Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/17

 afforded President Trump numerous opportunities to participate in the Judiciary Committee's proceedings through counsel. Those opportunities included the ability to present evidence orally or in writing; to question committee counsels presenting evidence; to attend all hearings of the Judiciary Committee, including those held in executive session; to raise objections during examinations of witnesses; to cross-examine any witness called before the Committee; and to request that additional witnesses be called. In addition, as was the case for HPSCI, H. Res. 660 permitted the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee to issue subpoenas for documents and witness testimony with the concurrence of the Chairman, or to refer any such decision for a vote by the full Committee.

On November 26, 2019, Chairman Nadler wrote to President Trump informing him of these procedures and the Committee's intention to hold a hearing the following week, on December 4, regarding constitutional grounds for impeachment. Chairman Nadler explained the purpose of the hearing and requested that President Trump indicate whether he and his counsel wished to participate and question the witness panel. On November 29, 2019, Chairman Nadler wrote to President Trump further requesting that his counsel indicate whether he planned to participate in any of the Committee's upcoming proceedings and, if so, which privileges his counsel would seek to exercise. On December 1, 2019, Mr. Cipollone responded that counsel for the President would not participate in the December 4 hearing, characterizing that process as "an after-the-fact constitutional law seminar." On December 6, 2019, Mr. Cipollone sent Chairman Nadler another letter indicating the President would not avail himself of any other opportunities to participate in the Committee's proceedings, urging the Committee to "end this inquiry now and not waste even more time with additional hearings." Mr. Cipollone quoted President Trump's recent statement that "if you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate."

On December 4, 2019, the Judiciary Committee held its public hearing on Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment and heard testimony from four constitutional experts, including one called by the Minority. Consistent with the Judiciary Committee's proceedings during the 11