that our Country can get back to business.”

It was a message that came even before Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood before cameras and announced that House committees would draft articles of impeachment. They’re virtually sure to accuse the Republican chief executive of violating the Constitution, abusing presidential power and undermining national security by pressing the president of Ukraine to investigate a Democratic political rival as the White House was withholding crucial security aid.

“The president leaves us no choice but to act,” she said.

The Trump re-election campaign and the White House responded with resignation, publicly acknowledging for the first time that Trump is likely to become only the third president in the nation’s history to be impeached by the House of Representatives.

“We look forward to a fair trial in the Senate,” tweeted Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham.

While Trump has long bristled at having such a distinction attached to his legacy, he and his aides also see a potential political upside in a Democratic attempt to remove him from office, despite considerable risks.

“We will have Schiff, the Bidens, Pelosi and many more testify, and will reveal, for the first time, how corrupt our system really is,” Trump tweeted.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2ORvUPZ