Impeachment: Trump chooses open war with Congress

The permanent criticism of Donald Trump against the ongoing investigation into a possible impeachment proceedings against him, so far confined to Twitter, took a different form Tuesday night. A letter written by Presidential Advocate Pat Cipollone and sent to Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, explains the position of the White House: accused of seeking to pressure his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky for He is investigating his potential Democratic rival for 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump refuses to cooperate with the House investigation. To this mechanism provided for by the Constitution, he chose open war.

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"Since your application does not have a legitimate constitutional foundation or the slightest semblance of impartiality … the executive power can not be required to participate"Cipollone claims in this eight-page letter with a categorical tone, addressed to Pelosi and the other elected Democrats leading the investigation. "To put it simply, you are trying to cancel the results of the 2016 election and deprive the Americans of the president they freely chose"says the lawyer again.

In the list of grievances against the investigation into the Ukrainian case, Cipollone insists on the lack of a formal vote in the House to start the process. "Under these circumstances, President Trump and his administration can not participate in your partisan and unconstitutional investigation," He insists. The US Constitution provides that a president may be removed for "Treason, corruption or other crimes and major offenses". The indictment must be voted by a simple majority in the House; dismissal, confirmed by two-thirds by the Senate. But it does not specify the procedure upstream, relying on "Exclusive power" of the House of Representatives to initiate any indictment proceedings.

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"Bogus court"

Earlier in the day, the Trump administration prevented US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland from testifying in Congress as part of the investigation. "He would have testified before a bogus court and totally compromised", Trump justified on Twitter. A "abuse of power", according to Nancy Pelosi, third state figure behind the president and vice president. For Joe Biden, Trump "Must stop obstructing Congress".

I would love to send Ambassador Sondland, a very good man and great American, to testify, but unfortunately he would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court, where Republican's rights were taken away, and true facts are not allowed out for the public ….

– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2019

"We know that Ambassador Sondland has been a key player in efforts to get Ukraine's commitment to investigate a fallacious plot theory regarding the 2016 election as well as Joe Biden and his son" Hunter, said Democrat Adam Schiff, chairman of the Intelligence Committee in the House. A businessman who made a fortune in real estate, close to Trump – he gave $ 1 million for his investiture ceremony – Sondland was appointed ambassador to the European Union in May 2018. He came from Brussels the day before for this hearing, before the State Department prevents it.

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In addition to the transcript of a telephone conversation between the US president and his Ukrainian counterpart, and the reporting of a whistleblower, the SMS exchanged by Gordon Sondland with other American diplomats, made public last week, comfort the Democrats in their suspicions: Donald Trump would have abused his power for personal electoral purposes, then would have sought to quash the case. By prohibiting Sondland from going to his audition, "The White House is once again trying to curb and hinder the investigation"were indignant the elected Democrats. The presidents of the commissions in charge of the Ukrainian investigation have also assigned the ambassador to testify and to present documents that the State Department refuses to deliver.

They must audition Friday the former ambassador of the United States in Ukraine until May last, Marie Yovanovitch. According to Wall Street JournalThe latter was reportedly thanked for attempting to bypass Trump's attempts to pressure Kiev to investigate Biden.

Isabelle Hanne correspondent in New York