WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday dangled a new line
of defense a day before Congress’ impeachment inquiry into his dealings
with Ukraine goes public, promising to release details about another
call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Trump over the
weekend said he would likely release the transcript of that
conversation on Tuesday, describing it to reporters as “very important,”
before saying in a post on Twitter on Monday that he would release it
“some time this week.”
Early on Tuesday, he continued to suggest it would be released “before week’s end” but gave no other details.
As
the first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry were set to begin
on Wednesday, the Republican president laid out his defense in a series
of tweets early on Tuesday after slamming the probe and the Democrats
conducting it in other posts Monday night.
“No Due Process Scam!” he wrote.
The
investigation, formally launched six weeks ago by Democratic Speaker of
the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, has shadowed Trump’s
presidency with the threat that he could be removed from office even as
he seeks re-election next year.
He is the fourth U.S. president
to face impeachment. None were removed from office, although Richard
Nixon resigned as he faced almost certain impeachment in 1974 over the
Watergate scandal.
Democrats are investigating whether there are
grounds to impeach Trump over his July 25 request, in a phone call to
Zelenskiy, that the latter investigate a domestic political rival,
former Vice President Joe Biden.
That call prompted a
whistleblower complaint that led Democrats to launch the probe in
September into whether Trump abused his power by withholding nearly $400
million in security assistance to Ukraine to pressure the vulnerable
U.S. ally.
The transcript Trump said he would release is from a
call with Zelenskiy on April 12, after the Ukrainian was elected
president but before he took office. The White House did not release a
readout of that conversation when it took place.
Meanwhile,
congressional Republicans on the House panels conducting the impeachment
inquiry, in a memo to party leaders reviewed by Reuters, said weeks of
closed-door testimony have not established that Trump committed an
impeachable offense.
Witnesses in the probe so far, in hundreds
of pages of testimony transcripts released in recent days, have
highlighted serious concerns raised by senior State Department and other
officials over Trump and his administration’s handling of Ukraine.
CONFUSION AND CONCERN
For
the past two weeks, House investigators have been releasing transcripts
of interviews conducted behind closed doors with witnesses, including
diplomats and security aides, about dealings with Ukraine by
administration officials and the president’s personal attorney, Rudy
Giuliani.
On Monday, the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and
Oversight committees released transcripts of interviews with one
official from the Department of Defense and two from the State
Department.
In her testimony, senior Pentagon official Laura
Cooper detailed confusion and concern in the U.S. national security
community after Trump’s White House blocked nearly $400 million in
security assistance to Ukraine without explanation.
“All of the
senior leaders of the U.S. national security departments and agencies
were all unified in their - in their view that this assistance was
essential,” Cooper said, according to the transcript.
Trump has
intensified his attacks on the investigation as public hearings
approach. He issued a series of impeachment-related tweets late on
Monday, including accusing Representative Adam Schiff, the Democratic
chairman of the Intelligence Committee, of fabricating transcripts.
There has been no suggestion by any witness or Republicans on the three panels that the transcripts were inaccurate.
House
Democrats consider the open hearings that will start on Wednesday as
crucial to building public support for a vote on articles of impeachment
- formal charges - against Trump.
If that occurs, the 100-seat
Republican-controlled Senate would hold a trial, but Republicans have so
far shown little interest in removing Trump from office.
Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Bernadette Baum
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