White House tells Democrats it will not participate in Trump impeachment hearing

By Steve Holland and David Morgan

 

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) speaks at a news conference ahead of a vote on the Voting Rights Advancement Act, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 6, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday it would refuse to take part in hearings in the U.S. House of Representatives set for next week that will consider what articles of impeachment to bring against President Donald Trump.

 

In a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, White House counsel Pat Cipollone called the Democrats' impeachment inquiry "completely baseless" and said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had ordered Democrats to proceed with articles of impeachment "before your committee has heard a single shred of evidence."

 

"We don't see any reason to participate because the process is unfair," said a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We haven't been given any fair opportunity to participate. The speaker has already announced the predetermined result and they will not give us the ability to call any witnesses."

 

Nadler rejected that criticism and expressed disappointment, saying in a statement: "The American people deserve answers from President Trump."

 

Pelosi on Thursday asked the Judiciary Committee to draw up articles of impeachment - formal charges - against the Republican president. The committee could draft and recommend the articles by next Thursday and the full Democratic-led House could vote on them by Christmas, imperilling Trump's presidency as his 2020 re-election campaign looms.

 

Pelosi in September launched the impeachment inquiry into Trump's request that Ukraine investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading contender for the Democratic nomination to face the president in the 2020 U.S. election.

 

"House Democrats have wasted enough of America's time with this charade," Cipollone's letter said. "You should end this inquiry now and not waste even more time with additional hearings."

 

He quoted Trump as saying, "If you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate, and so that our country can get back to business."

 

Trump has made clear his lawyers will present a defence in the Republican-controlled Senate, where he believes he will receive fair treatment.

 

Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee, who had also faced a Friday deadline to identify witnesses they want to call before the panel, submitted a list of eight, including Biden's son, Hunter, the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint sparked the impeachment inquiry and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who led the Ukraine probe.

 

House Republicans had already sought testimony before the Intelligence Committee from three people on the list - the whistleblower, Hunter Biden and Biden's former business associate Devon Archer. But they were turned down by Schiff and will likely receive the same response from Nadler, a Democrat.

 

Though Nadler did not immediately respond to the Republican witness requests, he said of Trump's refusal to participate: "Having declined this opportunity, he cannot claim that the process is unfair. The President’s failure will not prevent us from carrying out our solemn constitutional duty.”

 

TRUMP MEETS FRIDAY DEADLINE

 

Nadler had given Trump until 5 p.m. (2200 GMT) on Friday to decide whether he or his legal counsel would participate in upcoming committee proceedings.

 

Trump, who denied any wrongdoing, thus far has refused to cooperate with the inquiry and ordered current and former administration officials not to testify or provide documents.

 

Nadler has scheduled a committee hearing for Monday. His committee is responsible for drafting articles of impeachment and would have to approve them before sending them to the full House for a vote.

 

Passage of formal charges would lead to a trial in the Republican-led Senate on whether to remove Trump from office.

Senate Republicans have given little indication they would support Trump's removal.

 

Pelosi accused Trump of abusing his power by asking a foreign government to interfere in an American election for his own political benefit at the expense of U.S. national security. The articles of impeachment could include abuse of power, bribery, obstruction of Congress and obstruction of justice.

 

Republicans accuse Democrats of conducting a politically motivated witch hunt aimed at ousting Trump using an unfair impeachment process.

 

The probe is focusing on a July 25 telephone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to open an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter, and into a discredited theory promoted by Trump and his allies that Ukraine, not Russia, meddled in the 2016 U.S. election.

 

Hunter Biden joined the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma while his father was vice president. Trump has accused the Bidens of corruption. They have denied wrongdoing and the allegations have not been substantiated.

 

Democrats also have accused Trump of abusing his power by withholding $391 million in congressionally approved security aid to Ukraine - a vulnerable U.S. ally facing Russian aggression - and holding back a coveted White House meeting with Zelenskiy as leverage to pressure Kiev into investigating the Bidens.

 

Trump is the fourth U.S. president to face impeachment proceedings. None were removed from office, although Richard Nixon resigned as he faced almost certain impeachment in 1974 over the Watergate scandal.

