President Donald Trump notched a legislative achievement this week when he signed into law the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMC)A, a massive trade deal that was the result of months of negotiating. But even in his speech outside the White House after the signing, Trump couldn’t help but reference impeachment.
The USMCA trade deal, which is the Trump administration’s NAFTA replacement, passed the House in December — in the same week that the House adopted articles of impeachment. Trump even remarked that he’s only nice to the Republican senators because he needs them to vote for him in the upcoming impeachment trial.
Trump rattled off a few senators, thanking them for their help with the trade deal and then joked, “I want to just if I could mention, because we do have some incredible people that work so hard, and, senators. Maybe I’m being just nice to them because I want their vote. Does that make sense?”
“I don’t want to leave anybody out. Hey congressman, I already got your vote, 196 to nothing. To hell with you. I think I have to mention some senators, I think.”
Here’s a clip of the remarks:
"Maybe I'm being just nice to them because I want their vote, does that make sense? I don't want to leave anybody out," President Trump says to laughter about GOP senators while thanking those who worked on the USMCA trade agreement. https://t.co/h6xr98PTUq pic.twitter.com/QH2c8sxB8x
— ABC News (@ABC) January 29, 2020
Trump’s impeachment fate is now in the hands of those senators, who seem certain to acquit the president in their upcoming vote. They have spent the last few weeks haggling over whether or not they will hear witnesses and new evidence in the case.
CBS previously reported that a GOP source said that were warned that voting against the president would lead to their “head on a pike” and in his closing arguments, House Impeachment manager and House Intel Chairman Adam Schiff referenced that reporting and challenged the Republicans in the chamber.
That remark outraged Republican senators, one of whom called it “insulting and demeaning.”