A subdued Trump confronts a new phase of his presidency

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump strode into his news convention on Wednesday ready to stipulate his protection towards the Home’s newly launched impeachment inquiry: blame the media for false reporting and accuse the Democrats of being hypocrites.

However it wasn’t the standard Trump who showed up. As an alternative of the loud, defiant pressure that America has come to know at his impromptu news conferences and free-wheeling marketing campaign rallies, the president was subdued and self-absorbed as he read from his notes.

“The witch hunt continues,” Trump informed a whole lot gathered at a Manhattan lodge. “However they’re getting hit onerous on this witch hunt. As a result of once they take a look at the knowledge, it’s a joke. Impeachment for that?”

After wrapping up his hectic annual go to to the United Nations, Trump, clad in his trademark dark go well with and pink tie, appeared resigned to return to the nation’s capital Thursday and enter a new — and decidedly unwelcome — part of his presidency.

“It is extremely sad what the Democrats are doing to this country,” he stated slowly. “They’re dividing.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Tuesday that the Home was formally opening an impeachment inquiry into Trump, and by Wednesday a majority of lawmakers in the chamber had backed the proceedings after information that he had requested the Ukrainian president to harm a political rival.

Trump’s 42-minute, disjointed news conference got here after he had spent four days on the street — flying to Texas and Ohio to meet with two overseas leaders on Sunday, after which three days of nonstop conferences on the United Nations, the place he delivered two speeches.

As an alternative of spending an hour or two calling on so many reporters that even the journalists grew drained — as he has accomplished numerous occasions earlier than — the president referred to as on just four individuals, two who work for retailers that target the financial system, one in every of his favorite subjects. He appeared across the lodge conference room on the lookout for another.

“Question on the financial system,” he referred to as out. “A question on the financial system.”

Trump spoke for 25 minutes before he even began answering questions, and while he touched on acquainted subjects, from his Electoral School win in 2016 to rebuilding the U.S. army, the topic typically returned to impeachment.

After answering the primary query — why it is applicable for him to ask a overseas leader for information about a political rival — he appeared to tire of the topic. He took a break from the questions and asked two of his most loyal aides, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who have been standing next to him, to say a number of phrases about their work at the U.N.

Trump admitted that he had asked the newly elected Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to work with Lawyer Common William Barr and Trump’s private lawyer Rudy Giuliani to look into whether former Vice President Joe Biden pressured Ukrainian officers to fireside a prosecutor investigating fuel firm on whose board of directors Biden’s son Hunter served, however he insisted there was nothing improper with what he did. “He wasn’t pressured in any respect,” he stated.

After months of stonewalling Congress on quite a lot of investigations — from the Russia investigation as to if he's utilizing the presidency to complement himself — Trump hinted that he would release a transcript of one other call with Zelensky and that Vice President Mike Pence, who was not present, may do the identical. He stated he had informed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy he needed to be clear because the investigation moved forward.

Just hours earlier, he had ordered the discharge of a five-page document detailing one in every of his calls with Zelensky.

Nonetheless, while Trump’s demeanor was changed, his protection was familiar. He used the identical phrases to explain the two-year investigation by particular prosecutor Robert Mueller into whether or not he and his aides conspired with Russia to intrude in the 2016 election.

He accused Biden of threatening Ukrainian officers and claimed that Democrats traveled to Ukraine to pressure Zelensky “to do things that they needed beneath the type of political menace.” He provided no particulars or proof.

This time, though, he portrayed himself more of a victim than he has prior to now, saying he had put in so much effort the past few days, solely to have the media not report on it.

“The unhappy factor about this hoax is that we work so exhausting with all of these nations — and I imply really exhausting,” he stated of the U.N. journey. “I’ve been up from early in the morning to late within the night, and meeting with totally different nations all for the good of our nation, and the press doesn’t even cowl all of this. … It’s really disappointing additionally to those nations that are with us and spend so much time with us.”

When was requested whether he was prepared for the lengthy impeachment street ahead, Trump expressed shock at the place he discovered himself — the topic of an impeachment inquiry, lastly, after Democrats had talked about it long earlier than he was sworn in to office.

“Nicely, I assumed we gained,” he stated. “I assumed it was lifeless. It was lifeless.”

Article initially revealed on POLITICO Magazine

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