Donald Trump said he was the victim of a “coup” as a government watchdog requested an urgent meeting with lawmakers in connection with an impeachment investigation into the president.
The US president made the claim on Tuesday as Mike Pompeo, his secretary of state, tried to stall the impeachment inquiry, in which Mr Trump is accused of pressuring a foreign leader to investigate Joe Biden, the former vice-president and his potential rival in the 2020 presidential race.
“I am coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP, intended to take away the Power of the People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!” the president tweeted on Tuesday evening.
The coup assertion capped a tumultuous day in Washington as Mr Trump lashed out at Democrats while several of his officials, including Mr Pompeo and attorney- general William Barr, came under scrutiny over their roles in the scandal.
Since entering office in January 2017, Mr Trump has frequently accused Democrats of pursuing a “witch hunt” against him and has claimed that intelligence officials and bureaucrats were part of a “deep state” trying to undermine his presidency.
But Mr Trump has become even more assertive on Twitter over the past few days after the release of a whistleblower report. The report claimed that the president had abused his office for personal gain in trying to persuade Ukraine to interfere in the presidential election by investigating Mr Biden and his son Hunter.
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Hours after Mr Pompeo accused Democratic-controlled congressional committees of trying to “bully” state department officials, Steve Linick, the state department inspector-general, requested an urgent meeting with lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Three people familiar with the situation said Mr Linick would on Wednesday share documents related to Ukraine, which is at the heart of the scandal that has led to Mr Trump becoming only the fourth US president to face an impeachment inquiry.
One person said Mr Linick would meet lawmakers in a secure facility on Capitol Hill, suggesting that the documents were sensitive.
The impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives was sparked when a CIA official filed a complaint with the intelligence community’s inspector-general that said White House officials were concerned Mr Trump had abused his office for personal gain in a July 25 call with his Ukrainian counterpart.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Pompeo accused Democrats of trying to intimidate state department officials, as he resisted demands for current and former officials to answer questions related to the impeachment inquiry.
The House foreign affairs committee last week told the state department it wanted to depose five current and former departmental employees in connection with the call between Mr Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president.
Mr Pompeo pushed back against the request in a letter to Eliot Engel, the committee’s Democratic chairman.
The state department did not respond to a request for comment about the move by its inspector general to request an urgent meeting with lawmakers.
In his letter, Mr Pompeo said the officials were not obliged to appear without receiving formal subpoenas.
The committee heads — who included Adam Schiff, head of the intelligence panel, and Elijah Cummings, who leads the oversight panel — told Mr Pompeo that he was now considered a witness in the investigation.
“Secretary Pompeo was reportedly on the call when the president pressed Ukraine to smear his political opponent. If true, Secretary Pompeo is now a fact witness in the House impeachment inquiry,” the three chairs wrote. “He should immediately cease intimidating department witnesses in order to protect himself and the president.”
They added that any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from appearing was “illegal” and would be “evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry”.
Mr Pompeo confirmed on Wednesday that he was in fact on the call between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky.
Mr Barr has also come under scrutiny in connection with a phone call that Mr Trump held with Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, after officials restricted access to the transcript of their conversation.
The New York Times reported that Mr Barr had asked Mr Trump to seek help from Mr Morrison in connection with a review of the Russia investigation overseen by special counsel Robert Mueller.
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