Trump calls House speaker Pelosi toothless, literally

ANKARA

Maintaining his reputation for no-holds-barred criticism, U.S. President Donald Trump has mocked the physical appearance and health of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying "her teeth were falling out of her mouth."

Pelosi has served as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives since January 2019, and a previous stint in 2007-2011, the first woman in U.S. history to hold the position.

"Because Nancy’s teeth were falling out of her mouth, and she didn’t have time to think!" Trump hit on Pelosi on Twitter late Sunday in response to a video in which Pelosi explained why House Democrats did not charge Trump with bribery in their articles of impeachment.

Because Nancy’s teeth were falling out of her mouth, and she didn’t have time to think! https://t.co/rx3pcyofip

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2019

"You yourself accused [Trump] of bribery. Why did you decide not to make bribery one of the articles of impeachment," a reporter asked Pelosi in the video posted by Mark Meadows, a Republican congressman from North Carolina.

In response, Pelosi said it was a decision "recommended by working together with our committee chairs, our attorneys and the rest."

In a follow-up tweet again targeting Pelosi, Trump said the "Congressional Do Nothing Democrats are being absolutely decimated in their districts on the subject of the Impeachment Hoax. People that voted for them are literally screaming in their faces."

"Crazy Nancy is finding defending Shifty [Adam] Schiff harder than she thought! #2020Election," Trump added, referring to the House Intelligence Committee chairman who has spearheaded the impeachment inquiry.

Pelosi, 79, who will preside over Trump's historic impeachment on Wednesday, did not respond to the president's late-night attack.

The House had previously voted only twice on articles of impeachment against a sitting president. Presidents Andrew Johnson (1868) and Bill Clinton (1998) were acquitted in Senate trials. Trump now becomes the third president to face impeachment articles in the Senate.

In 1974, Richard Nixon stepped down from office to avoid his removal as part of the Watergate scandal.