US House Speaker gives nod to Trump impeachment process

On Wednesday, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing in which Democratic Lawmakers' appointed constitutional law experts said Trump had engaged in offences which amount to impeachment under the Constitution.

While three suggested the above, a fourth expert called by Republican lawmakers stated that the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry is rushed and has flaws.

Earlier the White House had notified the House Judiciary Committee in a letter that Trump and his counsel will not take part in the next round of impeachment hearing citing the likelihood of an unfair process and anti-Trump bias from the Democrat dominated committee.

“We cannot expect 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 hearing,” White House Counsel Pat Cipollone had said in a five-page letter to the committee’s chairman Jerrold Nadler, first circulated by Politico.

Nadler last week gave Trump two deadlines to decide whether he or his counsel would attend the hearings which are scheduled to begin December 4 and focus on the legal framework of the impeachment process.

The president has hitherto refused to cooperate with the probe initiated by House Democrats who seek to prove that he abused his powers by pressuring Ukraine into investigating his political rivals – former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Biden. Trump has repeatedly said that he did not engage in a quid pro quo and characterized the impeachment bid as another political witch hunt by Democrats to reverse the results of the 2016 presidential election.