President Trump touts impeachment acquittal headlines, takes swipes at Pelosi and Romney at National Prayer Breakfast

President Donald Trump celebrated the news of his impeachment and took some veiled swipes at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) during his appearance Thursday morning at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

As the president took to the stage at the annual event, he held up two newspaper headlines reporting his acquittal of impeachment charges in the Senate the previous afternoon, to applause from the audience. The first paper was a copy of USA Today and the second was a copy of the Washington Post.

After he got behind the microphone to give his remarks, Trump appeared to take veiled shots at Pelosi, who was also in attendance at the event.

"As everybody knows, my family, our great country, and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people," Trump said. "They have done everything possible to destroy us, and by so doing, very badly hurt our nation. They know what they are doing is wrong, but they put themselves far ahead of our great country."

The president later added that, "I don't like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do I like people who say, I pray for you, when they know that that's not so. So many people have been hurt and we can't let that go on."

The comment appears to be a veiled shot at Pelosi who has previously said on multiple occasions that she prays for Trump. For example, after announcing the start of impeachment efforts against him in late September, she told MSNBC that she prays for the president "all the time." She also made a similar comment in an angry response to a reporter's question about whether or not she hated the president in December.

"I was raised [to have] a heart full of love and always pray for the president. And I still pray for the president," Pelosi said. "I pray for the president all the time. So don't mess with me when it comes to words like that."

The line about "justification" also appears aimed at Romney, who cited his faith as a motivating factor for his vote to convict the president of abuse of power in a Senate floor speech the day before.

"I am aware there are people in my party and in my state who will strenuously disapprove of my decision, and in some quarters I will be vehemently denounced," Romney said. "I'm sure to hear abuse from the president and his supporters. Does anyone seriously believe that I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?"

During his Thursday morning remarks, Trump also went on to comment on the difficulty of trying to love one's political adversaries in the context of the impeachment effort.

"We're grateful to the people in this room for the love that they show religion — not one religion but many religions," Trump said toward the end of his speech. "They're brave, they're brilliant, they're fighters, they like people, and sometimes they hate people. I'm sorry. I apologize. I'm trying to learn."

"When they impeach you for nothing then you're supposed to like them? It's not easy, folks," Trump said to laughs from the audience. "I do my best."