Trump insults Pelosi's teeth in bizarre personal attack ahead of impeachment vote
Republican says president's insult is due to 'frustration' with prospect of being impeached
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has lashed out at Nancy Pelosi and claimed her teeth were “falling out of her mouth” during a press conference ahead of historic impeachment votes this week.
The House of Representatives is expected to impeach Mr Trump in the coming days over two articles – abuse of power and obstructing Congress – in relation to alleged misconduct with Ukraine.
The president’s insult came after a reporter asked Ms Pelosi why “bribery” was not included as one of the articles of impeachment, even though she has used that term to describe Mr Trump’s actions.
Ms Pelosi replied that the decision was made following advice from House committee chairs and attorneys, prompting Republican Mark Meadows to claim that a bribery article was avoided because “it wasn’t true”.
The president offered a different opinion on Ms Pelosi’s response, claiming her answer was “because Nancy’s teeth were falling out of her mouth, and she didn’t have time to think”.
Mr Trump’s bizarre insult is the latest example in a series of vicious personal attacks on Ms Pelosi by the president.
He has accused the senior Democratic congressman of being “unhinged” and dismissed impeachment efforts as a partisan attack on his administration.
Despite Mr Trump’s claim, Ms Pelosi’s teeth did not appear to be out of place in a video from the conference and her speech was not interrupted.
However, commentators have previously suggested the president himself wears false teeth after he appeared to struggle to finish a speech about Israel in 2017.
David Cicilline, a Democratic congressman for Rhode Island, suggested Mr Trump was targeting Ms Pelosi because she is a senior woman in politics.
“These are serious times & he’s spent the last week attacking strong women [such as] @GretaThunberg, @RepDebDingell and @SpeakerPelosi,” Mr Cicilline tweeted on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Mike Johnson, a Republican congressman for Louisiana, attempted to play down the attack when asked about it on CNN.
He claimed Mr Trump was merely “frustrated” about potentially becoming the third president to be impeached in US history.
“The president has a very unorthodox style of messaging. It’s not the way that I talk or I would tweet,” Mr Johnson said.
“But the president is very frustrated about how he’s been treated. He lashes out sometimes and I think a lot of the American people understand that.”
Mr Trump is accused of withholding congressionally-approved US military aid and a White House visit to Ukraine to force its leader into announcing an investigation into his 2020 election rival Joe Biden.
Although the president has denied any wrongdoing, several high-profile US diplomats and foreign service officials have come forward with concerns about his behaviour.
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