KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President Donald Trump, speaking one day after the U.S. Senate acquitted him on two articles of impeachment, recognized one Missouri senator by name.
“One of the greatest supporters on this impeachment hoax was Josh Hawley,” Trump said in his address on Thursday morning. “He was incensed, actually.”
Trump said that ahead of the 2018 Senate race, he went to Missouri and met Hawley, then the attorney general.
"After 10 minutes, I said, 'don't show me anybody else,'" Trump said Thursday. "This is the guy."
"Man, did I make a good choice," Trump added. "Tremendous future."
Trump's remarks on Hawley begin around the 46-minute mark:
Ahead of his vote to acquit the president on Wednesday, Hawley, a Republican, called it "a sad day."
"The House Democrats have given us the first purely partisan impeachment in our history, and the first attempt to remove an elected president that does not even allege unlawful conduct," he said. "Animating it all has been the bitter resentment of a professional political class that cannot accept the verdict of the people in 2016, that cannot accept the people’s priorities and that now seeks to overturn the election and entrench themselves in power."
Democrats have used impeachment as a weapon in their vendetta against @realDonaldTrump. They have abused their rules, basic fairness & the Constitution. All because they will not accept the outcome of 2016 election. Enough. Today I will vote to end these abuses & acquit pic.twitter.com/2aMx4H3rnJ
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) February 5, 2020
Last month, Hawley proposed a rule change that would have allowed the Senate to dismiss impeachment when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delayed sending the articles of impeachment to the chamber.
Hawley joined the other Missouri senator, Roy Blunt, and Kansas Sens. Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts in voting to acquit the president.
Trump campaigned for Hawley in Missouri during his tight race against former Sen. Claire McCaskill in 2018.