 

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Susan Cornwell and David Morgan, Additional reporting by Doina Chicu and Patricia Zengerle; Writing by Will Dunham, Steve Holland and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Bill Berkrot and Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-12-07

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" More than 500 legal scholars sign letter saying Trump committed 'impeachable conduct'"

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/06/politics/legal-scholars-letter-trump-impeachment/index.html

Not surprising as not participating is his best option.

11 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

White House tells Democrats it will not participate in Trump impeachment hearing

But, they will whine about it like a teenage Drama Queen.

 

C'mon White House, grow a pair!

 

 

 

 

Just now, sirineou said:

" More than 500 legal scholars sign letter saying Trump committed 'impeachable conduct'"

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/06/politics/legal-scholars-letter-trump-impeachment/index.html

Out of how many? 
 

How hard do you think it is to get 500 tenured collage professors with no accountability to come out against Trump? 

The best the left could come up with sounded like fools. 

8 minutes ago, mogandave said:

Out of how many? 
 

How hard do you think it is to get 500 tenured collage professors with no accountability to come out against Trump? 

The best the left could come up with sounded like fools. 

Post a link indicating how many say he hasnt.

25 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

White House tells Democrats it will not participate in Trump impeachment hearing

And why would they? Forget wasting this great man's time with this utter BS. Back in the real world the US economy is booming, way outperforming expectations. I was watching Bloomberg yesterday evening when the employment figures were released, one anchor asked another for a comment. He sat their stunned for a few seconds then just said, "Wow!". This is all Trump's doing. This is what people care about. Lowest unemployment in 50 years. People getting back into the workforce with good jobs. Taking home a fair salary, and caring for their loved ones.

https://nypost.com/2019/12/06/us-adds-266000-jobs-in-hiring-surge-unemployment-falls-to-3-5/

This impeachment hoax is as irrelevant as it is nonsensical. Let the dems did their hole deeper and deeper. I would not participate either.

 Go Trump MAGA2020 and KAGA2024

Hey if you are obviously guilty it’s all you can do trump will do what he does best lie troll spout russan disinformation he has no defense he is 100% guilty 

40 minutes ago, mogandave said:

Out of how many? 
 

How hard do you think it is to get 500 tenured collage professors with no accountability to come out against Trump? 

The best the left could come up with sounded like fools. 

How about your side getting 500 saying otherwise???

Just now, sirineou said:

How about your side getting 500 saying otherwise???

500 out of ~25,000

 

Howsabout you getting 50% of the ~25,000 to sign? 

1 minute ago, mogandave said:

500 out of ~25,000

 

Howsabout you getting 50% of the ~25,000 to sign? 

So what you are saying is , you got nothing!!!

14 minutes ago, sirineou said:

So what you are saying is , you got nothing!!!

So about 2% of “legal scholars” sign a petition and that proves it.

 

Typical

17 minutes ago, sirineou said:

So what you are saying is , you got nothing!!!

Hes saying out of 25,000 he cant find any.

5 minutes ago, Sujo said:

Hes saying out of 25,000 he cant find any.

25% of the legal “scholars” that testified don’t agree. 
 

 

7 minutes ago, mogandave said:

25% of the legal “scholars” that testified don’t agree. 
 

 

You mean one don’t agree. Hardly 25% of legal scholars. 

28 minutes ago, mogandave said:

25% of the legal “scholars” that testified don’t agree. 
 

 

Then 75% do. For legal scholars thats a slam dunk.

They can argue that the hearings are illegitimate (as they have been doing all along) because they are not there to defend themselves.  It's like being invited to a party, declining the invite, and then portraying yourself as the poor victim because everyone is at the party except you.

Whine whine whine...

https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/11/politics/donald-trump-refutes-third-party-run-report/index.html

 

 

 

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

I would not participate either

You just did. And you will again.

