Democrats Give Trump a Deadline for Deciding if He Wants to Defend Himself During Impeachment

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The White House has one week to decide to decide if it will participate in the impeachment inquiry hearings. In a Friday letter, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, informed Donald Trump that the committee will be considering obstruction of justice charges against the president, and that he must notify Congress by December 6 if he plans to mount a defense or call witnesses.

“Please provide the committee with notice of whether your counsel intends to participate, specifying which of the privileges your counsel seeks to exercise,” Nadler wrote. The letter comes after two weeks of explosive impeachment hearings in the House which included testimony from  Bill TaylorLt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Fiona Hill, and Gordon Sondland.

The House moved to begin impeachment proceedings against the president after news broke that Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter in exchange for foreign aid. 

dDespite confessing to the quid pro quo, Trump has continued to refer to the hearings as a “hoax” or a “witch hunt.” Impeachment hearings will resume on Wednesday.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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