President Trump on Friday said the testimony so far in the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry has not hurt him at all.
“I’m not concerned about anything. The testimony has all been fine,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House.
He said he hadn’t heard of most of the people who have testified in the closed-door hearings, adding that Democrats went “all over Washington to find 10 people who hate the president.”
He said some of them were “Never Trumpers” and that House Democrats shouldn’t be holding open hearings on impeachment which are scheduled to start next week.
“It’s a hoax,” he said.
House Democrats have trumpeted testimony from State and Defense Department officials who voiced concerns that Mr. Trump’s dealing with Ukraine crossed the line between diplomacy and election politics.
The impeachment probe was launched after a whistleblower believed to be a CIA analyst assigned to the White House accused Mr. Trump of prodding the Ukraine president in a phone call to investigate corruption involving former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and his son Hunter.
Mr. Biden, now a top contender for the Democratic nomination, was the point man for Obama White House policy in Ukraine when his son security a lucrative job for a natural gas company in Ukraine, a country infamous for corruption, especially in the energy industry.
The president said the whistleblower should be sued “maybe for treason.”
Mr. Trump, who released a rough transcript of the call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, said was considering releasing the transcript from an early call with Mr. Zelensky.
He said the Democrats want the transcript released.
“I will give it if they want it,” said Mr. Trump. “I don’t like doing it because it’s such a bad precedent.”
Foreign leaders will be uncomfortable talking with a U.S. president if they think the conversation could go public.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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