WASHINGTON (AP) – Exulting in his impeachment acquittal, a defiant President Donald Trump took a scorched-earth victory lap Thursday, unleashing his fury against those who tried to remove him from office and pointing ahead to his reelection campaign.
Triumphantly waving newspaper front pages that declared him “ACQUITTED,” Trump denounced the impeachment proceedings as a “disgrace” and portrayed himself as a victim of political foes he labeled “scum,” “sleaze bags” and “crooked” people. Hours earlier, he unleashed broadsides that stunned the crowd at an annual bipartisan prayer breakfast
“It was evil, it was corrupt, it was dirty cops,” Trump declared in a packed White House East Room, where he was surrounded by several hundred of his most loyal supporters. “This should never ever happen to another president, ever.”
He conceded nothing in regard to charges that he improperly withheld a White House meeting and U.S. military aid in an effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden and other political matters.
“We went through hell, unfairly,” he insisted. “Did nothing wrong.”