Trump demands to meet whistleblower who reported Ukraine call, believes his impeachment will 'cause a civil war'
President Trump tweeted a quote from a Baptist pastor on Sunday which said his removal from office would "cause a civil war-like fracture from which our country will never heal."
Trump quoted Pastor Robert Jeffress after he appeared on 'Fox & Friends' early in the morning on September 29, the Independent reports.
A staunch supporter of the president, Jeffress is the Southern Baptist pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas—one of the more influential churches in the American evangelical community with a 13,000-strong congregation.
"Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats can’t put down the Impeachment match," Jeffress told Fox News. "They know they couldn’t beat him in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, and they’re increasingly aware of the fact that they won’t win against him in 2020, and impeachment is the only tool they have to get rid of Donald J. Trump."
"And the Democrats don’t care if they burn down and destroy this nation in the process," he added.
When asked how evangelical Christians are reacting to the possibility of Trump's impeachment, he said, "I have never seen the evangelical Christians more angry over any issue than this attempt to illegitimately remove this president from office, overturn the 2016 election, and negate the votes of millions of evangelicals in the process."
"They know the only impeachable offense that President Trump has committed was beating Hillary Clinton in 2016. That’s the unpardonable sin for which the Democrats will never forgive him," he added.
"If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a civil war-like fracture in this nation from which our country will never heal," Jeffress concluded.
Jeffress has a history of making controversial remarks. Last month, he told Todd Starnes on his Fox News radio show how Jews and their children would be cursed by God if they voted for Democrats—referring to a remark made by the president in August when he reportedly said Jews voting Democrat were "disloyal" to Israel.
In another instance in 2017, Jeffress reportedly likened Catholicism to a "cult-like pagan religion" whose success was due to "the genius of Satan."
Jeffress joined an evangelical advisory board during the 2016 election, offering spiritual and religious guidance to then-candidate Trump along with other influential Christian figures.
Trump said on Sunday that he wants and "deserves" to meet the anonymous whistleblower who triggered the impeachment inquiry against him.
According to a lawyer's letter released by CBS News, the unnamed individual fears for their safety if their identity is revealed. But the president has railed against accusations that he should be impeached for asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a favor to investigate former vice president Joe Biden, who is also contending for the White House in the upcoming 2020 elections.
"Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called 'whistleblower,' represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way," Trump said.