White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said Thursday that President Trump does not regret using the term “human scum” to describe Republicans who criticize him, saying they are “just that.”
“The people who are against him and have been against him and working against him since the day he took office are just that,” Grisham said on Fox News. “They deserve strong language like that.”
Trump lashed out Wednesday at “Never Trumper Republicans,” calling them more “dangerous” to the country than Democrats.
“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.
Trump’s frustration came as he pressured Republicans to “get tougher and fight” House Democrats’ impeachment probe against him. The president expressed support for a group of Republican members of Congress who stormed a closed-door hearing on Wednesday where a Pentagon official was testifying to the House Intelligence Committee. The Republicans argued the hearing before the Democrat-led committee should be more transparent.
“He was happy to see it happen,” Grisham said of Trump’s reaction to the protest. “He was very supportive of it, as he should be.”
A day earlier, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Bill Taylor, testified to Congress 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 loudly opposed Trump’s candidacy in 2016 and has called Trump “most reckless president in American history.”
“Never Trumper Republican John Bellinger, represents Never Trumper Diplomat Bill Taylor (who I don’t know), in testimony before Congress!” Trump wrote in a subsequent tweet, adding that he does not want such Republicans working in his administration.
“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!” he wrote.