Sen. Kennedy: Pelosi baited Trump during White House meeting and he took the bait
Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy weighs in on combative meeting between Speaker Pelosi and President Trump.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., led President Trump into a verbal back-and-forth that resulted in Pelosi and two other lawmakers walking out of a White House meeting, according to Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.
Trump is not an individual who is likely to back down from a tense debate, Kennedy claimed Thursday on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
"In terms of the war of words, you and I both know President Trump -- he is not a 'turn-the-other-cheek' kind of guy," he said. "I think he believes if you turn the other cheek, you just get it in the neck -- so Speaker Pelosi knows that. I talked to people who were in the meeting. She baited him, he took the bait."
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Kennedy suggested Trump may have been better off not sparring with Pelosi, saying the president had expressed anger toward Democrats over their ongoing impeachment inquiry when he met with Kennedy recently.
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"He's being charged -- or I think he will be charged -- with a high crime or a high misdemeanor," Kennedy added. "Anybody who knows a law book from a J. Crew catalog knows that requires intent."
Kennedy said Trump believes he acted within his presidential powers to ask Ukraine to investigate potential interference during the 2016 election and alleged "impropriety" by former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
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The Louisiana lawmaker claimed former President Thomas Jefferson's feud with his onetime vice president, Aaron Burr, set a "precedent" for what Trump is appearing to do.
Kennedy said Jefferson attempted to have Burr prosecuted for treason not because he became a political rival but because he thought he had committed a crime and happened to be a political rival.
"To me, this whole thing is about intent," he said of Trump's case.
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