BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — President Donald Trump’s Wednesday night speech in Battle Creek will likely be delayed as the House takes its official impeachment vote, according to sources.
Voting is expected to begin around 7:15 p.m.
When Trump does take the stage, he is expected to touch on things he wrote in a six-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Tuesday night.
In the letter, Trump called her actions spiteful and said it cheapens the meaning of the term “impeachment.”
"You are offending Americans of faith by continually saying 'I pray for the President,' when you know this statement is not true, unless it is meant in a negative sense," the letter says. "It is a terrible thing you are doing, but you will have to live with it, not I!"
Kayleigh McEnany, press secretary for Trump’s reelection campaign, said he sees the impeachment vote as a coup.
“I think the president was pretty unmistakable in his letter that he sees this as a coup against a sitting president, that this will go down in history as Democrats being partisan and overturning the will of the American people,” McEnany said. “So today, I think he gets an opportunity to stand in front of the people of Michigan who put him into office and to say to them, you know, ‘The Democrats are trying to overturn your vote but I’m standing here unmistakably standing here for the American people and the people of Michigan.”
She says impeachment will turn swing states even further in the president’s favor.
“The American people are angry, the people in the Midwest, people in swing states are angry. They see this as overturning their decision to elect President Trump,” McEany said. “It’s no different here in Michigan and I believe you know, November 3, 2020, that map will be even redder, and Democrats motivated a lot of that with this coup against a sitting president.”
Michigan GOP Chairwoman Laura Cox agreed and said it's going to backfire come election time.
"People are frustrated, people across Michigan are not dumb, they know that they were elected representatives to go to Washington to fight for them to do things, to help their families and their businesses — that's not happening. It's pure politics and they're frustrated," Cox said.
She said she plans to have a conversation with Trump when he arrives to let him know Michigan has his back in 2020.
U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, I-Grand Rapids, has been mentioned as a candidate to be one of the impeachment managers. He was the first Republican to back impeachment before ultimately leaving the party.
McEany said Amash being selected would be “aberrational.”
“The Republican party stands unmistakably with the president. Not just the Republican party, we’ve already heard about two Democrats breaking with their ranks to vote against impeachment, you know,” she said. “So should Justin Amash choose to do that, he’s really choosing to leave behind the Republican party and leave behind common sense and even leave behind some Democrats who are siding with the president in a bipartisan fashion.”
National GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel Cox are expected to speak ahead of Trump. Second-time U.S. Senate candidate John James will also be speaking at the rally.
