Trump Impeachment Update: House Vote Becomes Campaign Fundraising Boon

The Trump campaign turned the House impeachment vote into a fundraising boon as Democrats prepared to release witness depositions ahead of public hearings on whether President Trump is guilty of abusing his office.

Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted Friday the campaign raised $3 million online in one day after the House voted Thursday to approve rules for the next phase of the impeachment inquiry. He said the online total for October was $19 million.

“Impeachment sham is backfiring already!” he said, echoing his boss who has described the investigation as a “hoax” and “witch hunt” and “unfair.”

In a statement following Thursday’s House vote, Parscale predicted “voters will punish Democrats who support this farce.”

He urged supporters to buy Trump campaign T-shirts.

An ABC/Post poll indicated Americans are split 49% to 47% over whether Trump should be impeached and removed from office. The division is mostly along partisan lines, with 82% of Democrats supporting Trump’s impeachment and removal compared to 18% of Republicans and 47% of independents.

The impeachment inquiry stems from a July 25 phone call Trump made to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he asked Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and a conspiracy theory involving 2016 U.S. presidential election interference as a “favor.” Just days earlier, Trump had frozen military aid to Ukraine.

Trump repeatedly has described the call as “perfect” and told the Washington Examiner he is considering reading the transcript in a fireside chat, a reference to how Franklin Delano Roosevelt reassured the nation during the Depression and World War II.

"At some point, I’m going to sit down, perhaps as a fireside chat on live television, and I will read the transcript of the call, because people have to hear it. When you read it, it’s a straight call,” Trump told the Examiner.

The White House released a reconstructed version of the transcript and testimony this week before House impeachment investigators indicated Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, who listened to the call, was rebuffed when he tried to correct the transcript.

The New York Times reported the corrections included a mention of the Ukraine gas company at which Biden’s son, Hunter, held a board seat. Politico reported he also testified White House counsel John Eisenberg told him not to discuss the call.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Bloomberg Friday she had no choice but to allow the impeachment investigation to move forward and hopes to begin public hearings later this month.

“I don’t know what the timetable will be -- the truth will set us free,” she said. “We have not made any decisions on if the president will be impeached.”

Impeachment investigators hope to depose several more witnesses behind closed doors next week, including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton.