President Donald Trump and his legal team aren't expected to participate in the impeachment inquiry's public hearings into Trump beginning this week called by Democrats in the House of Representatives, which they control.
The House Judiciary Committee led by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) will hold a series of impeachment proceedings where legal experts are set to testify about the constitutional grounds for impeachment. The initial hearing is set for Wednesday and will examine the evidence and proceedings that will consider formal articles of impeachment.
The committee has invited Trump to participate in the hearings and gave him until December 6 to say if he or his legal team will bother to attend. White House sources cited by CNN said Trump's legal team will likely not send even one of its lawyers to attend the judiciary committee hearings.
Trump and his lawyers were also informed about the procedures and rules by which the president can call witnesses, introduce evidence and make presentations. Nadler plans to meet with Republicans on December 9 to consider the matter.
The impeachment inquiry being conducted by the judiciary committee and five other Congressional committees are investigating if Trump abused his power to pressure Ukraine to launch investigations of political rival Joe Biden. It's also investigating a completely discredited conspiracy theory championed by Trump that Ukraine, and not Russia, interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
It will be the judiciary committee that recommends a full House impeachment vote before Christmas. House Democrats plan to end the question of Trump's impeachment by Christmas. After the House impeaches Trump, the Republican-controlled Senate will hold a trial to determine whether Trump should be convicted and removed from office. The Senate isn't expected to do so barring testimony or testimonies to explosive it could decisively sway opinion in the Senate against Trump.
House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who launched the impeachment inquiry into Trump on September 24, continued to press for Trump's impeachment, and for Democrats to condemn Trump's illegal actions as regards the quid pro quo with Ukraine.
"President Trump used taxpayer money to bribe foreign countries to influence the 2020 elections for his political gain," she said in an email to Democrats. She asked the email recipients to register their disapproval on her campaign website.
Two weeks ago, Pelosi increased the intensity of her attacks on Trump and said the latter should "do a Nixon" and resign as president for the good of the United States.
Pelosi was referring to former president Richard Nixon, who resigned from office on August 9, 1974, to avoid certain impeachment by the House and his equally certain removal from office by a trial in the Senate.
Nixon is the only U.S. president to resign from office. The Watergate Scandal was triggered by the June 17, 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C. by men hired by the Nixon administration. Nixon attempted unsuccessfully to cover-up his involvement in the crime.
