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Trump Likens House Impeachment Inquiry to 'Lynching'

VOA News

   U.S. President Donald Trump Tuesday compared the Democratic-led
   congressional impeachment inquiry against him to a lynching, a deadly
   instrument historically used by white supremacists to further suppress
   African Americans.

   "All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here - a
   lynching," Trump wrote in a Tuesday morning tweet. "But we will WIN!"

     So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win
     the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President,
     without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans
     must remember what they are witnessing here - a lynching. But we
     will WIN!
     -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [1]October 22, 2019

   Trump's controversial remark drew immediate and sharp criticism from
   Democratic lawmakers and at least one Republican.

   "Are you comparing a constitutional process to the PREVALENT and
   SYSTEMATIC brutal torture of people in THIS COUNTRY that looked like
   me?" Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman Karen Bass responded on
   Twitter.

     You are comparing a constitutional process to the PREVALENT and
     SYSTEMATIC brutal torture of people in THIS COUNTRY that looked like
     me? [2]https://t.co/3v4oMuPC6C
     -- Congressmember Bass (@RepKarenBass) [3]October 22, 2019

   Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, a Trump ally, called
   the president's use of the term "pretty well accurate."

   "This is a joke. This is a sham. And this is a political lynching," he
   said.

   But House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California expressed
   caution.

   "That's not the language I would use," he said. "I don't agree with
   that language, pretty simple."

   Trump's use of the term evokes an era that began when slavery was
   abolished after the Civil War and black Americans were brutally
   murdered by white mobs.

   The nonprofit Equal Justice Initiative estimates that more than 4,000
   African Americans were known to have been lynched in 20 U.S. states
   between 1877 and 1950.
   More testimony in Trump impeachment inquiry

   Trump's tweet came shortly before a veteran U.S. diplomat appeared
   before legislators Tuesday in the House of Representatives impeachment
   inquiry, which is exploring allegations that Trump held up military aid
   to Ukraine unless it opened an investigation of former Vice President
   Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

   William Taylor, the top official at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, is
   scheduled to testify behind closed doors about a series of text
   messages with other officials expressing concerns about the White
   House's actions. Taylor wrote that it was "crazy to withhold security
   assistance for help with a political campaign."

   Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Laura Cooper, who has worked on
   Russia and Ukraine policy at the Pentagon, is scheduled to testify on
   Wednesday.

   The Democratic-led inquiry was set off when an intelligence
   whistleblower expressed concern to the inspector general about Trump's
   July 25 telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in
   which he appeared to urge Zelenskiy to open an investigation of the
   former vice president, who is running for the 2020 Democratic
   presidential nomination.

   Trump has alleged that Biden threatened to withhold loan guarantees to
   Ukraine unless an earlier corruption probe into a gas company that
   employed his son, Hunter, was stopped.

References

   1. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1186611272231636992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   2. https://t.co/3v4oMuPC6C
   3. https://twitter.com/RepKarenBass/status/1186637521591164928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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