Trump mulls giving testimony in hearing
Tweets riposte to Pelosi’s challenge
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Monday he is “strongly” considering accepting a challenge from opposition Democrats to testify in his own impeachment investigation.
A live appearance by Mr Trump before the House Intelligence Committee running the probe is unlikely, given the high legal risks.
Underlining the Democrats’ ferocious stand, the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said Mr Trump’s wrongdoing in allegedly extorting Ukraine to investigate one of his potential 2020 election rivals was “uncontested”.
“The president abused his power for his own personal, political benefit, at the expense of our national security interests,” she wrote in a letter to party members.
However, Mr Trump said he was keen to consider an earlier statement from Ms Pelosi inviting him to tell the “truth”.
Ms Pelosi suggested “that I testify about the phony Impeachment Witch Hunt. She also said I could do it in writing,” Mr Trump tweeted.
“Even though I did nothing wrong, and don’t like giving credibility to this No Due Process Hoax, I like the idea & will, in order to get Congress focused again, strongly consider it!”
During the lengthy probe led by special prosecutor Robert Mueller into accusations that Mr Trump worked with Russians to boost his 2016 election chances, the president refused a face-to-face meeting and instead answered questions in written form.
Even so, his lawyers negotiated strict limits on what kind of questions could be put. In dozens of instances, Mr Trump then said he could not “recall” the facts.
The Mueller report ultimately found that Russian agents sought to influence the US election but that there was no evidence of criminal conspiracy with the Trump campaign.
Any testimony by Mr Trump would potentially be risky and his tweet could be nothing more than a tactical move in the tussle with Ms Pelosi’s Democrats.
However, the president testifying would not be unprecedented.
During his 1998 impeachment saga, president Bill Clinton, a Democrat, testified before a federal grand jury for four hours by video link. He then answered 81 written questions from the House Judiciary Committee.
Mr Clinton was impeached in the House but acquitted in the Senate.
This week will see another stream of witnesses come before the Intelligence Committee, where they face questions from Democrats and Republicans.
Although the action is happening at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, Mr Trump watches closely — so closely that on Friday he tweeted an attack on one witness as she testified.
Former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was telling lawmakers how she had been forced out of her post around the time of the alleged Trump scheme in the exSoviet republic. In midtestimony, Mr Trump tweeted that “everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad”.
Mr Trump and his supporters have argued that the allegations against him so far are not supported by first hand witnesses. That will change, however, when the US ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, takes questions later today.
Mr Sondland was in direct contact with Mr Trump during the time when he was meeting with Ukrainian officials, allegedly as a key player in efforts by a small group of Trump confidants to push for the dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The House, where Democrats hold a majority, is expected to impeach Trump, although Republicans will likely vote solidly against. A trial would then be scheduled in the Senate where the Republican majority is expected to toss out the case.