Washington sources reported that President Donald Trump and his lawyers will not participate in a congressional impeachment hearing this week, the white house has said, citing a lack of “fundamental fairness”. Meanwhile Trump’s aides responded defiantly on sunday to the first of two crucial deadlines he faces in congress this week as Democrats prepare to shift the focus of their impeachment inquiry from fact-finding to the consideration of possible charges of misconduct over his dealings with Ukraine.
Furthermore the Democratic led house of Representatives judiciary committee, tasked with considering charges known as articles of impeachment, had given trump until 6pm on sunday to say whether he would send a lawyer to take part in the judiciary panel’s proceedings on Wednesday. Further white house counsel Pat Cipollone wrote to committee chairman Jerrold Nadler, according to a copy of a letter seen by Reuters “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.”
Moreover Cipollone cited a “complete lack of due process and fundamental fairness afforded the president” in the impeachment process but did not rule out participation in further proceedings. Perhaps the judiciary committee’s Democratic staff did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the White House’s refusal to participate in the hearing, which would have been the first direct involvement by the trump camp in a process he has condemned as a partisan “witch hunt”.
