New Trump rant: 'Evil!' 'Sick!' 'Dirty!' 'Scum!' 'Vicious!' 'Corrupt!'
President Donald Trump holds a copy of The Washington Post as he speaks in the East Room of the White House on Thursday, one day after the Senate acquitted on two articles of impeachment. Credit: Getty Images/Drew Angerer
Grand old pity party
President Donald Trump sounded sour and aggrieved the day after his Senate impeachment acquittal. Rambling for an hour, he angled for an extra dose of sympathy and solidarity from the Congressional Republicans who rescued him.
Democratic leaders were "vicious and mean," he told clapping allies at the White House on Thursday. "We've been going through this now for almost three years. It was evil, it was corrupt ... We went through hell, unfairly. I did nothing wrong. It was all bullshit."
He repeated bitter and unfactual shots at old nemeses, former FBI Director James Comey and former special counsel Robert Mueller. He denounced Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), the only member of his party who voted to convict him. He told dubious anecdotes about conversations he allegedly had.
“I want to apologize to my family for having them have to go through a phony, rotten deal by some very evil and sick people,” he said. “This was not part of the deal," he complained. "But they stuck with me." He complained about "dirty cops" and "top scum" at the FBI.
His earlier performance at the National Prayer Breakfast, a traditionally bipartisan event, had the same plaintive edge.
Trump used the spiritual platform to attack foes and critics. He said they wrongfully invoked "their faith as justification" for finding he abused his power, a clear references to Romney. "Nor do I like people who say I pray for you, when they know that that’s not so," he added, clearly meaning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
The president held up newspapers with big front-page headlines reporting his acquittal. Newsday's Laura Figueroa-Hernandez describes the details.
Pelosi rips him anew
The House speaker defended her past vows to "pray" for Trump despite his outburst against it, Newsday's Tom Brune reports. “I pray hard for him because he's so off the track of our Constitution, our values, our country, the air our children breathe, the water they drink, and the rest. He really needs our prayers," she said at her weekly news conference.
“He’s impeached forever, no matter what he says or whatever headlines he wants to carry around,” she said. “You're impeached forever. You’re never getting rid of that scar. History will always record that you were impeached.”
Dems' downer in Iowa
Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez called for a recanvass in Iowa, three days after the state’s caucuses turned chaotic, causing a delay of results.
“Enough is enough,” he wrote on Twitter. “In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass.”
Hard evidence of errors and inconsistencies in the tallies was apparent.
Bernie declares a win
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) declared victory from the tally so far published, based on 97 percent counted. “When 6,000 more people come out for you in an election than your nearest opponent, we here in northern New England call that a victory,” he said from his New Hampshire headquarters.
But the same preliminary results showed Peter Buttigieg keeping a razor-thin lead in the number of delegates, which differs from the popular vote in the caucus system. That was the basis of his own claim of victory Monday night.
New dirty tricks?
A hotline for Iowa precinct chairs to report results to the state party organization became flooded with calls from purported Trump backers after the number was posted online, helping delay vote tallies, according to several news accounts.
"On Caucus Day, the Iowa Democratic Party experienced an unusually high volume of inbound phone calls to its caucus hotline, including supporters of President Trump," Mandy McClure, communications director for the party, told the Des Moines Register.
"The unexplained, and at times hostile, calls contributed to the delay in the Iowa Democratic Party’s collection of results, but in no way affected the integrity of information gathered or the accuracy of data sets reported.”
DHS to NYers: Get in line
The Department of Homeland Security announced it will bar New Yorkers from enrolling in Trusted Traveler Programs, including Global Entry, which allow prescreened travelers to bypass airport lines.
This is a Trump administration response to a new state law that allows immigrants without legal status to apply for driver's licenses, and requires a warrant before sharing motor-vehicles data with immigration authorities.
What else is happening
- Romney isn't entirely alone among dissident Republicans. Vermont's GOP Gov. Phil Scott agrees Trump "shouldn't be in office."
- Republican senators as expected are pushing partisan probes into the finances of Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden.
- Biden's troubles in the campaign remain in the spotlight post-Iowa.
- Washington is still waiting to hear what former National Security Adviser John Bolton knows about the Ukraine scheme.
- A federal judge issued a permanent injunction against a move to make it harder for foreigners to stay in the U.S. once their legal status expires.
- Mike Bloomberg and Sanders are going head-to-head in unusual campaign locales in California such as Fresno.
- Rep. Jim Jordan will be the next top Republican on the powerful House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Mark Meadows will replace him on the Oversight Committee. Both are militant Trump defenders.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
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