For President Trump, the 2016 election never truly ended.
As he raged against the whistle-blower complaint that sparked an impeachment inquiry on Twitter Tuesday, Trump also found time to take a jab at his 2016 opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“I think that Crooked Hillary Clinton should enter the race to try to steal it away from Uber Left Elizabeth Warren,” Trump wrote in a tweet that referenced Clinton’s private e-mail server.
I think that Crooked Hillary Clinton should enter the race to try and steal it away from Uber Left Elizabeth Warren. Only one condition. The Crooked one must explain all of her high crimes and misdemeanors including how & why she deleted 33,000 Emails AFTER getting “C” Subpoena!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2019
Hours after the tweet was posted, Clinton shot back, “Don’t tempt me. Do your job.”
Don’t tempt me. Do your job.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 8, 2019
Since losing the presidency, Clinton has frequently criticized Trump — on Twitter and elsewhere — over a wide variety of issues.
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Most recently, she called Trump’s decision to pull American troops out of Syria a “sickening betrayal both of the Kurds and his oath of office.”
Let us be clear: The president has sided with authoritarian leaders of Turkey and Russia over our loyal allies and America’s own interests. His decision is a sickening betrayal both of the Kurds and his oath of office.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 7, 2019
For his part, Trump’s fixation on the 2016 election and the Russia investigation is part of what led him to potential impeachment. Trump reportedly believes a conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election, and that the country did so to benefit Clinton.
In his push to prove the theory, which his own aides told him was baseless, Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to look into the matter, in addition to investigating former vice president Joe Biden.
Christina Prignano can be reached at christina.prignano@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @cprignano.