Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the House Judiciary Committee head who will be leading another round of impeachment proceedings this December, has just given an ultimatum to President Donald Trump.
Trump has until Dec. 6th to inform Nadler’s committee as to whether his lawyers will participate in the impeachment proceedings.
Deadline set
Nadler gave the ultimatum in a letter addressed to the president on Friday.
“I am to determine if your counsel will seek to exercise the specific privileges set forth in the Judiciary Committee’s Impeachment Procedures adopted pursuant to H.Res.660 and participate in the upcoming impeachment proceedings,” Nadler wrote. “In particular, please provide the Committee with notice of whether your counsel intends to participate, specifying which of the privileges your counsel seeks to exercise, no later than 5:00 pm on December 6, 2019.”
This gives the president and his attorneys a week to respond.
This new deadline is a departure from a prior letter sent by Nadler to Trump, in which Nadler originally said that Trump had until Dec. 1 to declare whether his attorneys would participate. For whatever reason, it appears that Nadler has given the president more time.
Impeachment continues
The scheduled hearings for Nadler’s committee will be a continuation of those that took place before Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and the House Intelligence Committee.
As basis for impeachment, Democrats are attempting to use a phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump — they allege — threatened to withhold military aid to Ukraine until Zelensky agreed to investigate Hunter Biden and corrupt energy company Burisma.
It has been shown that the aid was not withheld and that no investigation was conducted by Ukraine. All the Democrats seem to have is the testimony of Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union, who claims that there was a quid pro quo between Trump and Zelensky, not over military aid but over a trip to the White House.
It is no secret that the president thinks the impeachment is a sham, and many Americans agree.
Looking forward
The rules do allow Trump’s lawyers to participate in the impeachment proceedings. What this means is that they can finally begin mounting a formal defense for Trump.
But, for now, we will have to wait and see how Trump responds to Nadler’s letter.
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