唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)自就任总统初期以来，一直将针对他的指控称为“政治迫害”，因为有报道称俄罗斯干涉大选，面对弹劾，他的挑衅回应也不例外。
“在我们国家的历史上，没有一位总统像我一样受到如此恶劣的对待，”特朗普发推特周三早上。“绝不能让这种事发生在另一位总统身上。政治迫害！”
众议院议长南希·佩洛西周二宣布启动对总统的弹劾调查。特朗普决定扣留数亿美元对乌克兰的军事援助，就在几天前，他与乌克兰总统通了电话，并迫使他调查前副总统乔·拜登和拜登的儿子亨特，对此民主党决定继续调查。
白宫周三晚些时候公布了电话记录。
特朗普此前承认向乌克兰总统沃洛迪米尔·泽兰斯基施压，要求调查拜登夫妇，但他否认对话与拒绝援助有任何联系。自佩洛西宣布以来，特朗普为自己辩护的爆发迅速蔓延至右翼新闻媒体、共和党议员，当然还有他忠诚的推特追随者。
作家尼克·亚当斯写道:“这是国家的耻辱。”。“总统先生，你在拯救这个国家！”
许多其他人认为弹劾调查只会有助于特朗普的连任竞选。
保守派作家卡迈·萨比亚写道:“他们想从2016年11月8日开始弹劾唐纳德·特朗普总统。”。"他们让我们的总统在2020年再次当选。"
保守网站上的读者Breitbart.com回应数千人的弹劾调查。针对周二发布的一篇关于民主党要求电话记录的文章，最受欢迎的评论暗示民主党有一个持续的目标。
亚历克斯·黑格写道:“抄本无关紧要，穆勒报告无关紧要，选举团无关紧要，经济无关紧要。”。他认为民主党人只是想获得权力。
福克斯新闻的塔克·卡尔森对周二晚上他的节目中的弹劾调查不屑一顾。他打有烙印的民主党弹劾案“令人困惑，也没那么有趣”，同时为特朗普在乌克兰事件上的行为辩护。
卡尔森随后将注意力转向了针对拜登的未经证实的腐败指控，并辩称民主党将不得不在选举前为他们辩护。
“祝你好运，”卡尔森说。
福克斯新闻的克里斯·华莱士周二晚上似乎对这场争论更加重视。他承认这次调查有“实质内容”，部分原因是特朗普政府所说的话。
华莱士说:“这个基本故事的两个部分——总统希望拜登接受调查，他之前停止了国会批准的对乌克兰的援助——已经得到政府的证实。”。
这场争论始于情报部门的一名告密者向监察长的投诉。特朗普政府尚未公布的这份投诉据说是指总统7月25日与泽兰斯基的电话。
根据通话记录，特朗普一再向泽兰斯基施压，要求调查拜登夫妇。
特朗普说:“关于拜登的儿子，有很多谈论，拜登停止了起诉，还有很多人对此有所了解。”。"所以无论你能和司法部长做什么都很好."
两位总统，安德鲁·约翰逊和比尔·克林顿，已经被弹劾，而理查德·尼克松在弹劾的威胁下于1974年辞职。私下里，据说尼克松称民主党的指控为“政治迫害”，但在公开场合，他遵从司法和国会程序。
尼克松在1973年发表全国讲话之前的一份声明中说:“对我来说，评估证据或对特定证人的评论或他们的可信度既不公平也不合适。”。"这是参议院委员会和法院的职能."
根据a2017年研究皮尤研究中心的新闻项目显示，关于特朗普的新闻报道更多关注的是他的个性，而不是他的政策。他们也更有可能对他的行为进行负面评价。
更近的研究特朗普推特账户支持的媒体研究中心发现，在回顾了美国广播公司、哥伦比亚广播公司和美国全国广播公司的1000多则晚间新闻后，特朗普92%的报道是负面的，并补充说，广播网络对特朗普的报道是电视新闻史上最具敌意的。
该研究显示，特朗普当选总统后，逾三分之二的晚间新闻报道聚焦于俄罗斯调查、移民政策、布雷特·卡瓦诺(Brett Kavanaugh)获得美国最高法院提名、朝鲜外交以及美国与俄罗斯的关系。
纽约时报正在追踪与特朗普有关的29项调查，包括11项国会调查、10项联邦刑事调查以及8项州和地方调查。投诉的范围从涉嫌阻挠司法公正到特朗普和其他人可能在隐瞒与成人电影女演员斯托米·丹尼尔斯有关的封口费方面扮演的角色。
BY CALLING IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS A 'WITCH HUNT,' TRUMP IGNITES THE RIGHT
Donald Trump has continually dubbed allegations against him a "witch hunt" since the early days of his presidency, as reports emerged about Russian interference in the general election, and his defiant response in the face of impeachment is no exception.
