Not fair that I am being impeached: Trump
Washington: US President Donald Trump on Friday said it was unfair that he was being impeached as he had done no wrong and the country under him was doing quite good.
"It's not fair that I'm being Impeached when I've done absolutely nothing wrong!," Trump said in a tweet on Friday night as a key Congressional committee, earlier in the day, approved the two articles of impeachment against him.
The impeachment against Trump now moves to the House of Representatives, where the opposition Democratic Party enjoys a majority. Once passed by the House, the trial for impeachment would be carried out in the 100-member US Senate, where Trump's Republican party has a majority.
"The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats have become the Party of Hate. They are so bad for our Country!," Trump said in his tweet. Earlier in the day, he described the impeachment as a hoax and politically motivated.
"The impeachment is a hoax. It is a sham. It started a long time ago, probably before I came down the escalator with the future First Lady. It started a long time ago," Trump told reporters earlier in the day at the White House.
"It is a witch hunt. It is a sham. It is a hoax. Nothing was done wrong. Zero was done wrong. I think it is a horrible thing to be using the tool of impeachment, which is supposed to be used in an emergency. And it would seem many, many, many years apart," he asserted.
"To be using this for a perfect phone call, where the president of that country said there was no pressure whatsoever -- did not even know what we were talking about. It was perfect; the relationship is perfect. I have done much more for them than Obama did for them. It is a scam. It is something that should not be allowed. And it is a very bad thing for our country," Trump said.
The Democrats, he said were trivialising impeachment.
"I tell you what, someday there will be a Democrat president and there will be a Republican House, and I suspect they are going to remember it. Because when you use impeachment for absolutely nothing, other than to try and get political gain," Trump said.
He asserted that his poll numbers had gone through the roof.
"Fundraising for the Republican Party has gone through the roof. We are setting records. We have never -- nobody has ever seen anything like it because the people are disgusted. The people are absolutely disgusted. Nobody has ever seen anything like this," he said.
Meanwhile, the US Senate geared itself for the next phase of impeachment process.
"If articles of impeachment are sent to the Senate, every single senator will take an oath to render 'impartial justice'. Making sure the Senate conducts a fair and honest trial that allows all the facts to come out is paramount," Senate Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer said.
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Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurates Gems and Jewellery Institute campus in Udupi
Udupi (Karnataka) (PTI): Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday inaugurated the premises of the Indian Institute of Gems and Jewellery here, praising the centre for providing professional training and promoting entrepreneurship among youth.
Speaking at the event, Sitharaman said the centre, established in 2016 with support from the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council and the district administration, has grown steadily despite disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We started in a very small place, unsure of the response. Today, advanced facilities including CAD and 3D printing are available, enabling students to gain industry-relevant skills,” she said.
Sitharaman highlighted the centre’s reach across Karnataka and beyond.
“Students have come from Karwar, Chitradurga, Raichur, and Tamil Nadu. Some had no prior experience but are now running successful jewellery businesses,” she said, citing examples of trainees who returned to their hometowns to start enterprises.
Emphasising affordability, she noted, “Training abroad is expensive, but here the Indian Institute of Gems and Jewellery offers professional courses at accessible costs, making skill development widely available.”
The minister also underlined the centre’s contribution to India’s jewellery export sector.
“This region, from Ratnagiri to Kerala, has a rich jewellery tradition serving the Indian diaspora. Skilled manpower from such centres strengthens our exports and creates livelihood opportunities,” she said.
Sitharaman commended the collaboration between the government, GJEPC, and local jewellers, noting that around 600 students were trained last year.
She urged greater awareness to attract more youth to the institute, describing it as a model public-private partnership that fosters entrepreneurship and skill development.
The minister also witnessed the signing of an MoU between the Indian Institute of Gems & Jewellery and IIT Madras under the InCent LGD platform for a specialised, industry-oriented certification programme in lab-grown diamond technologies.
The office of the minister said in a post on X that the programme will help bridge critical skill gaps, create job-ready professionals, boost value-added manufacturing, and strengthen India’s position in the global LGD (lab-grown diamond) value chain, aligned with Make in India, Skill India, and the goal of a self-reliant, globally competitive LGD ecosystem.
It further said that the Rs 242 crore grant announced in the Union Budget 2023–24 for lab-grown diamond research at IIT Madras is helping build a world-class ecosystem.
Under the InCent initiative, India’s first indigenously designed scaled prototype of a High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) LGD machine has been developed and installed at IIT Madras, while imported commercial HPHT machines have also been installed for benchmarking.
Sitharaman also witnessed a demonstration of the ‘Design to Manufacturing’ process by students at IIGJ Udupi and interacted with trainees of the institute and entrepreneurs from the gems and jewellery industry, the minister’s office said in another post.
