The White
House outlined in a defiant eight-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
top Democrats on Tuesday why it will not participate in their
“illegitimate and unconstitutional” impeachment
inquiry, charging that the proceedings have run roughshod over
congressional norms and the president's due-process rights.
Trump administration officials called the letter, which was written by White House counsel Pat
Cipollone and obtained by Fox News, perhaps the most historic letter the
White House has sent. The document tees up a head-on collision with Democrats
in Congress, who have fired off a slew of subpoenas in recent days concerning
the president's alleged effort to get Ukraine to investigate
political foe Joe Biden during a July phone call with Ukraine's leader.
"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."
The document concluded: "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."
Substantively, the White House first noted in the letter
that there has not been a formal vote in the House to open an impeachment
inquiry -- and that the news conference held by Pelosi last month was
insufficient to commence the proceedings.
"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.
It continued: "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."
Despite Pelosi's claim that there was no “House precedent
that the whole House vote before proceeding with an impeachment inquiry,”
several previous impeachment inquiries have been launched only by a full vote
of the House -- including the impeachment proceedings concerning former
Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.
White House officials told Fox News the vote opening the
proceedings was a small ask, considering the implications of potentially
overturning a national election.
The letter went on to note that "information has recently come to light that the
whistleblower" who first flagged Trump's call with Ukraine's president
"had contact with [House Intelligence Committee] Chairman [Adam] Schiff's
office before filing the complaint."
And Schiff's "initial denial of such contact caused
The Washington Post to conclude that Chairman Schiff "clearly made a statement
that was false," the letter observed.
Multiple reports surfaced this week that the whistleblower had
a prior "professional relationship" with one of the 2020
Democratic candidates for president. On Friday, lawyers for the whistleblower
did not respond to questions from Fox News about the whistleblower's possible previous
relationship with any currently prominent Democrat.
The letter added: "In any event, the American people
understand that Chairman Schiff cannot covertly assist with the submission of a
complaint, mislead the public about his involvement, read a counterfeit version
of the call to the American people, and then pretend to sit in judgment as a
neutral 'investigator.'"
The White House was dinging Schiff for reciting a
fictional version of Trump's call with Ukraine's leader during a
congressional hearing. Schiff later called his statements a "parody."
"Perhaps the best evidence that there was no
wrongdoing on the call is the fact that, after the actual record of the call
was released, Chairman Schiff chose to concoct a false version of the call and
to read his made-up transcript to the American people at a public
hearing," the letter stated. "The chairman's action only further
undermines the public's confidence in the fairness of any inquiry before his
committee."
Ukraine's president has said he felt Trump did nothing improper in their
July call, and DOJ lawyers who reviewed the call said they found no laws had
been broken. The White House released a transcript of the conversation last
month, as well as the whistleblower's complaint, which seemingly relied
entirely on second-hand information.
Separately, the letter asserted multiple alleged
violations of the president's due-process rights. It noted that under current
impeachment inquiry proceedings, Democrats were not allowing presidential or
State Department counsel to be present.
Democrats' procedures did not provide for the
"disclosure of all evidence favorable to the president and all evidence
bearing on the credibility of witnesses called to testify in the inquiry,"
the letter noted, nor did the procedures afford the president "the right
to see all evidence, to present evidence, to call witnesses, to have counsel
present at all hearings, to cross-examine all witnesses, to make objections
relating to the examination of witnesses or the admissibility of testimony and
evidence, and to respond to evidence and testimony."
Democrats also have not permitted Republicans in the
minority to issue subpoenas, contradicting the "standard, bipartisan
practice in all recent resolutions authorizing presidential impeachment
inquiries."
"President Trump and his Administration
cannot participate in your partisan and unconstitutional inquiry under these
circumstances."
— Pat Cipollone, counsel to President Trump
The letter claimed that House committees have
"resorted to threats and intimidation against potential Executive Branch
witnesses," by raising the specter of obstruction of justice when
administration employees seek to assert "long-established Executive
Branch confidentiality interests and privileges in response to a request for a
deposition."
"Current and former State Department officials are
duty bound to protect the confidentiality interests of the Executive Branch,
and the Office of Legal Counsel has also recognized that it is unconstitutional
to exclude agency counsel from participating in congressional
depositions," the letter stated.
Additionally, the letter noted that Democrats reportedly
were planning to interview the whistleblower at the center
of the impeachment inquiry at an undisclosed location -- contrary, the White
House said, to the constitutional notion of being able to confront one's
accuser.
According to a White House official, the bottom line was:
"We are not participating in your illegitimate exercise. ... If you are
legitimately conducting oversight, let us know. But all indications are this is
about impeachment."
The document came as the White House aggressively has
parried Democrats' inquiry efforts. One of the administration's first
moves: the State Department on Tuesday barred Gordon Sondland, the U.S.
ambassador to the European Union, from appearing before a House panel
conducting the probe into Trump.
"I would love to send Ambassador Sondland, a really
good man and great
American, to testify, but unfortunately he would be
testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court, where Republican's
rights have been taken away, and true facts are not allowed out for the public
to see," Trump tweeted.
The strategy risked further provoking Democrats in the
impeachment probe, setting up court challenges and the potential for lawmakers
to draw up an
article of impeachment accusing Trump of obstructing their
investigations. Schiff said Sondland's no-show would be grounds for obstruction
of justice and could give a preview of what some of the articles of impeachment
against Trump would entail.
But, as lawmakers sought to amass ammunition to be used
in an impeachment trial, the White House increasingly has signaled that all-out
warfare was its best course of action.
"What they did to this country is unthinkable. It's
lucky that I'm the president. A lot of people said very few people could handle
it. I sort of thrive on it," Trump said Monday at the White House.
"You can't impeach a president for doing a great job. This is a
scam."
House Democrats, for their part, issued a new round of
subpoenas on Monday, this time to Defense Secretary
Mark Esper and acting White House budget director Russell Vought. Pelosi's
office also released an open letter signed by 90 former national security
officials who served in administrations from both parties, voicing support
for the
whistleblower who raised concerns about
Trump's efforts to get Ukraine to look into Biden's business dealings
in Ukraine.
"A responsible whistleblower makes all Americans
safer by ensuring that serious wrongdoing can be investigated and addressed,
thus advancing the cause of national security to which we have devoted our
careers," they wrote.
"Whatever one's view of the matters discussed
in the whistleblower's complaint, all Americans should be united in demanding
that all branches of our government and all outlets of our media protect this
whistleblower and his or her identity. Simply put, he or she has done what our
law demands; now he or she deserves our protection."
The House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs
Committees were investigating Trump's actions alleging
he pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son, potentially
interfering in the 2020 election. The former vice president, for his part, has
accused Trump of "frantically pushing flat-out lies, debunked conspiracy
theories and smears against me." And, Biden's campaign has sought to have
Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who has accused Biden of possible
corruption, removed from the airwaves.
Biden has acknowledged on camera that in spring 2016, when he was vice
president and spearheading the Obama administration's Ukraine policy, he
successfully pressured Ukraine to fire top prosecutor Viktor Shokin.
At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings — where Hunter had a lucrative role on the board despite limited relevant
expertise. Critics have suggested Hunter Biden's salary bought access to Biden.
The vice president threatened to withhold $1 billion in
critical U.S. aid if Shokin, who was widely accused of corruption, was not
fired.
"Well, son of a b---h, he got fired,"
Biden joked at a panel two years after leaving office.
Fox News' Catherine Herridge and The
Associated Press contributed to this report.
Gregg
Re is a lawyer and editor based in Los Angeles.
