President Trump said Wednesday he was “too busy” to watch the House’s first hearing on impeaching him, but said Democrats have “nothing” on him and criticized them for using “television lawyers.”
“It’s a witch hunt, it’s a hoax. I’m too busy to watch it,” Mr. Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Turkey’s president. “I have not been briefed. There’s nothing there. I’m sure I’ll get a report.”
He said of the Democrats, “I see they’re using lawyers that are television lawyers, they took some guys off television. I’m not surprised to see it, because [House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam] Schiff can’t do his own questions.”
It was an apparent reference to Democratic counsel Dan Goldman, who is conducting much of the questioning of the first two witnesses.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham confirmed that the president wasn’t tuned in to the televised event.
“He’s in the Oval [Office] in meetings. Not watching. He’s working,” she told a pool reporter at mid-morning, adding that Mr. Trump had been in his office since about 8 a.m.
She also called the hearings “boring” and a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Before the hearings began, the president took to Twitter in all caps, urging the public to “read the transcript” and calling his detractors “Never Trumpers!”
The president did retweet a 25-second video posted on the White House’s official Twitter account, shortly before the hearings began, ridiculing the “impeachment hoax.”
The video argues that Democrats “sought impeachment first — and an excuse later.”
“The swamp wants a media circus — not facts or fairness,” the video stated.
“New hoax. Same swamp,” the White House tweeted.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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