9:49 p.m. ET, November 1, 2019
Trump gives animated defense of his Ukraine phone call
From CNN's Nikki Carvajal
President Trump delivers remarks during a campaign rally in Tupelo, Mississippi, on Nov. 1.
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
President Trump went on a tear at his first rally since
the House voted on a path forward for an impeachment inquiry.
The President, speaking to a crowd at a “Keep America Great” rally in Tupelo, Mississippi, did not hold back when it came to attacking the inquiry.
Trump called the proceedings a “deranged witch hunt” and an “attack on democracy itself.” He extensively defended his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that set off the inquiry.
“They’re so damn dishonest,” the President told the crowd of supporters, “and they’ll just say let’s use Ukraine for help. And they won’t show the laughter and they won’t show the sarcasm and they won’t show the fun. Because they’re the most dishonorable people almost on earth.”
He claimed he didn’t even know Zelensky’s name when he called the leader.
“I call a brand new person, a man I have no idea who he is, and I’m on a phone, and I know many people are on the phone because when you call the leaders of country many people listen," Trump said.
“I don’t know who he is. I didn’t know his name until I looked down at the card,” he said.
He continued, saying he’s, “an honest person anyway, but do you think when I’m making a call to a newly elected president of a country, do you think I would say something improper when I knew there were all these people on the line?”
The President went on to detail all the people who could have been on the line.
“Whoever the hell wants to listen, they’ll listen, and they have me making some kind of a deal with all these people,” Trump said. “These people are sick.”
Trump also laid out several conspiracy theories about the investigations. “The Democrats, the media and the deep state are desperate to stop us. And it’s not me it’s us, it’s all of is,” he told crowd.