Trump floats idea of testifying in impeachment inquiry

After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dared President Trump to testify in the ongoing impeachment inquiry, on Monday Trump floated the idea on Twitter that he might.

His ambiguously worded tweet implied he might be willing to answer written questions, rather than appear in person before the House Intelligence Committee. Trump also submitted written responses in the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, who later testified that the president’s sworn testimony was “generally” untruthful.

In an interview that aired on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Pelosi said that if Trump “has information that is exculpatory, that means, ‘ex,’ taking away, ‘culpable,’ blame, then we look forward to seeing it.” The House speaker made a similar offer on Thursday.

President Trump; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (Photos: Evan Vucci/AP, J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
President Trump; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (Photos: Evan Vucci/AP, J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Pelosi said the president is welcome to answer questions in writing or “he could come right before the committee and talk, speak all the truth that he wants if he wants.”

“He has every opportunity to present his case,” she said.

Trump responded in a pair of tweets attacking Pelosi, Democrats and the media.

The White House is bracing for the second week of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry, with eight more witnesses — including Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union — set to testify in the probe.

After long resisting calls for impeachment from members of her caucus, Pelosi announced the launch of a formal impeachment inquiry in September, predicated on accusations that Trump had pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.

During Mueller’s Russia investigation, Trump repeatedly said that he was open to speaking with Mueller but that his legal counsel prevented him from doing so.

Trump ultimately responded to written questions from the special counsel’s office. Mueller said the president’s answers were “generally” untruthful.

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