Perhaps POTUS cancelled the press conference where he would be asked numerous attack questions about impeachment and the no-fact-witness hearings today. He doesn’t need to give the press any new quotes before he has an opportunity to go over what happens today. He has said that he is not going to watch.
Subject: Travel pool report #17: Impeachment, questions whether Democrats love the country, more on Rudy
Hertfordshire
Pool was ushered into a pull-aside with PM of Italy at 3:39 pm., whom he calls a “popular man.”
POTUS says this is last meeting of the day: “There’s no reason to have press conferences because you had about eight of them.”
Then he answered several questions on impeachment report.
“I saw it and it’s a joke. Everybody is saying it,” referring to Hannity and “legal scholars.”
“It is a uniform statement pretty much right down the road that what they’re doing is a very bad thing for our country.”
He touted his high approval rating in the GOP: “I’ve never seen anything like it,” of GOP unity.
He says he has gone “way up in the polls” in swing states and calls Rep Adam Schiff a “stone cold loser.”
He said it was a bad thing for the country for the Dems to hold a hearing. “You almost question whether or not they love our country and that’s a very serious thing: Do they love our country?”
He said he had “two perfect calls” with the president of Ukraine. “He said no ‘pressure, no nothing.’“
He says USMCA, “greatest trade deal of them all” is sitting on Nancy Pelosi’s desk. He later refers to her as “Nervous Nancy” in front of Italian leader.
“The word impeachment is a dirty word,” POTUS says, “that should only be used in special occasions.”
He predicts Dems will have a “tremendous loss” in 2020. “This should never happen to a president again what’s happened here. It’s an absolute disgrace to our country.”
He calls Rudy Giuliani a “great crime fighter” ... Somebody said he made a phone call into the White House. What difference does that make? They’re only after him because he’s done such a good job.”
Says of Durham: “He’s one of the most respected law enforcement officials anywhere in the country” and suggests he’s nonpartisan.
On NATO, an alliance he once called obsolete: “NATO is very important. It was not good but it has gone to a very strong position. We had a
really good day and a good day yesterday.”
Check against transcript. More TK; still going.