After months of screaming “Witch hunt!” and “No due process!” Donald Trump is likely to ignore the House Judiciary Committee’s invitation for him to appear himself or have his lawyer attend its upcoming impeachment hearing, with the first set for Dec. 4.
The Judiciary Committee told the White House that Trump’s “counsel may question any witness called before the committee, subject to instructions from the chair or presiding member respecting the time, scope and duration of the examination.” But the current thinking seems to be that Trump is winning the “process” argument by calling the whole thing a hoax designed to persecute him, so clearly having his lawyer appear would undercut that argument.
That means it’s up to the Republicans on Judiciary—including the bright lights Jim Jordan, Doug Collins, John Ratcliffe, and Matt Gaetz—to defend him. Of course, right now it’s not all that clear that Trump has an attorney to send. It’s not like he’s anxious to have Rudy Giuliani show up in front of Congress.