 "'Are you allowed to impeach a president for gross incompetence?' Donald Trump's 2014 tweet comes back to haunt him as he faces impeachment inquiry")
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump on Tuesday, yielding to mounting pressure from fellow Democrats and plunging a deeply divided nation into an election-year clash between Congress and the commander in chief.
As soon as the news broke, the hashtags #ImpeachTrump #Impeachment, #ImpeachDonaldTrumpNOW, #NancyPelosi soon started trending on Twitter.
The probe focuses partly on whether Trump abused his presidential powers and sought help from a foreign government to undermine Democratic foe Joe Biden and help his own reelection. Pelosi said such actions would mark a “betrayal of his oath of office” and declared, “No one is above the law.”
At issue are Trump’s actions with Ukraine. In a summer phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he is said to have asked for help investigating former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
In the days before the call, Trump ordered advisers to freeze $400 million in military aid for Ukraine — prompting speculation that he was holding out the money as leverage for information on the Bidens. Trump has denied that charge but acknowledged he blocked the funds, later released.
Meeting with world leaders at the United Nations, he previewed his defence in an all-caps tweet: “PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!”
PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2019
Several people retweeted a tweet from 2014 by the president, which had said, “Are you allowed to impeach a president for gross incompetence?” as he made a dig to the then-president Barack Obama.
Are you allowed to impeach a president for gross incompetence?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2014
He expressed his displeasure at the Democrats’ news with several tweets of his own, that condemned the decision and attacked the party for their announcement of the same.
Such an important day at the United Nations, so much work and so much success, and the Democrats purposely had to ruin and demean it with more breaking news Witch Hunt garbage. So bad for our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2019
They never even saw the transcript of the call. A total Witch Hunt!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2019
Secretary of State Pompeo recieved permission from Ukraine Government to release the transcript of the telephone call I had with their President. They don’t know either what the big deal is. A total Witch Hunt Scam by the Democrats!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2019
"They (Dems) are scrambling for a theme and narrative. They've gone everywhere from Russian Hoax to Russian Collusion...and now they've come to this...they think they should have won the 2016 election, they think in their bizarre brains that they did..." pic.twitter.com/xqYFEAzT8D
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2019
Several people responded to the same with tongue-in-cheek comments that left people in splits. Social media was abuzz with people trying to figure out the best way to go about the decision, but applauded the Democrats regardless, for their decision to begin the investigation to impeach the US president.
The meaning of your tweet is actually, "Harassment by the President."
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) September 25, 2019
🤣#impeachment #ImpeachTrump
“Believe me, nobody in history has had bigger impeachments than me. Obama never even had ONE! Loser. Just now, a man – a big strong man – came up to me, tears streaming down his face, and he said, 'Sir, you will have the very best #impeachment ever!' THANK YOU!”
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) September 24, 2019
-- Donald
Perhaps the Dem's movement will gel,
— Verisilimerickitude (@ithinksoguey) September 24, 2019
If POTUS is on board as well,
Won't happen? It could;
The chances are good,
If he hears there's an impeachment Nobel.#ResistanceLimericks #ImpeachTrump
President Sharpie is shitting bricks right now and I could not be more content
— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) September 24, 2019
Many well-known personalities like Morgan Freeman, Stephen King — known for his books like It, The Shining, and Salem’s Lot — and Don Cheadle also tweeted, reacting to the news.
Trump needs to go.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 24, 2019
He's one bad hombre.
— Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) September 24, 2019
Several people also compared hashtags #ResignNow and #Impeachment, the former being for British prime minister Boris Johnson. The prime minister is currently under scrutiny for the upcoming Brexit deadline.
#ResignNow and #impeachment both trending at the same time.... pic.twitter.com/AZZV9X0hGe
— sha (@babygalitzinee) September 24, 2019
Hey the 🇬🇧 is getting in on the #impeachment vibe today with own #ResignNow for their PM. pic.twitter.com/kY7v89mnyp
— 💙💛 Bastian Tiger on BlueSky🐅 (@BastianTiger) September 24, 2019
With inputs from AP.
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