Trump calls impeachment inquiry ‘a lynching’
BBC Online :
US President Donald Trump has called the congressional impeachment investigation that may seek to remove him from office “a lynching”.
Mr Trump condemned the inquiry in a tweet as “without due process or fairness or any legal rights”.
But Democrats were outraged at the president for invoking such a grim and racist chapter from US history.
Lynching refers to historic extrajudicial executions by white mobs mainly against black people.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters on Tuesday that Mr Trump, a Republican, did not mean to be racially insensitive.
“The president has used many words, all types of language, to talk about the way the media has treated him,” the deputy press secretary said.
He added: “The president wasn’t trying to compare himself to the horrific history in this country at all.”
Lynching has previously been used as a metaphor for impeachment – by Democratic lawmakers.
When US President Bill Clinton faced congressional investigation in 1998, Jerrold Nadler of New York accused Republicans of “running a lynch mob”. Mr Nadler is now chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that is investigating Mr Trump.
The current impeachment inquiry is examining whether the Republican president abused his office by improperly pressuring Ukraine to launch an investigation into former US Vice-President Joe Biden, a leading candidate for the Democratic 2020 presidential nomination.
Mr Trump denies holding up US military aid to Ukraine to encourage it to investigate Mr Biden’s son, who worked for a Ukrainian gas company.
US President Donald Trump has called the congressional impeachment investigation that may seek to remove him from office “a lynching”.
Mr Trump condemned the inquiry in a tweet as “without due process or fairness or any legal rights”.
But Democrats were outraged at the president for invoking such a grim and racist chapter from US history.
Lynching refers to historic extrajudicial executions by white mobs mainly against black people.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters on Tuesday that Mr Trump, a Republican, did not mean to be racially insensitive.
“The president has used many words, all types of language, to talk about the way the media has treated him,” the deputy press secretary said.
He added: “The president wasn’t trying to compare himself to the horrific history in this country at all.”
Lynching has previously been used as a metaphor for impeachment – by Democratic lawmakers.
When US President Bill Clinton faced congressional investigation in 1998, Jerrold Nadler of New York accused Republicans of “running a lynch mob”. Mr Nadler is now chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that is investigating Mr Trump.
The current impeachment inquiry is examining whether the Republican president abused his office by improperly pressuring Ukraine to launch an investigation into former US Vice-President Joe Biden, a leading candidate for the Democratic 2020 presidential nomination.
Mr Trump denies holding up US military aid to Ukraine to encourage it to investigate Mr Biden’s son, who worked for a Ukrainian gas company.
