The House Republicans’ Wednesday stunt of storming the secure room where an impeachment inquiry-related testimony was being held seems to have won President Trump’s approval.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told “Fox & Friends” hosts Thursday morning that the President was “very supportive” of the Republicans’ stunt led by Trump super-fan Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). The stunt was fueled by GOP lawmakers —none of whom sit on the committees overseeing the inquiry— taking issue with not being allowed to listen in on the testimony of top Pentagon official Laura Cooper. The scene spurred the delay of Cooper’s testimony for five hours.
When asked about Trump’s reaction to the stunt, Grisham agreed that Republicans sent a clear message that they’re behind the President after he had told Sean Hannity in an interview Monday that he wants “Republicans to be stronger, I want them to fight for me.”
“Absolutely. I think this shows full support for the President,” Grisham said. “He was working yesterday, you know, he traveled to Pennsylvania to give a speech. So he is still working amidst all this craziness. But he was happy to see it happen and very supportive of it as he should be.”
Trump echoed Grisham’s sentiment in a Thursday tweet thanking House Republicans the day after they pulled their stunt.
Thank you to House Republicans for being tough, smart, and understanding in detail the greatest Witch Hunt in American History. It has been going on since long before I even got Elected (the Insurance Policy!). A total Scam!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2019
Grisham added that Trump doesn’t regret calling Never Trumpers “scum” in a series of tweets Wednesday. Trump accused both top Ukraine diplomat Bill Taylor and his lawyer John Bellinger of being “Never Trumpers” in response to the career diplomat’s damning 15-page opening statement to Congress that undermines the President’s repeated quid pro quo denials.
“The people who are against him, and who have been against him, working against him since the day they took office are just that,” Grisham said. “It is horrible that people are working against a President who is delivering results for this country and has been since day one. And the fact that people continue to try to negate anything he is doing and take away from the good work he is doing on behalf of the American people, they deserve strong language like that.”
Earlier in the segment, Grisham said that she was “glad” that the House Republicans stormed the closed-door impeachment session because “Dems have been doing everything behind closed doors and in secret.”
“It is about time somebody made a very bold stand, which is I guess a sit-in, which is what they did and it was great and the point was well-taken,” Grisham said. “And I think that now because I’m hearing the Dems have agreed in three weeks that they will open these up to the public — I don’t know why they don’t do it starting now. It seems like it is working. They know they’re wrong. They know everything there are doing is just for show.”
Watch Grisham’s remarks below:
White House says Trump was "very supportive" of Republicans' SCIF stunt pic.twitter.com/kiO5FTvxNm
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) October 24, 2019