6 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

And why would they? Forget wasting this great man's time with this utter BS. Back in the real world the US economy is booming, way outperforming expectations. I was watching Bloomberg yesterday evening when the employment figures were released, one anchor asked another for a comment. He sat their stunned for a few seconds then just said, "Wow!". This is all Trump's doing. This is what people care about. Lowest unemployment in 50 years. People getting back into the workforce with good jobs. Taking home a fair salary, and caring for their loved ones.

https://nypost.com/2019/12/06/us-adds-266000-jobs-in-hiring-surge-unemployment-falls-to-3-5/

This impeachment hoax is as irrelevant as it is nonsensical. Let the dems did their hole deeper and deeper. I would not participate either.

 Go Trump MAGA2020 and KAGA2024

The highlighted section is simply intrue and you should know it. Too many zero-hour contracts, part time jobs and too many people on the minimum wage.

4 hours ago, mogandave said:

So about 2% of “legal scholars” sign a petition and that proves it.

 

Typical

Typical unable to respond response from a Trump lover.

 

Why not accept the challenge and get more to say those 500 are wrong?

 

It can't be that hard to do, can it?

 

4 hours ago, mogandave said:

25% of the legal “scholars” that testified don’t agree. 
 

 

 Naturally you have the links to prove this, haven't you?

5 hours ago, mogandave said:

Out of how many? 
 

How hard do you think it is to get 500 tenured collage professors with no accountability to come out against Trump? 

The best the left could come up with sounded like fools. 

And one of those highly esteemed "experts" had to resort to a sick joke about Trump's 13 year old boy 

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

We don't see any reason to participate because the process is unfair," said a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We haven't been given any fair opportunity to participate. The speaker has already announced the predetermined result and they will not give us the ability to call any witnesses."

Sob, sob, whine, whine...it’s not fair, trump’s default position on anything he can’t control. 
 

maga

Republicans keep moving the goal posts as Democrats have gone for open hearings, inviting administration to take part. The non cooperation by administration with Constitutional mandate for Congressional oversight is unprecedented.

If impeachment is "baseless" then administration should be able to quickly prove that. Problem is they can't.

34 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

And one of those highly esteemed "experts" had to resort to a sick joke about Trump's 13 year old boy 

As joke about trump, not his son.

 

we all know trump never resorts to sick jokes. 555

57 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

And one of those highly esteemed "experts" had to resort to a sick joke about Trump's 13 year old boy 

That was not a joke. It was not meant to garner laughter. It was intended to make a point, and it did.

However, the "expert" later apologized for using the son to make her point.

An inflammatory insulting post has been removed.  Continue posting in this nature and a posting holiday will be coming soon. 

8 minutes ago, neeray said:

That was not a joke. It was not meant to garner laughter. It was intended to make a point, and it did.

However, the "expert" later apologized for using the son to make her point.

Here's some well-deserved satire on the whole absurd matter:

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/05/pamela-karlan-committed-one-unspeakable-crime/

6 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

You mean one don’t agree. Hardly 25% of legal scholars. 

 

No. I said what I meant, and it was clear. 
 

25% of the legal “scholars” that testified disagreed. 
 

Four testified, one disagreed. 
 

Clear? 
 

 

 

6 hours ago, Sujo said:

Then 75% do. For legal scholars thats a slam dunk.

Yes, 75% of the legal “scholars” that testified agreed. The three the left hired did their job, the one the right hired did theirs. 

It “proved” nothing.

 

Again, I concede the President can be impeached for anything. 
 

 

 

8 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

And why would they? Forget wasting this great man's time with this utter BS. Back in the real world the US economy is booming, way outperforming expectations. I was watching Bloomberg yesterday evening when the employment figures were released, one anchor asked another for a comment. He sat their stunned for a few seconds then just said, "Wow!". This is all Trump's doing. This is what people care about. Lowest unemployment in 50 years. People getting back into the workforce with good jobs. Taking home a fair salary, and caring for their loved ones.

https://nypost.com/2019/12/06/us-adds-266000-jobs-in-hiring-surge-unemployment-falls-to-3-5/

This impeachment hoax is as irrelevant as it is nonsensical. Let the dems did their hole deeper and deeper. I would not participate either.

 Go Trump MAGA2020 and KAGA2024

are you implying that American democracy can be bought?  sounds like another country i know of.