Washington: A key Congressional Committee in the House of Representatives has invited US President Donald Trump to attend or send his officials to participate in the impeachment hearings against him.
House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday announced to hold its first impeachment hearing against Trump next week.
Titled, The Impeachment Inquiry into President Donald J Trump: Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment is the first in the third phase of the investigation, by the Democratic Party-controlled House, into whether Trump abused his powers in pressing Ukrainian leaders to find dirt on his political opponents.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said that the impeachment proceedings against Trump is entering a new phase. That hearing will take place on December 4.
"Our first task is to explore the framework put in place to respond to serious allegations of impeachable misconduct like those against President Trump, Nadler said.
Nadler added that he has also written to Trump to remind him that the Committee's impeachment inquiry rules allow for the President to attend the hearing and for his counsel to question the witness panel.
At base, the President has a choice to make: he can take this opportunity to be represented in the impeachment hearings, or he can stop complaining about the process. I hope that he chooses to participate in the inquiry, directly or through counsel, as other Presidents have done before him, Nadler said.
Meanwhile in a series of tweets, Trump said that he would love to have his officials testify before the Congressional committees on impeachment, but he blocks them as he wants to protect future presidents.
Read also: Risks for all sides as Trump impeachment hearings swing open
The DC Wolves and Fake News Media are reading far too much into people being forced by Courts to testify before Congress. I am fighting for future Presidents and the Office of the President, he said.
Other than that, I would actually like people to testify. Don McGahn's respected lawyer has already stated that I did nothing wrong. John Bolton is a patriot and may know that I held back the money from Ukraine because it is considered a corrupt country, & I wanted to know why nearby European countries weren't putting up money also, he tweeted.
Likewise, I would love to have Mike Pompeo, Rick Perry, Mick Mulvaney and many others testify about the phony Impeachment Hoax. It is a Democrat Scam that is going nowhere but, future Presidents should in no way be compromised. What has happened to me should never happen to another President! Trump asserted.
The impeachment hearing by House Judiciary Committee Chair Nadler said that it would mainly feature a panel of constitutional lawyers. The Impeachment Inquiry will feature a panel of legal experts who Democrats say will apply constitutional law "to the facts that have been found," he said.
Read also: Trump declares impeachment inquiry 'over'
