Trump Fires Back After Pelosi Claims He 'Engaged in a Cover-Up'
President Donald Trump abruptly ended a pre-scheduled White House meeting Wednesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after Pelosi told reporters earlier in the day she and fellow Democrats believe Trump is “engaged in a cover-up.”
After meeting with Democratic leaders earlier in the day to discuss the issue of impeachment, Pelosi told reporters, “We believe no one is above the law, including the president of the United States and we believe the president of the United States is engaged in a cover-up.”
.@SpeakerPelosi says she and Democrats believe Trump “is engaged in a cover-up.” pic.twitter.com/kuM7iLgIyw
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 22, 2019
Trump refused to allow former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday regarding special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, saying his administration has already fully cooperated with the investigation.
The president addressed Pelosi’s charge during a quickly arranged news conference in the Rose Garden on Wednesday morning after ending the meeting with the speaker and Schumer, which was to address improving the nation’s infrastructure.
On the podium from which Trump spoke, White House staff hung a sign that read, “Mueller investigation by the numbers: $35+ million spent, 2,800+ subpoenas, 675 days, 500+ witnesses, 18 angry Democrats. No collusion, No Obstruction.”
“I just saw that Nancy Pelosi just before our meeting made a statement that ‘We believe that the president of the United States is engaged in a cover-up,’” Trump said. “I don’t do cover-ups.”
“I’m the most transparent president, probably, in the history of this country,” he added. “The whole thing with Russia was a hoax as it relates to the Trump administration and myself was a total horrible thing that happened to our country.”
The president went on to argue that Mueller’s team — which consisted of no known Republicans, and included multiple people who contributed to Hillary Clinton’s campaign — would have loved to have found his campaign colluded with Russia, but they did not.
Trump also pointed out the both the House and Senate intelligence committees investigated the matter and reached the same conclusion.
Regarding multiple inquiries targeting him Democrats have launched since taking control of the House earlier this year, Trump said, “I said right from the beginning we probably can’t go down two tracks.
“You can go down the investigation track or you can go down the investment track of let’s get things done for the American people.”
Trump recounted that he told Pelosi and Schumer he cannot work with them until their “phony investigations” end.
President Trump: “I walked into the room and I told Senator Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, ‘I want to do infrastructure. I want to do it more than you want to do it…but you know what, you can’t do it under these circumstances. So get these phony investigations over with.'” pic.twitter.com/VR7oB4GbxM
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 22, 2019
“I walked into the room and I told Senator Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, ‘I want to do infrastructure. I want to do it more than you want to do it more than you want to do it, I’d be really good at that, that’s what I do, but you know what, you can’t do it under these circumstances. So get these phony investigations over with,'” Trump said.
Pelosi later told reporters on Capitol Hill that Trump “took a pass” in working on the challenging issue of rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, “and it makes me wonder why he did that.”
“I pray for the president of the United States, and I pray for the United States of America,” she added.
Schumer said, “We want our Congress to perform its constitutional responsibilities and create jobs, create income, create wealth for the average American. We can do both. It’s clear the President doesn’t want to do any of that.”
“Democrats are absolutely obsessed with undermining the president of the United States and will stop at nothing to win the 2020 presidential election,” Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, told The Western Journal in an email.
“Meanwhile, the American people suffer as Democrats in Congress refuse to address the major issues like securing our border and improving health care and education.”
“I believe the Congressional Democrats are over playing their hand,” she added. “It is obvious to almost everyone that this is nothing more than a political attempt to win the 2020 presidential election. The Democrats will stop at nothing to undermine the president of the United States.”
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