The White House told Democrats they should end the impeachment investigation on Friday, shortly before President Donald Trump let pass a deadline to agree to participate in the House Judiciary Committee hearing.
In a letter addressed to committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), White House Counsel Pat Cipollone called the proceedings “baseless” and a “charade.”
“House Democrats have wasted enough of America’s time with this charade,” Cipollone wrote. “You should end this inquiry now and not waste even more time with additional hearings.”
He added: “Adopting articles of impeachment would be a reckless abuse of power by House Democrats, and would constitute the most unjust, highly partisan, and unconstitutional attempt at impeachment in our Nation’s history.”
Nadler responded to Cipollone’s letter on Friday in a statement saying, “The American people deserve answers from President Trump.” “We gave President Trump a fair opportunity to question witnesses and present his own to address the overwhelming evidence before us. After listening to him complain about the impeachment process, we had hoped that he might accept our invitation,” Nadler wrote. | 
