Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images
Donald Trumptook the stage at a rally in Billings, Montana, on Thursday with a simple message for his supporters: if he’s impeached, “it’s your fault.”
The president, 72, was campaigning at the event for senate candidate Matt Rosendale, a Republican who’s challenging Democratic Sen. John Tester in the upcoming November election.
But in between his continued attacks on the “fake news” media and his boasts about his strong relationship with Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, Trumpaddressed the possibility of his impeachment— something he said would happen if Democrats were to take back control of Congress.
“I don’t even like to bring it up, the impeach word,” Trump said. “But I say, how can you impeach somebody who has done a great job? Who hasn’t done anything wrong? Our economy is good. How do you do it?”
“It is so ridiculous,” the president added. “But we will worry about that, it never happens. But if it does happen, it’s your fault because you did not go out and vote. You didn’t go out to vote — that’s the only way it could happen. I’ll be the only president in history they’ll say: ‘What a job he’s done! By the way, we’re impeaching him.’ ”
He added: “This election you aren’t just voting for a candidate. You’re voting for which party controls Congress.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has brought up the possibility of his impeachment. In August, Trump addressed it during a sit-down with Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt.
“If I ever got impeached, I thinkthe market would crash, I think everybody would be very poor,” Trump said. “You would see numbers that you wouldn’t believe.”
“You know, I guess it says something like high crimes and all — I don’t know how you can impeach somebody who has done a great job,” Trump said.
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images
Of course, impeachment wasn’t the only thing on Trump’s mind on Thursday.
The formerCelebrity Apprenticehost also brought up theheadline-makingThe New York Timesop-ed, in which an author — whose identity was kept anonymous — claiming to be a senior administration official claimed they’releading a resistance movementfrom within Trump’s own White House.
“This anonymous, gutless, coward,” Trump said. “Nobody knows who the hell he is, or she… For the sake of our national security,The New York Timesshould publish his name at once… It’s really bad and it’s really dangerous and it’s really sad for the mainstream media.”
RELATED VIDEO: PEOPLE Writer Natasha Stoynoff Breaks Silence, Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Attack
Trump said similar things when he tweeted about the op-ed on Wednesday — though he suggested theTimesmade up the report.
“Does the so-called ‘Senior Administration Official’ really exist, or is it just the FailingNew York Timeswith another phony source?” Trump wrote, after first saying that if the person were real, he or she would be committing “treason.”
Meanwhile, the White House did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment about the op-ed, but press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement calling on the author of the op-ed to resign.
“The individual behind this piece has chosen to deceive, rather than support, the duly elected President of the United States,” Sanders said. “He is not putting country first, but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people. This coward should do the right thing and resign.”
source: people.com