"There has been no President in the history of our Country who has been treated so badly as I have," Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning. "This should never be allowed to happen to another President. Witch Hunt!"
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the launch of an impeachment inquiry against the president on Tuesday. Democrats decided to move forward with the inquiry in response to Trump's decision to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine just days before he had a phone conversation with the nation's president and pressured him to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and Biden's son, Hunter.
The White House released a transcript of the phone call later on Wednesday.
Trump previously admitted to pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens, but he has denied any connection between the conversation and the withholding of aid. Since Pelosi's announcement, Trump's eruption in his own defense has quickly spread to right-leaning news outlets, Republican lawmakers and, of course, his loyal Twitter following.
"It's a national disgrace," wrote author Nick Adams. "You are saving this country, Mr. President!"
Many others argued the impeachment inquiry would only help Trump's re-election campaign.
"They have wanted to impeach President Donald Trump from Nov 8, 2016," wrote conservative writer Carmine Sabia. "They have gotten our president elected again in 2020."
Readers on the conservative site Breitbart.com responded to the impeachment inquiry by the thousands. In response to an article posted Tuesday, regarding Democrats' demands for the phone call transcript, the most popular comment suggested Democrats have an ongoing objective.
"The transcript doesn't matter, the Mueller Report doesn't matter, the Electoral College doesn't matter, the economy doesn't matter," wrote Alex Haig. He argued that Democrats are simply trying to secure power.
Tucker Carlson of Fox News was dismissive of the impeachment inquiry on his show Tuesday night. He branded the Democratic case for impeachment "confusing and not all that interesting," while defending Trump's actions over the Ukraine affair.
Carlson then turned his attention to the unsubstantiated allegations of corruption against the Bidens and argued that Democrats will have to defend them in the lead-up to the election.
"Good luck with that," Carlson said.
Fox News' Chris Wallace seemed to take the controversy more seriously Tuesday night. He acknowledged there's "meat on the bones" for this investigation, in part because of things the Trump administration has said.
"Two parts of the basic story here—that the president wanted Biden investigated, and that he had previously stopped aid that had been approved by Congress for Ukraine—those have been confirmed by the administration," Wallace said.
The controversy began with a complaint by a whistleblower from the intelligence community to the inspector general. The complaint, which the Trump administration has not released, reportedly refers to the president's phone call on July 25 with Zelensky.
According to the transcript of the call, Trump repeatedly pressured Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.
"There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution, and a lot of people what to find out about that," Trump said. "So whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great."
Two presidents, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, have been impeached, while Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 under threat of impeachment. Privately, it was said Nixon called the Democratic allegations a "witch hunt," but publicly he deferred to the judicial and congressional processes.
"It would be neither fair nor appropriate for me to assess the evidence or comment on specific witnesses or their credibility," said Nixon in a statement prior to a national address in 1973. "That is the function of the Senate committee and the courts."
According to a 2017 study by Pew Research Center's Journalism Project, news reports about Trump have been more focused on his personality than his policy. They're also more likely to carry negative assessments of his actions.
A more recent study by the Media Research Center—endorsed by Trump's Twitter account—found 92 percent of Trump coverage was negative after reviewing more than 1,000 evening news stories from ABC, CBS, and NBC, adding broadcast networks' stories on Trump have been the most hostile in TV news history.
More than two-thirds of evening news coverage of the Trump presidency focused on the Russia investigation, immigration policy, the Brett Kavanaugh nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, North Korea diplomacy and U.S. relations with Russia, according to the study.
The New York Times is tracking 29 investigations related to Trump, including 11 congressional investigations, 10 federal criminal investigations and eight state and local investigations. The complaints range from alleged attempts to obstruct justice to the possible role of Trump and others in concealing hush money payments related to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
