President Donald Trump said Tuesday that House Democrats' impeachment probe does not give him a weaker hand in talks with other world leaders during a NATO summit in London. But he acknowledged it leaves a black cloud hanging over his talks there.
Additionally, he dubbed the inquiry an unpatriotic "hoax" and said again it will hurt Democrats come Election Day.
"It's having a reverse effect, which some people thought it might have. I didn't know. But I can tell you the districts where I won, and then they had an election in between mine, they had an election and other people got in, Democrats got in, those districts are leaning very big toward me," Trump contended during a lengthy question-and-answer sessions in the British capital.
"It's really having a tremendous impact and a lot of Democrats, I hear, are very upset," he claimed, not naming specific lawmakers." They just got back from their districts and I hear they're very upset. The impeachment witch hunt, it's really just a continuation of the hoax that's been taking place for the last three years, and I think you know that."
Notably, the diplomat in chief would not rule out the impeachment drama back home is casting a cloud over his participation in the NATO leaders' meeting.
"I think it's very unpatriotic for the Democrats to put on a performance where they do that. I do. I think it's a bad thing for our country," he said. "Impeachment wasn't supposed to be used that way. ... Does it cast a cloud? Well, if it does, then the Democrats have done a very great disservice to the country, which they have. They've wasted a lot of time."
Here is the latest on the impeachment inquiry:
Censure smackdown: Amid scuttlebutt in Washington that House Democrats could opt to a censure vote rather than on articles of impeachment, Trump called that possible alternative "unacceptable" because "I did nothing wrong."
Like he has contended over impeachment, the president told reporters "you don't censure somebody when they did nothing wrong."
Prebuttal: House Republicans on the Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs panels released a 123-page staff report Monday panning the Democrats' impeachment inquiry as "an orchestrated campaign to upend our political system."
The GOP members said evidence presented during the fact-finding stage of Democrats' impeachment inquiry "does not prove" Democrats' allegations that Trump abused his authority to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden to benefit his 2020 election by leveraging a White House meeting and the release of U.S. security assistance.
The Republican report was released ahead of a draft report on evidence gathered so far in the impeachment inquiry was given to committee members Monday evening.
The committee will hold a business meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday to consider and adopt the report, the official said. The report, along with any minority views, will then be forwarded to the Judiciary Committee.
