By BEN GITTLESON, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday lashed out at the impeachment effort by House Democrats, claiming it’s “causing tremendous anger” and “danger to our country.”
“As far as this is concerned, we want no violence — never violence,” Trump said outside the White House as headed for a trip to Texas, facing reporters for the first time since his supporters rioted last Wednesday after he urged them to march on the Capitol. “On the impeachment, it’s really a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics. It’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous. This impeachment is causing tremendous anger, and you’re doing it, and it’s really a terrible thing that they’re doing.”
“For Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to continue on this path, I think it’s causing tremendous danger to our country, and it’s causing tremendous anger,” Trump added. “I want no violence.”
He later falsely said that “everybody” said his speech at Wednesday’s rally — in which he called on his supporters to march on the Capitol — “was totally appropriate.”
When a reporter asked, “What is your role in what happened at the Capitol? What is your personal responsibility?” he responded, “So if you read my speech — and many people have done it and I’ve seen it, both in the papers and in the media on television. It’s been analyzed, and people thought that what I said was totally appropriate.
“And if you look at what other people have said, politicians at a high level, about the riots during the summer, the horrible riots in Portland and Seattle and various other–other places, that was a real problem, what they said. But they’ve analyzed my speech and my words and my final paragraph, my final sentence. And everybody, to the tee, thought it was totally appropriate.”
He began his brief remarks to reports by attacking “Big Tech” for being “dividing and divisive” after he was banned from their platforms.
“I think that Big Tech is doing a horrible thing for our country and to our country,” he said. “And I believe it’s going to be a catastrophic mistake for them. They’re dividing and divisive, and they’re showing something that I’ve been predicting for a long time. I’ve been predicting it for a long time, and people didn’t act on it. But I think Big Tech has made a terrible mistake, and very very bad for our country.”
He said the tech industry’s approach “causes a lot of problems and a lot of danger” and “there’s always a counter-move when they do that.” He did not elaborate.
“And that’s leading others to do the same thing,” he said. “And it causes a lot of problems and a lot of danger. Big mistake, they shouldn’t be doing it. But there’s always a counter-move when they do that. I’ve never seen such anger as I see right now, and that’s a terrible thing. Terrible thing.”
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