(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced support for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement shortly after unveiling articles of impeachment in order to distract from Democrats’ own efforts to remove him from office.

“They announced impeachment, and then an hour later she announced that she’s going to do USMCA,” Trump said Tuesday at a campaign rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania. “It’s a huge deal and it plays down the impeachment. Because they’re embarrassed by the impeachment. And our poll numbers have gone through the roof because of her stupid impeachment.”

Trump’s comments capped a dramatic day in Washington that started with House Democrats delivering two tightly crafted articles of impeachment against Trump, accusing him of abusing his power and blocking Congress from investigating him. Shortly after, Pelosi announced she’d a breakthrough in a rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has been languishing for more than a year.

“You think she’d wait like a day,” Trump said.

Now, impeachment and the trade accord are on a collision course in the Republican-controlled Senate. The White House said it wants Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to move quickly on approving the USMCA -- holding a vote next week -- but the Kentucky senator said his chamber won’t take up the trade deal until it finishes with the impeachment trial.

Pelosi also downplayed the prospect that the deal would proceed quickly, telling reporters she hopes for a vote “before the end of the session,” which would be before Congress recesses for the holidays on Dec. 20.

The president at the rally on Tuesday also took aim at Senator Elizabeth Warren -- “she’s starting to crash again” -- and Pete Buttigieg, who are vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge Trump for the White House in 2020.

“Can you believe he’s doing well,” Trump said of Buttigieg, who has had a recent surge in some polls. “He’s like the leading fundraiser. I dream about him.”

But Trump reserved his strongest comments for the impeachment inquiry, calling Democrats’ investigation “impeachment light” and saying they have “cheapened the process” of keeping the executive in check.

The weeks of testimony at public hearings conducted by Democrats haven’t budged public opinion on impeachment or on the president. Most polls show Americans evenly divided with roughly 47% to 48% supporting impeachment and 44% to 45% opposing. An overwhelming majority of people polled say their minds are made up.

Trump previewed his comments in Hershey earlier in the day as he left the White House for the rally, saying the impeachment announcement had a “silver lining” -- the USMCA. “Without the impeachment they would have never approved it, in my opinion,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, John Harney

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