Trump calls impeachment ‘evil’ and ‘corrupt’ in White House speech

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump didn’t mince words in his remarks about his impeachment acquittal Thursday, decrying the process as part of an ongoing effort to remove him from office during a White House address.

”We’ve all been through a lot together,” he said, lumping in the impeachment process with other investigations, including the probe into Russia’s election interference by former special counsel Robert Mueller.

”And it never really stopped. We’ve been going through this now for over three years. It was evil, it was corrupt, it was dirty cops, it was leakers and liars and this should never ever happen to another president,” he said.

Trump was joined by several allies in Congress, including Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, John Ratcliffe of Texas, Mark Meadows of North Carolina and Doug Collins of Georgia. Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Lee of Utah and Josh Hawley of Missouri were also in the audience.

After laying out a laundry list of gripes, Trump pivoted briefly to touting the stock market and the soaring economy. He discussed his State of the Union, saying he received high marks from people he spoke with after his address.

But then he almost immediately returned to impeachment, retelling his version of the investigations dating back to the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“We went through hell, unfairly,” Trump said.

“But this is what the end result is,” he said holding up the front page of The Washington Post with a headline “Trump acquitted.”

Embracing a line he often uses at his campaign rallies, Trump claimed that the investigations were “all bulls-.”