Donald Trump appeared to suggest that the Republican impeachment of Joe Biden is simply revenge for his own historic two impeachments.
Mr Trump told journalist Megyn Kelly that the president would not be facing a potential impeachment if Democrats had left him alone while he was in the White House.
“They did it to me,” Mr Trump told the former Fox and NBC host in an interview on SiriusXM radio.
“And had they not done it to me, I think, and nobody officially said this, but I think had they not done it to me … perhaps you wouldn’t have it being done to them.”
Mr Trump was impeached for abusing his power and obstructing congressional investigations, before he was impeached a second time over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
On both occasions, Mr Trump was acquitted by Republicans in the US Senate.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, announced on Tuesday that his party would open an impeachment inquiry into Mr Biden over allegations of bribery and corruption linked to the foreign business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden.
Republicans have so far failed to publicly provide any evidence linking Mr Biden to any wrongdoing.
And Marjorie Taylor Greene has admitted that the impeachment inquiry is a nakedly political scheme to ensure Democrats “lose big” at the next presidential election.
“We are going to drag Biden and everyone who covered up his crimes through the headlines day after day, month after month, and prove to the country the entire Democrat party is corrupt and can’t be trusted,” Ms Greene declared in a social media post on Thursday night.
“So no matter which candidate runs for president if they take Biden out, everyone will know the Democrat party is filled with liars and traitors. That, combined with Bidenomics’ destructive policies, will cause Democrats to lose big.”
Mr Trump, who is the first and only former or sitting president to be criminally charged, faces a total of 91 felony counts across his four criminal indictments by state and federal prosecutors.
Special Jack Smith has charged him with four criminal counts over his efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election. These include a conspiracy to violate civil rights, a conspiracy to defraud the government, the corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding and a conspiracy to carry out such obstruction.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan has set a 4 March trial date, the day before the Super Tuesday primaries.
He has been charged along with 18 others, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani, in Fulton County, Georgia, for plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state. Mr Trump faces 13 felony charges in the RICO case
Mr Trump also faces 40 federal felony charges with Mr Smith accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving the White House. That case is expected to go to trial in May 2024.
And he has been accused in New York City of falsifying business records in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 election. Mr Trump was indicted in March and is expected to go to trial on 25 March 2024.
He has pleaded not guilty to every charge in each case and has accused prosecutors of “election interference” and an attempt to derail his 2024 run for a second term in the Oval Office.
