President Donald Trump railed against the impeachment inquiry today. He spared no ire for the whistleblower or his or her attorney, whom Donald Trump said should be “sued, and maybe for treason,” MSN reported. Trump also claimed that the impeachment inquiry was making him “stronger than ever.”
Speaking to reporters outside the White House today, Trump said that the impeachment inquiry is doing nothing to damage the fervent support he has within his base. If anything, it’s energizing his base to support him even more strongly.
“What they’re trying to do is weaken me, but it’s actually made me stronger. People are angry about it … and it’s made Republicans and people that vote for me, not just Republicans, really angry… because it’s a hoax,” he said.
The claim that the impeachment inquiry is doing nothing to erode Trump’s Republican base seems to be backed by the polls. As recently as five days ago, according to FiveThirtyEight , only 10.7 percent of Republicans support the impeachment inquiry. The high-water mark for Republicans supporting the inquiry was set in early October at 15.2 percent. On average, since mid-August, the percentage of Republicans supporting the impeachment inquiry has hovered between 8-10 percent.
By comparison, around 82 percent of Democrats support the inquiry, while about 44 percent of Independents support it. Among all voters, there are more Americans in support of the inquiry (48 percent) than in opposition to it (40 percent).
As for the whistleblower, Trump called him or her a “disgrace to our country.” The most recent criticism of the whistleblower follows a cease-and-desist letter the whistleblower’s attorney sent to the White House, which called on Trump to stop the attacks. As The Hill reported, the whistleblower’s attorney, Andrew Bakaj, sent the letter to the White House’s legal counsel for Trump, Pat Cipollone. It states that Trump’s attacks on his client “places my client, the Intelligence Community Whistleblower, and their family in physical danger.”
“I am writing to respectfully request that you counsel your client on the legal and ethical peril in which he is placing himself should anyone be physically harmed as a result of his, or his surrogates’, behavior” the letter states.
In response, Trump said that Bakaj should be sued, “and maybe for treason.”
Meanwhile, House Democrats have suffered something of a blow, at least with regard to the timeline of the inquiry. The chamber’s Democratic leadership had hoped to move quickly and possibly have Articles of Impeachment before the full House by the end of the year. However, as The Inquisitr previously reported, at least one witness forbidden from testifying before the House has asked a court to decide whether or not he should testify. A decision in that case is not expected before December 10 at the earliest.