Impeachment: Will take part if rules are fair, says Donald Trump

Washington: US President Donald Trump has said that he would participate in an ongoing impeachment inquiry against him led by the House Democrats “if the rules are fair”. Asked if he would cooperate with the Democrats running the proceedings if they held a full House vote on the impeachment, Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday, “Yes, that sounds ok. We would if they give us our rights,” Xinhua news agency reported. “Yes, if the rules are fair... If Republicans get a fair shake,” he said when asked to clarify whether he would cooperate if the House passed the impeachment vote.

Trump’s response followed a White House letter Tuesday notifying the Democrats of an uncooperative stance of the administration in relation to their efforts to remove the President from office. “You have designed and implemented your inquiry in a manner that violates fundamental fairness and constitutionally mandated due process,” White House Counsel Pat Cipollone wrote in the letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel. Trump echoed the letter’s claims by saying the Democrats “have eviscerated the rules”. He went on to say that Democratic investigators deprived the Republican Party of the right to have lawyers. “They don’t give us any fair play, it is the most unfair situation people have seen, no lawyers.” Pelosi launched the impeachment inquiry on September 24 following an anonymous whistleblower complaint about Trump’s alleged inappropriate interactions with Ukraine. (IANS)

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