Republican President Donald Trump slammed the impeachment inquiry against him—spearheaded by House Democrats with little GOP support—as a “no due process scam” on Nov. 12, a day before public impeachment hearings are due to start.
“Why is such a focus put on 2nd and 3rd hand witnesses, many of whom are Never Trumpers, or whose lawyers are Never Trumpers, when all you have to do is read the phone call (transcript) with the Ukrainian President and see first hand?” Trump said in a statement.
“He and others also stated that there was ‘no pressure’ put on him to investigate Sleepy Joe Biden even though, as President, I have an ‘obligation’ to look into corruption, and Biden’s actions, on tape, about firing the prosecutor, and his son’s taking millions of dollars, with no knowledge or talent, from a Ukrainian energy company, and more millions taken from China, and now reports of other companies and countries also giving him big money, are certainly looking very corrupt (to put it mildly!) to me,” he added.
“Both Bidens should be forced to testify in this No Due Process Scam!”
After weeks of hearing from witnesses in the inquiry behind closed doors, hearings open to the public are slated to start on Wednesday, beginning with acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and senior State Department official George Kent.
The only other witness scheduled so far to testify in public is Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine. She is due to speak on Friday.
Republicans have requested Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, and his business partner Devon Archer testify, along with the person who filed a complaint against Trump over the president’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the approximately six sources that person cited in the complaint, which relied on secondhand information and media reports.
Nellie Ohr, who helped compile the Hillary Clinton-funded dossier against Trump, and Alexandra Chalupa, a Democratic National Committee contractor who sought information from Ukrainian officials against Trump, were also on the list.
Democrats haven’t officially responded to the requests except to say the whistleblower won’t be testifying.
