President Trump slammed impeachment as unfair to his family and fixated on Michael Bloomberg’s height in a friendly interview that aired Sunday ahead of the Super Bowl.
Speaking to Sean Hannity, a Fox News host who is close to the president, Mr. Trump said it will be hard to achieve much with Democrats because they’ve been after him since the day he launched his campaign at Trump Tower in 2015.
Senate Republicans are slated to acquit the president of charges he abused his power in dealing with Ukraine and then obstructed Congress, though Mr. Trump said the process was damaging.
“Mostly, it was unfair to my family,” Mr. Trump said from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “My family suffered because of all this. Many other families suffered, also.”
Mr. Trump predicted success in November but said a lack of reporting about the robust economy is holding him back.
“I should be up by 25 points,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump’s interview cued up a wild week in Washington.
He will deliver his State of the Union Address to Congress on Tuesday night. Also, impeachment managers and Mr. Trump’s defense team will make their final pitches to the Senate before a vote on the president’s all-but-certain acquittal on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s Democratic rivals are barnstorming Iowa to get a leg up in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, the official launch to primary season.
Mr. Hannity floated the names of some of the Democrats, so Mr. Trump could take a few whacks at them.
The president said former Vice President Joseph R. Biden is “sleepy” and that said his son, Hunter Biden, got “crooked” deals with Ukraine and China.
He also said Sen. Bernard Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist from Vermont, is a “communist.”
“I think of communism when I think of Bernie,” Mr. Trump said, before referencing his honeymoon to the former Soviet Union. “You don’t necessarily think in terms of marriage, Moscow.”
Mr. Trump said Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has trouble with the truth — “everything is a fairy tale” — then laid into Mr. Bloomberg, who is trying to sweep up delegates on Super Tuesday instead of running hard in the early Democratic primary states.
Mr. Trump claimed that Mr. Bloomberg, a former New York City mayor and billionaire who is funding ads against the president, wanted a prop to make him look taller in upcoming debates.
“Now he wants a box for the debates to stand on. OK, it’s OK, there’s nothing wrong. You could be short, why should he get a box to stand on, OK? He wants a box for the debates,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Hannity.
“Why should he be entitled to that? Does that mean everyone else gets a box?”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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