Trump Says Democrats Can’t Impeach Him Because He’s Doing a ‘Great Job’
Trump thinks his impeachment would put future presidents in danger of the same fate when the opposition gains Congress control.
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said that Democrats shouldn’t try to impeach him, citing a strong economy, his performance on foreign policy and the danger of setting a precedent making it too easy to remove future presidents.
"I don’t think they can impeach somebody that’s doing a great job," Trump said Thursday in a White House interview with Bloomberg News. “You look at the economy, you look at jobs, you look at foreign, what’s going on with other countries. You look at trade deals. I’m doing a great job.”
Republicans have tried to frame the November elections as a decision about whether Democrats will be able to impeach Trump. While Democratic leaders have largely avoided talking about impeachment, some Democratic candidates and outside groups have dangled the prospect of removing the president from office to help boost turnout in the election.
Trump said that if he’s impeached, then every future president would be in danger of the same fate whenever the opposition gains control of Congress.
"So you get elected as a Republican or a Democrat and the opposite party gets put into the House. That would mean, oh, let’s impeach him. Can’t do it,” Trump said. “If you look at the definition of impeachment, that’s a high bar and that would take a long time to fight that if you’re doing a good job. And I’m doing a great job.”
Removing the president from office remains a distant prospect for Democrats. To gain a House majority, Democrats need to flip 23 seats, a prospect that independent analysts say is within reach. The party will have a tougher time gaining two seats to control the Senate, where Democrats have 26 seats to defend, compared with just eight for Republicans.
But while impeachment is a simple majority vote in the House, conviction requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate. That means a significant number of Republicans would have to vote against Trump.
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To contact the reporters on this story: John Micklethwait in Washington at micklethwait@bloomberg.net;Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net;Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, ;Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Mike Dorning
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