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Trump has impeachment on his mind during LSU’s White House visit

A smiling President Trump holds up a "Trump 45" LSU football jersey during the team's visit to the White House.
President Trump receives a team jersey from LSU quarterback Joe Burrow on Jan. 17 at the White House.
(Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)
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Standing in front of members of the Louisiana State football team, President Trump started his comments by saying his days are 10 times more exciting than those of most other presidents and finished by making an impeachment joke.

But in between, Trump heaped plenty of praise on college football’s newly crowned national champions during their White House visit Friday morning.

“Today, it’s about the coach and the team and that unbelievable quarterback, unbelievable players,” the president said.

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Trump seemed to have hit it off with head coach Ed Orgeron and often looked back to personally address the former USC assistant and interim coach while speaking.

LSU finally was able to break the Alabama-Clemson grip on the national championship in college football this season. Will another team emerge in 2020?

Jan. 14, 2020

“Your head coach, I watched him on television, I said, ‘Man! That guy, he’s all man. He’s a big strong looking guy. I didn’t know if he had laryngitis or was that his real voice?” Trump said. “Ed, it worked, it really worked. You did a job that few people will ever do again. The team is said to be one of the greatest teams, maybe the greatest team in the history of college football. And that’s pretty amazing.”

The president also singled out numerous players, including quarterback Joe Burrow, whose Heisman Trophy acceptance speech helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for the Athens County (Ohio) Food Bank.

“Joe, I want to say, on behalf of our country, you make our country very, very proud,” Trump said. “You’re really an inspirational talent and all of that, but you’re an inspirational player and you’re an inspirational person. You have a heart that’s incredible and the team respects you so much.”

Also during his speech, Trump commented on how rich several of the players were going to become, raved about the national championship game’s “tremendous ratings on television” and brought up his recent trade deals and the success of the stock market during his administration.

An arrest warrant is issued for Cleveland Browns receiver Odell Beckham Jr. for allegedly striking a security guard after LSU’s win Monday night.

Jan. 16, 2020

He concluded by inviting the team to join him in the Oval Office.

“We’ll take pictures behind the Resolute desk,” Trump said. “It’s been there a long time, a lot presidents, some good, some not so good. But you’ve got a good one now, even though they’re trying to impeach the son of a bitch, can you believe that?”

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He continued while looking back at Burrow and then at Orgeron, “Got the greatest economy we’ve ever had, Joe. We got the greatest military, we rebuilt it, we took out those terrorists like your football team would’ve taken out those terrorists, right?”

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