Former President Trump condemned investigations into his business and the Jan 6. attack in an interview on Wednesday
Former President Donald Trump slammed Democrats and their ‘witch hunts’ for investigating his adult children on Wednesday evening, claiming they had ruled President Joe Biden’s son Hunter to be off limits.
‘There’s never been anything like it in the history of politics in this country,’ he said in a phone interview. ‘It’s a witch hunt.’
He spoke to a small number of reporters to promote a coffee table book celebrating his time in office.
But he could not resist condemning Biden’s first year in office as well as hitting back at the latest twists in two high-profile probes that had put his daughter Ivanka as well as sons Eric and Don Jr. in the sights of investigators.
A day earlier CNN reported that the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol had obtained records of phones belonging to Eric as well as Kimberly Guilfoyle, fiancée to Don Jr.
At the same time, the New York attorney general is seeking to force Don Jr. and Ivanka to answer questions about the family business.
‘It’s a disgrace what’s going on. They’re using these things to try and get people’s minds off how incompetent our country is being run,’ he said by phone from his Mar-a-Lago headquarters in Florida.
‘And they don’t care. They’ll go after children. They won’t go after Biden’s son but they’ll go after children that’ve done a great job.
‘You know Ivanka very well You know the quality of her and the kids.
‘They’re high quality people that love our country. And for them to have to go through all this stuff is a disgrace. It’s a disgrace.’
In a phone interview, Trump asked why his sons and daughters were not under investigation but Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son, was not
Former President Trump’s book includes photographs of him meeting world leaders and lawmakers, as well as family moments. In this 2017 image, Daughter Ivanka Trump is seen in a moment of reflection at Jerusalem’s Western Wall
The Trump family meet the British Royal Family. L-R: Lara Trump, Tiffany Trump, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, first lady Melania, Prince Charles, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump
Trump at home on the terrace of the Mar-a-Lago club with key allies and confidants, including some now in the crosshairs of investigators
Our Journey Together is published by Winning Team Publishing
Republicans continue to ask how Hunter Biden landed a high-paying role with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma and whether it created a potential conflict of interest for his father, who was deeply involved in President Barack Obama’s policy toward Ukraine at the time.
It has led to questions about double standards for families in political life.
Trump held the call to promote his coffee table book, entitled ‘Our Journey Together.’
It is back on sale following supply chain woes – which have caused so much trouble for Biden – that caused delays in restocking an initial run of 200,000 sold out.
‘We did so much and a lot of the book is just a celebration of that it was just very and we’ve covered just a small part of it,’ he said during a freewheeling 20-minute chat.
‘But the book has been terrific and people really like it.’
It includes Trump’s own captions, which gives him a chance to settle scores and have the last word in arguments.
As well as plugging the book, he could not resist critiquing his successor’s performance at Wednesday’s White House press conference.
‘But it’s a hell of a thing to watch because he’ll read a list and he’ll pick somebody from the list,’ he said.
‘And then they’ll ask him a question and he looked down at his notes and answer the question, and I never did that. I don’t know. I don’t think I could have gotten away with it.’
Trump had planned a news conference earlier this month to mark the anniversary of the Jan. attack on the U.S. Capitol but shelved the idea.
But it also allows him to have the last word in some of his feuds, including with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with whom he clashed publicly
Trump and his supporters frequently cite his nomination of conservatives to the Supreme Court as his greatest triumph
His book includes photographs of meetings with heads of state as well as leaders he later fell out with.
Trump said his supporters wanted to be reminded of the good times.
‘It’s become so successful and I really think it’s because people … they see what’s happening now, they want to go back to the past, despite the witch hunts despite the impeachment hoaxes,’ he said.
He went on to accuse Biden of undoing measures to tighten border security.
‘The numbers are far worse than you read too. Millions and millions of people are coming through the border and quickly over a short period of time,’ he said.
‘And you know, we have a very different country than we had. It’s very sad to watch what’s happened actually.
He also hit Biden for the withdrawal from Afghanistan and inflation, which has hit an annual rate of seven percent.
‘You look at what’s happening from $1.87 a gallon to just see in California, it’s now over $7 a gallon, for gasoline for your car,’ he said. ‘It’s so sad to see what’s happened to our country.’
Trump also includes the moment when his predecessor Barack Obama left Washington in January 2017
The book includes key meetings with world leaders such as the moment he shook hands with President Vladimir Putin of Russia in 2018 in Helsinki, Finland
As well what Trump sees as the triumphs, the photographs give Trump a chance to have the last word in some of his fights.
‘Then-Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York who was forced out of office without, surprisingly much of a fight. I gave New York everything it wanted, including hospital ships, rooms, thousands of ventilators, and ultimately vaccines,’ reads the caption from a photo of Cuomo in the Oval Office.
His publisher said Trump wrote each of the captions, including the one that accompanies a picture of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg dining at the White House.
‘Mark Zuckerberg would come to the White House and kiss my ass,’ reads the caption. ‘His censorship is terrible for America. His “campaign contributions” even worse.’
Trump said the success of ‘Our Journey Together’ had whetted his appetite for another book when the time was right.
‘I think we are going to do that,’ he told DailyMail.com.
‘You know, this has been so successful that, you know, the big problem we have again is that you can’t get paper … you can’t get glue. You can’t get leather … you can’t get the cover.
‘You can’t get anything.
‘We have this incredible company that does the printing. They’re one of the biggest in the country. I think he’s got eight plants.
‘And he said he’s been doing it for 40 years and he’s never had a case like this where he can’t get paper.’