The White House on Tuesday sent a defiant eight-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Democrats declaring why it would not cooperate with their impeachment proceedings, calling them “illegitimate and unconstitutional.”
Team Trump called the letter, which was written by White House counsel Pat Cipollone, historic, according to Fox News.
The letter, which Trump said Friday was being prepared, sets up a collision with Congress, which has been pressing ahead aggressively in the probe, sparked by the president’s apparent effort to get Ukraine to investigate political foe Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
“President Trump and his administration reject your baseless, unconstitutional efforts to overturn the democratic process,” the letter stated.
“Your unprecedented actions have left the president with no choice. In order to fulfill his duties to the American people, the Constitution, the Executive Branch, and all future occupants of the Office of the Presidency, President Trump and his administration cannot participate in your partisan and unconstitutional inquiry under these circumstances,” it continued.
“The president has a country to lead. The American people elected him to do this job, and he remains focused on fulfilling his promises to the American people,” the letter concluded.
The White House complained in the letter that there has not been a formal vote in the House to open an impeachment inquiry — something Pelosi has said was not required for proceedings to begin.
“In the history of our nation, the House of Representatives has never attempted to launch an impeachment inquiry against the president without a majority of the House taking political accountability for that decision by voting to authorize such a dramatic constitutional step,” the letter stated.
“Without waiting to see what was actually said on the call, a press conference was held announcing an ‘impeachment inquiry’ based on falsehoods and misinformation about the call,” the White House contended.
Pelosi said last week that Republicans would be wary of voting on an impeachment inquiry because it could lock them into a position that makes them vulnerable should there be more revelations.
Source: Read Full Article