Last week, House Judiciary chair Rep. Jerry Nadler sent a letter to President Donald Trump and the White House, explaining how the impeachment process would proceed next month.
The Judiciary Committee would meet next week, on December 4 per prior reporting from HillReporter.com, to begin discussions on considering whether official articles of impeachment would be warranted against the president, based off of the investigation of the impeachment inquiry hearings that happened in October and November. The Judiciary Committee would also discuss whether other potential charges, stemming from the Russia investigation conducted by former special counsel Robert Mueller, should be part of draft articles as well.
On Friday, Nadler sent a new letter to Trump, extending a deadline that was in the original letter on whether the president would send legal representation to the committee hearings next week. The original date that Trump had to decide by was December 1; it’s now extended to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on December 6, next Friday, CNN reported.
UPDATE: House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler has extended the deadline for POTUS to notify committee whether WH counsel will participate in impeachment proceedings and/or how exec privilege will be exercised. Deadline was Dec. 1, now Dec. 6. @CourthouseNews https://t.co/A1yT7csGzw pic.twitter.com/leAnPZ9TyX
— Brandi Buchman (@BBuchman_CNS) November 29, 2019
No one is sure right now whether a lawyer will stand in the hearings or not — neither the White House nor Trump has given any indication one way or the other. Some are claiming, however, that Trump won’t end up sending one simply because he doesn’t want to take part in the process, and the White House team may agree it wouldn’t be “worth it,” one source familiar to the process said to CNN.
Yet that strategy could contradict, in many Americans’ eyes, Trump’s (errant) claims to being denied “due process” so far within the impeachment process. Now that his legal representation is being given the chance to be a part of things, neglecting to send someone in his stead would demonstrate that argument may have been exaggerated.