Trump says he thought he escaped impeachment after Mueller report: 'I thought it was dead'
President Donald Trump, on Wednesday, said that he thought he had avoided impeachment after former special counsel Robert Mueller concluded his investigation into Russia interference in 2016 presidential elections and possible collusion between Trump campaign and Russia.
Trump, during a news conference at the United Nations, said: "I thought we won. I thought it was dead," referring to the Mueller report, the USA Today reported. The Republican, while speaking after the three days of meetings at the UN in New York, slammed Democrats and the media over the fallout of revelations that he had pressured the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
Trump's call with Zelensky came under public scrutiny earlier this month after an intelligence community whistleblower lodged a formal complaint involving Ukraine and a phone call Trump had had with a foreign leader where the president made a “promise". Trump later admitted to talking about Biden with the Ukrainian leader and delaying military aid worth thousands of dollars before that call. However, he claimed that the two were unrelated.
The Trump controversy resulted in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launching an official impeachment inquiry against him as she called the president's actions with regard to Ukraine an abuse of power and a betrayal of his oath of office.
Trump, during the conference, accused Democrats of timing an impeachment inquiry against him to coincide with his meetings at the UN and said: "No other president should have to go through what I’ve gone through."
Trump, while defending his conversation with Zelensky, also said that he was not the only one to speak to the Ukrainian leader and mentioned Pence's name too. "I think you should ask for Vice President Pence’s conversation because he had a couple of conversations also," Trump said, adding that he and Pence would both be exonerated. He also called Pence's conversations with Ukraine "perfect".