White House says it won’t comply with inquiry

Author: Associated Press
Published: Updated:
President Donald Trump speaks after a signing ceremony for a trade agreement with Japan in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
FILE: President Donald Trump speaks after a signing ceremony for a trade agreement with Japan in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci/FILE)

The White House has notified the House that the Trump administration will not participate in what it is calling Democrats’ “illegitimate” impeachment probe.

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone writes in a letter to House Democratic leaders that their inquiry has processed in a “manner that violates fundamental fairness and constitutionally mandated due process” and “lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation” or “pretense of fairness.”

President Donald Trump, joined by from left, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, speaks to media during a briefing with senior military leaders in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
President Donald Trump, joined by from left, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, speaks to media during a briefing with senior military leaders in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The letter comes the same day Trump intensified his fight with Congress by blocking Gordon Sondland, the U.S. European Union ambassador, from testifying behind closed doors about the president’s dealings with Ukraine.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff called Sondland’s no-show “additional strong evidence” of obstruction of Congress by Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that will only strengthen Democrats’ case.

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