Trump Airs Grievances, Lashes Out After Impeachment Acquittal
KING: For the few Republicans foolish enough to believe President Trump would somehow adopt restraint as a lesson of the impeachment saga, the giant clue to the contrary came Thursday. The president staged an event in the East Room at the White House calling it a post- trial celebration. But most of all, it was an airing of grievances.</s>TRUMP: We went through hell, unfairly, did nothing wrong. Did nothing wrong. We were treated unbelievably unfairly. Little did we know we were running against some very, very bad and evil people. Lieutenant colonel Vindman and his twin brother, right? We had some people that really -- amazing. Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person. Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person. It's been very unfair for my family. It's been very unfair to the country.</s>KING: From vindictive words to actions on Friday, the firing of two key impeachment inquiry witnesses, the National Security Council aide, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, we heard the president mentioned there, and the ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland. Add in a weekend of tweets and retweets attacking others who supported impeachment, Democrats warned of a chilling effect on speaking out.</s>REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): I thought it was disgraceful. It was clearly retribution for them telling the truth and a signal to others to discourage or deter or prevent them from doing the same.</s>REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): You know, I hope that the senators who said that this was a minor matter or that the president has learned his lesson, no, he hasn't.</s>KING: CNN has learned that several Republican senators urged the president not to fire Sondland. But a Trump aide defended the firing, saying, quote, necessary, describing them as, quote, flushing out the pipes. Anyone who thought the president was going to show restraint after this was foolish. That's a kind word. Will there be more? Will we expect more?</s>MICHAEL SHEAR, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": I mean I think -- I think there very well might be. I mean, you know, not only did the President, you know, deliver that kind of grievance- filled rant in the White House, not only did he take action, but the White House more broadly has signaled, his press secretary said, people are going to pay for waging this impeachment campaign against him. And I think, you know, any restraint that you would normally think a politician, a president would have, certainly Bill Clinton when he was in essentially the same position after his acquittal in the impeachment trial went the other direction. And you know, tried to offer some contrition and apologies and that isn't this president. And I think as you've said, John, like anybody that expected that from him is ridiculous.</s>KING: And in this case, it sent a pretty clear signal. Vindman had given word -- he was supposed, he'd transfer back to the Pentagon at some point, he had given world that he would probably leave at end of the month. Sondland, according to some sources, had indicated he understood he was not going to be the President's favorite guy anymore and that he was going to look to move on. So they did this before those guys could do it on their own terms. They did it on purpose. They marched Vindman out of the White House. They marched his twin brother out of the White House. You write, Toluse -- in a piece in "The Post", "The pugilistic response to impeachment has been endorsed by some of Trump's closest allies, indicating that vengeance will likely be a key theme of the President's reelection effort." So we're in February now, we're going to have a year of this?</s>OLORUNNIPA: Yes. If we go through the President's realities, this is a theme of his rallies. He's the most powerful man in the world, but he paints himself as this big victim of the deep state of the government bureaucracy. And he thinks that works for him. He believes that by attacking other people, by showing that he's fighting against the government, he can connect with every man and every woman in small town America and you see that at his rallies. I think you would expect that. We reported that he's looking at other people he may want to fire. You have to remember that he was impeached and acquitted and now he feels unrestrained. He feels like, what are they going to do, impeach me again? And --</s>KUCINICH: I mean --</s>OLORUNNIPA: It's possible but I think he does believe that at this point he's gone through the worst and now he can do basically whatever he wants.</s>KING: Right. And if you look -- if you just look at the list -- forgive me for interrupting. If you look -- Vindman ousted, Sondland recalled, Yovanovitch even before this recalled. Bill Taylor resigned early. Mike Pompeo was going over there and apparently didn't want to take a photo with Ambassador Taylor so he left. Jennifer Williams left her job with the Vice President's early. Fiona Hill resigned earlier. Tim Morrison resigned from the White House. Kurt Volker resigned. You do have the State Department officials and this is Laura Cooper said, the Defense Department, the inspector general of the intelligence community there. Some other people who Mr. Trump has vented at a little bit are still around.</s>LUCEY: There is a handful still, a lot of them have moved on already. Certainly we're watching to see if anything else happens. But the sources told CNN that this is necessary. A number of the people I have spoken to, you know, close to this White House, really did describe this as something they thought would happen long ago. They said these are people who defy the President. Described Sondland as disloyal, for example And so the people close to him are really defending this as a necessary move meaning that you're not really going to see a shift in this kind of behavior or tone.</s>KING: And there was one Republican, Mitt Romney, who voted to convict the President on one of the counts. He went to the Senate floor and he said I know what's about to happen to me.</s>SENATOR MITT ROMNEY (R), UTAH: Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine. I'm sure to hear abuse from the President and his supporters. Does anyone seriously believe that I would consent to these consequences other than from an unescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded of me.</s>KING: So Romney would be a target for the President. He was in a Twitter fight over the weekend with Joe Manchin, Democratic senator from West Virginia that the President though would vote to acquit him, he did not. And so the President was attacking Joe Manchin. Joe Manchin was actually firing back which I found strange in the sense that Trump did win that state by 42 points. But Manchin is fighting back. And then, of course, we had the ultimate symbol of Washington's dysfunction. The President walked in to the State of the Union address. Nancy Pelosi tries to shake his hand. He turns his back. At the end of the speech, she rips it up. The two of them not friends.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person. And she wanted to impeach a long time ago. When she said I pray for the President, I pray for the President -- you know, she may pray, but she prays for the opposite. But I doubt she prays at all.</s>REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: He's talking about things that he knows little about -- faith and prayer. I don't need any lessons from anybody, especially the President of the United States, about dignity. I feel very liberated. I feel very liberated.</s>KING: The two most powerful people in American politics, essentially polar opposites in a very high stakes campaign year.</s>OLORUNNIPA: Yes, the President feels vengeful at this point. And he is on a trail of trying to take out revenge on his enemies, whether it's Mitt Romney, whether it's House Speaker Pelosi. This is a president that attacked John McCain even after he died and he believed that anyone who shows disloyalty or votes against him is in for attacks, relentless attacks, personal attacks. And I think that's what we can expect for the next --</s>LUCEY: Sorry -- before the President made those remarks at the White House, there was an -- even by today's Washington -- amazing scene at the National Prayer Breakfast.</s>OLORUNNIPA: Right.</s>KING: Right.</s>LUCEY: Which is typically, you know, a nonpartisan event. Lawmakers, officials from both parties from, you know, multiple faiths. And the President was there with Nancy Pelosi seated just a few seats away. As he railed against, you know, Democrats, complained about impeachment without naming her but clearly referencing her comments about her praying for him. So this was sort of a particularly searing moment I think in this --</s>KUCINICH: The President will weaponize anything that he thinks someone else is using against him which is why you heard him attacking Mitt Romney and Nancy Pelosi's faith as, you know, false because he -- that's what he does. If he thinks something is being used against him he'll do -- try to do the exact same thing.</s>KING: There we go. Up next, the early 2020 map and a jobs report that gives the President plenty of reasons to smile.