President Donald Trump reacted to the testimony from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday.
“We had a very good day today, the Republican party, our country,” Trump said triumphantly to reporters at the White House.
The president commented to reporters as he left the White House for a fundraiser in West Virginia.
Trump praised House Republicans for their efforts questioning the former special counsel in the two congressional hearings.
“I very much appreciate those incredible warriors that you watched today on television,” he said, adding that “they were really defending our country more than anything else.”
He panned Mueller’s performance as “horrible,” remarking that there was “no defense” for the Democrats trying to spark impeachment hearings over the investigation’s conclusion.
“I read the papers and I read the press and I read the internet and if you see what is going on the internet, if you listen to the internet, this was one of the worst performances in the history of our country,” he said.
He acknowledged, however, that Mueller’s material was flawed, which was part of the reason for his poor performance.
“There was no defense of what Robert Mueller was trying to defend in all fairness to Robert Mueller … there was no defense to this ridiculous hoax, this witch hunt,” Trump said.
The president panned the entire Mueller investigation as a “phony cloud” over his administration, repeating that it was a “hoax.”
“The whole thing has been three years of embarrassment for our country,” he said.
Trump added that Democrats failed badly by demanding the hearings, which lasted for over seven hours on Wednesday.
“They are devastated,” he said. “The Democrats lost so big today, their party is in shambles right now.”
When asked about the future of possible impeachment hearings, Trump dismissed any concerns.
“The Democrats have nothing,” Trump said. “Now they have less than nothing,” he said.
He also claimed that the negative effects of the day’s testimony would reverberate in the 2020 election.
“I think they hurt themselves very badly for 2020,” he said, referring to the Democrats.
The president taunted cable news reporters at the White House, describing them as “fake news” for propagating negative elements of the story further.
“I will tell you, the two most nauseous and nauseating networks whose ratings have both gone way down, even they said this is a really bad day for the Democrats,” he said.
Trump spent most of his day during the hearing behind closed doors in the White House, sharing some of this his thoughts on Twitter.
“TRUTH IS A FORCE OF NATURE!” he wrote, exulting in his vindication after the testimony was complete.
Earlier in the day, Trump mockingly thanked Democrats for calling the hearings.
Mueller testified in two separate hearings in the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight Committee for about seven hours.
Media figures and Democrats acknowledged that Mueller was less sharp than usual, at times appearing frail and confused as he fumbled through his testimony, repeatedly asking members of congress to repeat themselves and clarify their questions.
After Trump boarded Air Force One for West Virginia, he shared the assessment of leftist filmmaker Michael Moore.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.