As Americans prepare for Thanksgiving, the House Judiciary Committee is getting ready for a big event next week. On Dec. 4, its members will hold a hearing on the “constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment.” Donald Trump has been invited to attend (pdf).
Based on the president’s response to the impeachment inquiry thus far, it seems likely he’ll decline the offer and opine on the hearing via Twitter instead. Trump has continually decried the probe into his Ukraine dealings as a sham, and showing up at this hearing, or sending a lawyer, might in his mind only legitimize the inquiry he’s dubbed a witch hunt.
Still, Trump has been offered an opportunity to have his counsel question witnesses about constitutional process and the meaning of “high crimes and misdemeanors” in the impeachment clause. In a statement, judiciary committee chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York acknowledged Trump’s disdain for the inquiry and essentially dared him not to participate. Nadler stated:
