On Friday, speaking by phone with the hosts of Fox & Friends, President Trump said bluntly, “I want a trial.”
As Mediaite reported, Trump segued into his statement after lauding the performance of Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York during the impeachment hearings. He said, “She has become a star. Her mannerism; her way of talking. It just works. She’s a tremendous person; she was fantastic during the hearings. Turner, so many people that were so great.”
Trump then turned to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who has been leading the attack against him: “You know what? The bottom line is all of those witnesses, they’re all shifty Schiff’s. Don’t forget there was no due process. You can’t have lawyers. We couldn’t have any witnesses. We want to call the whistleblower. But you know who I want as the first witness? ’Cause frankly, I want a trial. You know, I think– I could have it —”
Host Brian Kilmeade: You want a trial?
Trump: Oh, I would! Look, number one, they should never, ever impeach. I watched, I watched five people on your network yesterday say there’s nothing here. Andy McCarthy, how about Ken, special prosecutor —
Kilmeade: Ken Starr.
Trump: Special counsel. Ken Starr, he was fantastic, he said there’s nothing here. So ready? Number one, there should never be an impeachment. This is not an impeachment. That phone call was totally appropriate. Totally. But assuming these people are sleazy as they are, and Nancy Pelosi is totally incompetent; she’s lost, absolutely lost. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. She hasn’t done anything; she can’t get anything approved. Everybody’s working on this and they just got blown away, because they put their witnesses up, and we’re not gonna get USMCA … (crosstalk)
Host Steve Doocy interjected: So you want a trial?
Trump : … gonna vote against Democrats like you’ve never seen before. But if they do put it up, because they’re crazy, Adam Schiff is a nutjob. Listen to this: Adam Schiff gets up before Congress and he made up my statement. Who made that statement? He made that up. And then after he got caught, three days later he started saying “parody.”
Trump addressed Kilmeade: The thing that I did that was right, Brian, the thing that I did that was right, I released the transcript of the call immediately. Had I not done that, I would have had a big problem. A big problem. Because they all lied about my call. My call was perfect. If you heard Adam Schiff’s version of my call, I mean, it was the worst thing I ever heard. I said, “How could that be possible?” And you know the sad part was that he made it in the halls of Congress; he has immunity. I can’t sue him; the Republican Party can’t sue him.
Trump then compared the unity of the Democratic Party to the heretofore splintered nature of the GOP:
And one other thing before we get off: the Republican Party has never been more unified. Both the Senate and the House, Mitch (McConnell), Lindsey (Graham), I could name twenty names up there, they have never had, look, we won. There are 196 to nothing. That never happens. I always say, “The Democrats are lousy politicians; they have lousy policies, but they stick together and they’re vicious.” They’re more vicious, frankly. But the Republicans, they have a tendency; they break up.
Video below: