Trump seethes over impeachment inquiry and slams critics
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump is seething over an impeachment inquiry after Democrats subpoenaed the White House about contacts with Ukraine and he signaled his administration would not cooperate.
In a series of tweets on Saturday, sent as the presidential motorcade ferried him to his Virginia golf course, Trump defended his comments and lashed out at critics, including a past foil, Mitt Romney, a Republican US senator from Utah.
"This is a fraud against the American people!" the president tweeted.
The inquiry reached deeper into the White House when the chairmen of three House committees sent a letter on Friday to Trump's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, informing him that the White House was being subpoenaed for documents it had refused to produce. The move capped a tumultuous week that widened the constitutional battle between the executive branch and Congress and heightened the political standoff. More witnesses, testimony and documents are to come.
Trump received support from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who dismissed questions about Trump's attempts to push Ukraine and China to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as a "silly gotcha game".
"The president has every right to have these set of conversations," Pompeo told reporters while traveling in Greece. He insisted the Trump administration's foreign efforts were reasonable, responsible and necessary to target graft, ensure aid is spent properly and protect US democracy.
"There has been some suggestion somehow that it would be inappropriate for the United States government to engage in that activity and I see it just precisely the opposite," he said.
On Saturday, Biden wrote in an opinion piece for The Washington Post, saying "Trump is abusing the power of the presidency and is wholly unfit to be president".
Trump, who has described his conduct as "perfect", said on Friday he would formally object to Congress's impeachment inquiry, even as he acknowledged that Democrats "have the votes" to proceed. Still, he predicted such a move would hurt them politically.
"I really believe that they're going to pay a tremendous price at the polls," Trump said.
Democrats accused Trump of speeding down "a path of defiance, obstruction and cover-up". They warned that defying the House subpoena would in itself be considered "evidence of obstruction" and a potentially impeachable offense.
"We deeply regret that President Trump has put us - and the nation - in this position, but his actions have left us with no choice," wrote Democrats Elijah Cummings, Eliot Engel and Adam Schiff - chairmen of the three House panels - as they issued Friday's subpoena following White House opposition to their earlier requests for witnesses and documents.
AP - Xinhua
