February 5, 2019

Trump Blasts “Ridiculous Partisan Investigations” During State of the Union

The line visibly shocked Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats.

Doug Mills/ZUMA

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President Donald Trump’s calls for a united government came to a halting stop during his State of the Union address on Tuesday when he appeared to fire a warning shot at congressional Democrats preparing to launch investigations into him and his administration, claiming that any probes could impede the US economy.

“An economic miracle is taking place in the United States, and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations,” Trump told Congress in his second State of the Union address. “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation.”

“It just doesn’t work that way,” he added.

It was unclear at which investigations the president was taking aim, but Democrats have a lengthy list of of them planned. Those include inquiries into Trump’s ties to Deutsche Bank, White House security clearances, and Russia.

Aides to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the many Democrats in the House chamber on Tuesday to appear taken aback by the line, swiftly responded on social media to signal that the new Democratic House majority would not be deterred from providing oversight: 

The line also drew parallels to similar remarks made by President Richard Nixon during his State of the Union in 1974.

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And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

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In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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