US President Donald Trump on Saturday slammed Democrats over his impeachment by the House of Representatives and a delayed trial in the Republican-controlled Senate.

In a series of tweets, Trump called the impeachment a partisan “hoax”, while claiming his innocence and criticizing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who initiated an inquiry in September 2019 that led to his impeachment.

Nancy Pelosi will go down as the absolute worst Speaker of the House in U.S. history!

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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

Trump further posted, “New polling shows that the totally partisan impeachment hoax is going nowhere. A vast majority want the do-nothing Democrats to move on to other things now”.

Now the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, are asking @senatemajldr Mitch McConnell to do the job that they were unable to do. They proved NOTHING but my total innocence in the House, despite the most unfair & biased hearings in the history of Congress. Now they demand fairness!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

Trump made the remarks a day after Pelosi, who has to withhold articles of Trump’s impeachment, announced a plan on Friday to deliver them to the Senate, a key step for the trial to kick off.

Earlier this week, US majority leader Mitch McConnell said that the Senate has enough votes to set the rules for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the Republican-controlled Upper Chamber.

The Democrat-led House impeached Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, charges the White House has refuted.

Last year, in an anonymous complaint, a whistleblower raised concerns about the White House’s interactions with Ukraine, resulting in the impeachment inquiry against Trump.

On December 18, President Trump was impeached by the Democrat-led House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The impeachment against Donald 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 President Trump’s Republican party has a majority.

Earlier, Trump described his impeachment probe as a hoax and politically motivated.

“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,” President Trump said.

While impeachment is expected to pass in the Democratic-led House, the Senate is held by a Republican majority and would likely acquit the US president as his 2020 reelection campaign gathers pace.

In September, the impeachment inquiry, which Nancy Pelosi initiated over a complaint by an anonymous whistleblower, is looking into White House’s alleged efforts to withhold military aid to have Ukraine investigate a Trump’s political rival, Joe Biden.

The timeline for the Senate trial mostly depends on the House’s actions next week.

Senators could be sworn in as soon as Thursday for the impeachment trial, according to CNN, citing Senate aides.

But the trial, with arguments on the floor, probably won’t begin until days after that.

(With inputs from agency)