As House lawmakers return to duty after a Thanksgiving break, which followed two weeks of headline-generating news about President Donald Trump ‘s impeachment inquiry, Republicans issued a scathing, 123-page rebuttal to the Democrats’ efforts to build a case against the president. In it, the Republicans stated that not enough evidence exists to prove any of the allegations leveled against Trump.
According to Fox News , the rebuttal report, which appeared to be strategically released before the impeachment inquiry is likely to be handed off to the House Judiciary Committee, contained a lengthy defense of Trump’s actions. The report was especially defensive of the president’s actions with regard to his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy — a call in which Democrats argue the president abused his position of power for personal political gain.
“The evidence presented does not prove any of these Democrat allegations, and none of the Democrats’ witnesses testified to having evidence of bribery, extortion, or any high crime or misdemeanor,” the detailed report said.
The report also insisted that Trump’s phone call with Zelenksky “does not reflect any improper pressure of conditionality to pressure Ukraine to investigate.” It pointed out that the Ukrainian president himself has publicly stated that he felt that there was no pressure from Trump on the phone call.
The rebuttal was crafted by three GOP lawmakers, including two ranking committee members, Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Devin Nunes. Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Michael McCaul also contributed to the report. Jordan and Nunes were front-and-center during the two-week period of live-televised testimony from witnesses who had different levels of knowledge about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
“The Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is not the organic outgrowth of serious misconduct; it is an orchestrated campaign to upend our political system,” the trio of GOP congressmen wrote, echoing previous defenses of Trump’s actions by other top Republicans and political allies.
The Republicans also argued that the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry into Trump sets a “dangerous” precedent for American politics.
The letter to Democrats comes just one day after White House counsel Pat Cipollone made clear in an official letter to Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler that Trump would not be appearing at the upcoming House Judiciary Committee hearings, set to begin on Wednesday, as previously reported by The Inquisitr .
Cipollone argued that the process was “highly partisan” in nature and slammed Democrats for what the Trump administration perceived as a lack of transparency and set rules.
However, the White House attorney left a slight possibility of potential cooperation from the president and the White House, under the condition that House Democrats provide the president a “meaningful” way to participate.
