President Trump launched a particularly venomous attack at “Never Trumper Republicans” Wednesday afternoon, calling them “human scum” and “dangerous” for the country.
“The Never Trumper Republicans, though on respirators with not many left, are in certain ways worse and more dangerous for our Country than the Do Nothing Democrats. Watch out for them, they are human scum!” the president wrote on Twitter just before he flew to Pittsburgh for a speech.
Trump’s remark comes a day after the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Bill Taylor, testified before Congress. During his testimony, Taylor said that he was aware of an effort by the Trump administration to withhold U.S. military aid to Ukraine unless Ukrainian officials agreed to state publicly that they would investigate the business dealings of Trump’s 2020 opponent Joe Biden and his son.
Taylor is represented by Republican lawyer John Bellinger, who vocally opposed Trump’s candidacy in 2016 and has called Trump “most reckless president in American history.” Bellinger also drafted a letter in August 2016 that was signed by 50 prominent Republican national-security officials, including former top aides and cabinet members for President George W. Bush, who said they would not be voting for Trump.
Trump mentioned Bellinger by name in several later tweets and added that he does not want “Never Trumpers” working in his administration.
“Never Trumper Republican John Bellinger, represents Never Trumper Diplomat Bill Taylor (who I don’t know), in testimony before Congress! Do Nothing Democrats allow Republicans Zero Representation, Zero due process, and Zero Transparency” Trump wrote.”It would be really great if the people within the Trump Administration, all well-meaning and good (I hope!), could stop hiring Never Trumpers, who are worse than the Do Nothing Democrats. Nothing good will ever come from them!
“By mid-July it was becoming clear to me that the meeting President Zelenskyy wanted was conditioned on the investigations of Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections,” Taylor said. “It was also clear that this condition was driven by the irregular policy channel I had come to understand was guided by Mr. Giuliani.”
Taylor also reportedly threatened to resign if a “nightmare scenario” occurred in which Trump continued to withhold military aid even after coercing Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden.
Trump complained earlier this week about “Never Trumpers” and urged Republicans to push back harder against House Democrats’ formal impeachment inquiry against him.
“Don’t forget, many of these people were put there during Obama, during Clinton, during the Never Trump or Bush era,” Trump said Monday during a Cabinet meeting. “You know, you had a Never Trump or Bush. You have heard of those? Those people might be worse than the Democrats — the Never Trumpers. The good news is they’re dying off fast.”