Trump Says He Started Watching House Impeachment Hearings On Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2019) US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that he started to watch the second public hearing in the House impeachment inquiry against him.

"I've been watching today, for the first time I started watching," Trump said.

Earlier on Friday, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said Trump would not watching the public impeachment testimony by former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

As the testimony got underway, Trump via Twitter criticized Yovanovitch's performance as US ambassador in Kiev while she was testifying in the impeachment hearing against him. Trump said it was a US president's right to appoint ambassadors.

When asked about his attack against Yovanovitch, Trump insisted that his comments were within his right to freedom of speech.

In September, US House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry into a whistleblower complaint that said Trump might have abused the power of office. The complaint alleged Trump pressured Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a July 25 phone call to investigate possible corruption of former Vice President Joe Biden - Trump's political rival in the 2020 election - and his son Hunter Biden.

Trump released a transcript of the telephone call with Zelenskyy and said there was no quid pro quo in his dealings with Ukraine. Trump characterized the impeachment inquiry as yet another political witch hunt by Democrats aimed at reversing the result of the 2016 presidential election.