President Donald Trump allegedly made a phone call to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ahead of his impeachment trial last September, during which he reportedly attempted to plead his case to her in order to head off the proceedings. A Washington Post report based on information from a new book called Trump on Trial: The Investigation, Impeachment, Acquittal, and Aftermath stated that Trump called Pelosi on the day she was expected to announce impeachment proceedings.
Calling from his Trump Tower penthouse in New York, he told Pelosi that he wanted to talk about guns, but the conversation shifted to the whistleblower complaint that had been filed against him.
“Are you really going to impeach me?” he reportedly asked. “The Senate will never convict. You don’t really want to do this.”
Trump apparently tried to convince Pelosi that the phone conversation with Vladimir Zelensky, which was the focus of the impeachment trial, was harmless and that he hadn’t tried to manipulate Zelensky at all.
“Literally, you would be impressed by my lack of pressure… Why would I say something bad?” he questioned. “It was 100 percent perfect. I didn’t ask him for anything.”
He told her that he was about to release the transcript of the conversation, but allegedly Pelosi confirmed to him that she was moving forward with the process.
After 20 minutes, the phone call ended, leaving Pelosi concerned about the president’s conduct, according to the upcoming book, which will be released next week.
“Pelosi was left shaking her head. Either the president of the United States didn’t know right from wrong, she thought, or he didn’t care. Whichever it was, she felt Trump was taking the country down a dangerous path that violated the Constitution’s spirit and letter in establishing the president’s powers,” the authors wrote.
Shortly after the call, the White House released the transcript of the chat, followed by a tweet from the president that called the conversation “totally appropriate” and asserted that the Democrats were perpetrating a witch hunt against him.
Shortly after, Pelosi confirmed that she wanted an impeachment inquiry, citing national security concerns.
Ultimately, the president was convicted in the House and acquitted by the Senate for the conversation, during which he asked the Ukrainian president to do him a favor and investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
Critics argue that Trump was attempting to harm Biden’s chances in the 2020 race, in which Biden currently leads Trump in most polls .
