President Donald Trump’s lawyer on Sunday told the House Judiciary Committee the White House would not take part in the panel’s first impeachment hearing on Wednesday, but kept open the possibility he would be represented at future sessions. Pat Cipollone, counsel to the president, rejected the invitation to take part, criticizing the panel for demanding a response before any witnesses have been named or a schedule for other hearings has been set. He said the entire process has been unfair to the president.
“We cannot fairly be expected to participate in a hearing while the witnesses are yet to be named and while it remains unclear whether the Judiciary Committee will afford the president a fair process through additional hearings,” Cipollone wrote to Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York.
He also said the hearing was scheduled -- “no doubt purposely” -- while Trump is out of the country at a NATO leaders’ meeting in London.
The Wednesday hearing will examine whether Trump’s actions as detailed in the evidence gathered so far warrant articles of impeachment. The panel also plans to explain the constitutional framework for impeachment and the term “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The committee had received the letter Sunday night, but issued no immediate comment.
Trump has repeatedly assailed the impeachment proceedings, led by Democrats, calling it a “witch hunt” that seeks to overturn the results of the 2016 election. The president routinely says he did nothing wrong in his effort to press Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to open investigations that could be damaging to his political rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden.
Nadler gave Trump a deadline of 6 p.m. Sunday to say whether he or his attorney plans to participate in the hearing. In a Nov. 26 letter to Trump, Nadler said the president’s counsel can make a request to question a panel of as yet unnamed witnesses who will discuss the constitutional basis for impeachment.
“An invitation to an academic discussion with law professors does not begin to provide the president with any semblance of a fair process. Accordingly, under the current circumstances, we do not intend to participate in your Wednesday hearing,” Cipollone wrote.
“Nevertheless, if you are serious about conducting a fair process going forward, and in order to protect the rights and privileges of the president, we may consider participating in future Judiciary Committee proceedings if you afford the Administration the ability to do so meaningfully,” he said.
Cipollone left open whether Trump and his lawyers will participate in any Judiciary Committee hearings on impeachment, saying they will respond to that issue separately.
He wrote the White House first wants answers to whether Nadler will allow the president and his lawyer, as well as committee Republicans, to call witnesses, including those Republicans, sought to call but were blocked during Intelligence Committee hearings led by Democrat Adam Schiff. They also want to know whether Nadler will let Republican committee members and the president’s lawyers the right to cross-examine witnesses.
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