President Donald Trump ripped into George W. Bush on Sunday, saying that the former president failed to support him during his impeachment trial earlier this year.
“@PeteHegseth ‘Oh bye the way, I appreciate the message from former President Bush, but where was he during Impeachment calling for putting partisanship aside.’ @foxandfriends He was nowhere to be found in speaking up against the greatest Hoax in American history!” Trump wrote .
The president’s message comes after Bush posted a 3-minute video to his own social media channels calling for people to put aside bipartisanship and find unity during the coronavirus pandemic.
In the video, as The Inquisitr previously reported, Bush called for people to adhere to social isolation guidelines but not to let themselves become emotionally isolated. He reminded people that they need to offer kindness to others and that not everyone was suffering from the impacts of the pandemic equally, noting that some were unable to pay bills and feed their families.
“Let’s remember that the suffering we experience as a nation does not fall evenly. In the days to come, it will be especially important to care in practical ways for the elderly, the ill and the unemployed,” he said.
He then called on people to unite.
“In the final analysis, we are not partisan combatants. We are human beings, equally vulnerable and equally wonderful in the sight of God,” Bush said. “We rise or fall together, and we are determined to rise.”
But Bush’s message wasn’t met with universal approval. Trump quoted Fox News anchor Peter Hegseth’s apparent criticism of the former president for not making a similar call for bipartisanship when the current president was facing an impeachment trial for his dealing with Ukraine.
Trump reportedly pressured Ukrainian leaders to investigate his chief political rival in the upcoming presidential election. As a result, he was impeached by the House, largely on party lines, by the Democrats. Trump was later acquitted by the Senate, again along party lines.
Trump has maintained that the impeachment was a partisan attack against him. Bush didn’t speak publicly about the impeachment trial, though he has been critical of the current president in the past.
The president has faced criticism for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with some arguing that his administration bungled the rollout of testing, which is deemed critical in containing the virus.
The latest numbers show that more than 1.1 million Americans have contracted the coronavirus, and over 66,000 people have died.