Trump claims he could have targeted Obama, Clinton, and Biden for ‘bad things’ but chose not to: ‘I view the presidency as a very sacred position’

A question about the midterms drew a wider answer from President Donald Trump on Wednesday. Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked him, in the Oval Office, whether he worries Democrats will try to impeach him if they win control of Congress. Trump said they have no grounds to do that.

He then turned to three Democrats he named by name: former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and former President Joe Biden. Trump said he could have gone after each of them, but did not. He described that choice as a matter of restraint and as respect for the office they once held or sought.

“I could have done very bad things to Hillary Clinton. I could have done very, very bad things to Joe Biden. I could have done very bad things to Barack Hussein Obama,” Trump said, according to Mediaite. He told reporters he thought that kind of step was inappropriate because the presidency has to be treated with respect. “I view the presidency as a very sacred position,” he said.

Remarks on two impeachments and a call to leave predecessors alone

Trump said that the decision came before he was impeached twice. He told the reporters around him, “I certainly – even to this moment I can do whatever I want, if I want.” He said the conduct Doocy had raised was “very illegal,” and that there were “many illegal things.” Even so, he called the presidency “very sacred” and “very important,” and said it is “a position where it has to be treated properly.”

During his first term, the House of Representatives voted twice to impeach him. Both cases stopped in the Senate, which did not remove him from office.

Trump said impeachment used to be rare. “They talk about the word impeachment. It was a very seldom-used word. With all of the years it’s happened very seldom,” he said. He added, “They went after me twice. I won overwhelmingly. It was thrown out. Both were thrown out overwhelmingly. I was never even worried about it.”

He also brought up Rep. Al Green of Texas, a frequent critic who lost a primary this year. Trump has also weighed in on how government should be run, as when he called Obama’s idea that women in government would do things better ridiculous.

Trump said that “oftentimes you had that one lunatic who starts screaming, ‘impeach him, impeach him.'” He continued, “I think he lost for Congress. Congressman Green. He’s a lunatic. He’s a low I.Q. person.”

He returned to the point he had made about former officeholders. “But you can’t treat the presidency with disrespect. And again, I’ve had my shot and still do,” Trump said. His defense of the office comes as his standing with voters is tested, with Donald Trump approval hitting a new low as the GOP faces losing the House.

He said many people had told him to move against Biden, Clinton, and Obama, with the line “let’s go get them.” His answer, he said, was no: “I said no. You can’t do that to the presidency.”