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Trump compares impeachment inquiry to 'lynching', furious Dems slam 'gross misappropriation' of term

Leaders accuse Trump of promulgating a 'gross misappropriation' of the term. House Majority Whip James Clyburn says it is one word that no president ought to apply to himself.
UPDATED FEB 28, 2020
Donald Trump (Getty Images)
Donald Trump (Getty Images)

President Trump sparked an outcry on October 22 after he compared the impeachment inquiry against him to being publicly lynched in an incendiary tweet.

"So, someday, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights", the president wrote. "All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here—a lynching."

"But we will WIN!" he added.

The late 19th century was a dark time for America, as acts of lynching grew along with racial tension across the country. Between 1882 and 1968, a reported 4,473 lynchings took place in the US, with the majority of those victims being African American, per the NAACP.

However, Trump's usage of the controversial term caused outrage in Capitol Hill, as per the Independent.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, said he was personally offended by the president's remarks being a black man living in the south, the region with the most number of lynchings historically.

“That is one word no president ought to apply to himself”, he told CNN. “I don’t know if we’ve seen anything quite like this", he added. "Andrew Jackson would never describe what was happening to him this way.”

Meanwhile, others accused Trump of promulgating a "gross misappropriation" of the term.

In a tweet responding to the president, Kristen Clarke, the president of the National Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, described lynchings as "crimes against humanity and an ugly part of our nation's history of racial violence and brutality."

U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (R) and House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) brief members of the media outside the West Wing of the White House after a meeting with President Donald Trump October 16, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)

Trump's comments come amid an ongoing impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives seeking to remove him from office over alleged abuse of power with Ukraine.

In recent days, several Democrats on Capitol Hill have cited concerns over Trump's requests for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation into allegations of corruption against former Vice President Joe Biden, one of his rivals in the 2020 presidential race.

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