Jeff Van Drew, Democrat defector, joins Trump in oval office meeting

A defiant President Trump took a victory lap a day after his impeachment, welcoming a defector from House Democrats to the GOP and predicting that the strong economy will propel him and Republicans to victory in 2020.

Determined to show that the rare impeachment vote by the House on Wednesday night won’t sidetrack him, Mr. Trump hosted party-switching Rep. Jefferson Van Drew of New Jersey in the Oval Office and invited the media to witness the unscheduled meeting.

The president called his impeachment “a phony deal” and said Mr. Van Drew could attest to the pressure exerted by House Democratic lawmakers to vote to impeach Mr. Trump.

“They happen to have a small majority, and they took that small majority and they forced people,” Mr. Trump said. “They put the arm on everybody. They tried to get them to do what they had to do. Many of those people were like Jeff, where they didn’t want to vote that way.”

Mr. Van Drew, one of three Democrats to vote against impeachment, said Mr. Trump will have his “undying support.”

“I believe that this is just a better fit for me. This is who I am,” the lawmaker said of his switch to the Republican Party.

Mr. Trump said he is endorsing Mr. Van Drew as a Republican for reelection in his southern New Jersey district. White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, who attended the meeting, also hails from that part of the state.

Less than 24 hours after becoming only the third president in history to be impeached, Mr. Trump reiterated that he feels no disgrace in his new status and blames Democrats for waging an unfair, partisan crusade.

“It doesn’t feel like impeachment,” the president told reporters. “We have the strongest economy in the history of our country and our country is doing well.”

As if to underscore his point, U.S. stock indexes hit new record highs again Thursday as investors shrugged off impeachment and focused on trade optimism. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 138 points, or 0.5%, to close at 28,376 after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the U.S. and China will sign phase one of their trade agreement in early January.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.7% to close at 8,887 points, and the S&P 500 gained 0.45% to end the trading day at 3,205.

The Dow is up 21.6% this year, the Nasdaq has climbed 33.9%, and the S&P 500 has risen 27.9%. Since Mr. Trump’s election in November 2016, the same three markets are up 54.8%, 71.1% and 49.8%, respectively.

The House on Thursday also approved Mr. Trump’s renegotiated trade deal with Canada and Mexico, which the administration has projected to create tens of thousands of new jobs.

The president cited the economy’s impact as he pointed to a USA Today poll this week showing him leading all of the top Democratic presidential candidates: topping former Vice President Joseph R. Biden by 3 percentage points, Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders by 5 points, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren by 8 points, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg by 10 points and former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg by 9 points.

“I’m beating everybody by a lot,” Mr. Trump said. “And I think that’s where we’re going, and we have the best economy in history. If you remember the famous quote, ’It’s all about the economy, stupid.’ Well, I never believed it was all about the economy, but the economy is a big thing, when you have 401(k)s … are up 70, 80, 90 and even more than that percent. They [voters] like Trump, and they like Mike [Pence], and we’re going to have a good time.

“Our country has never done better, so we’re really happy about it and we’re really happy to have Jeff [Van Drew] on board.” Mr. Trump called the lawmaker “highly respected.”

Mr. Van Drew’s announcement, while expected, came on the same day that a stalwart Republican ally of the White House, Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, announced his retirement at the end of next year.

Mr. Meadows said he would “stay in the fight” with the president in an unspecified role, possibly with the Trump reelection campaign.

He is the 21st House Republican to announce retirement in this election cycle.

Referring to the loss of the House in 2018 while the GOP picked up two Senate seats, the president vowed, “We’ll be very focused on the House this time.”

Mr. Van Drew represents a conservative district and bucked the Democratic Party occasionally, but his voting record prior to impeachment was in line with the president only about 7% of the time, according to analysis from FiveThirtyEight.

The New Jersey lawmaker spent the marathon impeachment debate sitting with Republicans on their side of the House chamber, joining their applause.

“I started out as not a wealthy kid, had the opportunity to work hard, got into dental school, graduated and my God, I’m sitting here next to the president of the United States,” Mr. Van Drew told reporters in the Oval Office. “That’s unbelievable. That’s America.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Mr. Pence also pledged their support for Mr. Van Drew’s reelection.

“Republicans are a very big tent,” Mr. McCarthy said. “We’re excited to welcome Jeff Van Drew. We welcome anyone who believes this New Democrat socialist party has left them behind.”

Prior to his switch, Mr. Van Drew had said he didn’t believe Mr. Trump was faultless but felt the move to impeach went too far.

“Remember all along I say it’s not that I haven’t had concerns with the president,” he said last month. “It’s not that I think he’s an angel. It’s just that I take this impeachment thing so seriously.”

Mr. Trump reiterated his optimism about unity in the GOP heading into the reelection year, noting that all 198 House Republicans voted against his impeachment.

“You’ve never seen a Republican Party [so united],” the president said. “That hasn’t happened almost ever because the Republicans are not necessarily known for that.”

Less than 24 hours after the House approved two articles of impeachment on party-line votes, Mr. Trump said Democrats are “playing games” by not immediately sending the articles to the Republican-led Senate for a trial.

“They don’t want to put them in [the Senate] because they’re ashamed of them,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re playing games … they’re not allowed to do that.”

The president said he’s heard that the delay could be unconstitutional.

Asked how it feels to be impeached, Mr. Trump said, “I don’t feel like I’m being impeached because it’s a hoax, it’s a setup, it’s a horrible thing they did.”

Referring to his boisterous campaign rally Wednesday night in Michigan, he said, “We had a great time last night, the room was packed.”

Asked about his strategy for a Senate trial, Mr. Trump said, “The Senate is very, very capable. We have great senators, Republican senators. I’m going to let them decide what to do.”