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Getty Images President Donald Trump speaks to the press during Finnish President Sauli Niinisto’s visit to the White House on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed Democrats’ push for his impeachment for stock-market losses, even as he said he’d cooperate with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.
DRIVING THE MARKET DOWN
With U.S. stock indexes deeply in the red on Wednesday, Trump said on Twitter, “All of this impeachment nonsense, which is going nowhere, is driving the Stock Market, and your 401K’s, down. But that is exactly what the Democrats want to do. They are willing to hurt the Country, with only the 2020 Election in mind!”
Investors have been paying attention to the impeachment effort against Trump, but the catalyst for Tuesday’s slide appeared to be data showing slower job creation and increased concerns about economic growth linked to Trump’s trade war with China. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.86% dropped 494 points, while the S&P 500 index SPX, -1.79% fell 52 points and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -1.56% skidded 123 points. Read Market Snapshot.
Asked during a news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö if he’d cooperate with Democrats’ planned subpoena of documents, Trump said “I always cooperate” and that “we’ll work together” with Schiff and Pelosi. Trump has previously said he would fight all subpoenas issued by Democrats investigating his administration. And to date, the White House hasn’t turned over documents sought by House committees.
House committees plan to issue a subpoena Friday to force the White House to turn over records related to phone calls between Trump and Ukraine’s president, the Wall Street Journal reported. Trump’s effort to enlist Ukraine to probe Joe Biden and his son is at the heart of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
Trump also told reporters Schiff should “resign from office in disgrace,” and reiterated that the congressman should be investigated for treason over his depiction of Trump’s call with the Ukrainian leader. Schiff has said the remarks in question were meant partly in parody. He’d said he was editing out “the rambling character” and using fewer words than were in the call transcript.
TIMES STORY
Also Wednesday, Trump addressed a New York Times report that he suggested shooting migrants in the legs as they tried to enter the U.S. and that he sought an alligator-filled moat at the border with Mexico. He didn’t mention the shooting of migrants in his tweet but said about the moat, “I may be tough on Border Security, but not that tough.” He told reporters during an Oval Office appearance with Niinistö that “moat” is not a word he uses, and mistakenly attributed the story to the Washington Post. (In a tweet, he used the word “Moot” for moat.)
