WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Only hours before his expected acquittal on impeachment charges, U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to go face to face with his accusers and defenders in Congress, ridiculing Democratic healthcare proposals and touting the U.S. economy.
Verbal fireworks were possible during what was expected to be a speech lasting longer than an hour.
“We will never let socialism destroy American healthcare!” Trump was due to say in his 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT) speech, according to excerpts released by the White House.
Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have proposed healthcare plans that would be entirely run by the government, a sharp departure from the current, private system in which millions of Americans get medical insurance from their employers.
While Trump has likened their plans to socialism, his lack of a healthcare plan has left him open to criticism that he has not put enough work into finding a way to reduce rising insurance costs that burden middle-class Americans.
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Trump’s appearance in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives will put him face-to-face with House Democratic lawmakers who approved articles of impeachment against him in December. The Republican-led Senate is expected to acquit the Republican president of the charges on Wednesday.
The speech excerpts issued before the speech made no mention of the controversy. Instead, Trump was to offer an upbeat portrayal of his presidency in hopes of persuading Americans to give him another four-year term in the Nov. 3 election.
“In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American Decline and we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny. We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never going back!” Trump was due to say, according to the excerpts.
Trump, a Republican, may be tempted to lash out at the Democratic critics seated before him in the U.S. House of Representatives, seeing it as a chance for payback against those who sought to oust him through what he calls a “witch hunt.”
Some of his aides and allies, however, pressed him to avoid a confrontation.
The Senate was almost certain to end the impeachment drive on Wednesday with a vote to acquit him.
In the excerpts, Trump revives his arguments that migrants should be stopped from crossing the southern U.S. border and that so-called “sanctuary cities” where migrants are protected are wrong.
After coming close to a broad conflict with Iran after he ordered the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, Trump was due to say “we are working to END America’s wars in the Middle East.”
Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Lisa Lambert and Jeff Mason; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Howard Goller