Trump won’t commit to cooperating with impeachment probe, saying even if Nancy Pelosi holds a House vote Republicans are demanding they must be given a ‘fair shake’
- Asked if he would participate with a Democratic probe if Nancy Pelosi schedules a vote on an inquiry, President Donald Trump said ‘if the rules are fair’
- He said Republicans need to get a ‘fair shake’ but also demanded ‘fair play’
- The Constitution grants the sole impeachment power to the House
- Democrats have yet to commit to a floor vote for their inquiry
President Donald Trump is demanding a House Democratic impeachment probe give Democrats a ‘fair shake’ – and won’t commit to cooperate even if Speaker Pelosi schedules a vote.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone issued a scathing letter Tuesday calling the probe unconstitutional and not legitimate. Republicans and the White House have been pushing Pelosi to schedule up-or-down vote on an impeachment inquiry. She has simply stated that the House is engaged in a formal impeachment inquiry.
Asked if he would participate if Pelosi schedules a vote, Trump responded: ‘Yeah, if the rules are fair…if Republicans get a fair shake.’
He once again blasted House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, calling him ‘crooked,’ and said he took the president’s ‘congenial and gentle words and he made me sound like a tyrant.’ He said Schiff should be impeached and prosecuted, although House members are not subject to impeachment.
President Trump refused to commit to participating in a House impeachment probe, saying he would do so ‘if Republicans get a fair shake’
‘We would [participate], if they give us our rights,’ Trump said. He was referencing a claim, also put forward by Cipollone, that Republicans must have the opportunity to have lawyers present during depositions and subpoena their own witnesses.
Trump vented that Democrats ‘eviscerated the rules’ and ‘don’t give us any fair play.’
The Constitution, however, grants the House the ‘sole’ power of impeachment, and leaves it up to each chamber to decide their own rules. Constitutional scholars say if the White House refuses to comply with congressional subpoenas, House Democrats may have to go to court. The matter would likely end up in the Supreme Court.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has not scheduled a House vote on opening an impeachment inquiry, but has said the House was already engaged in one. Holding a vote could potentially strengthen the party’s position in court, but would also put all members on record on impeachment.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has not scheduled a House vote on opening an impeachment inquiry
A letter from White House counsel Pat Cipollone is photographed in Washington, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019. The White House declared it will not cooperate with what it termed the “illegitimate” impeachment probe by House Democrats, sharpening the constitutional clash between President Donald Trump and Congress. Trump attorneys sent a letter to House leaders bluntly stating their refusal to participate in the quickly moving impeachment investigation
A vote on articles of impeachment would have to occur to advance the issue to the Senate.
U.S. ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, who is featured in text messages with former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker discussing efforts seeking an investigation of Ukraine, was scheduled to testify to House Intelligence this week. Hours before he was to appear, the White House instructed him not to go His lawyer said he wanted to talk.