Trump 'cannot participate' in impeachment inquiry, White House lawyer tells House Democrats

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 8 October 2019

President Trump officially wants no part of this.

Trump has been in stiff opposition to the impeachment inquiry against him since the second it was launched, with his administration even ordering officials to refuse testimony to the House in its investigation. So it's no surprise that in a Tuesday letter to House Democrats, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone spelled out his legal reasoning for why Trump "cannot participate in" what he's calling a "partisan and unconstitutional inquiry."

In the letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and three Democratic House committee chairs, Cipollone alleges they've all made "numerous, legally unsupported demands" of Trump. That includes launching an impeachment inquiry without a full majority vote in the House, which Pelosi has repeatedly said doesn't need to happen for the inquiry to begin. The House also has shown "no legitimate basis" for launching the inquiry, Cipollone continued, despite a whistleblower alleging some very legally dubious action on Trump's end. All of this, Cipollone alleges, "plainly seeks to reverse the election of 2016 and to influence the election of 2020."

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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