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The White House on Sunday said neither President Donald Trump nor his lawyers would participate in the House Judiciary Committee’s first impeachment hearing on Wednesday.

In a five-page letter to the committee’s chairman, Jerry Nadler, the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, wrote that the president would not be attending the coming hearing on the basis that it was „unclear whether the Judiciary Committee will afford the President a fair process through additional hearings.“

The White House letter left open the possibility that Trump might participate in future hearings and said it would respond to a second Judiciary letter by a Friday deadline.

The House impeachment inquiry is expected to move this week from its fact-finding stage in the Intelligence Committee to a consideration whether to charge Trump with misconduct over his Ukraine dealings.

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The White House on Sunday said neither President Donald Trump nor his lawyers would participate in the House Judiciary Committee’s first impeachment hearing on Wednesday.

In a five-page letter to the committee’s chairman, Jerry Nadler, the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, wrote that the president would not be attending the coming hearing on the basis that it was „unclear whether the Judiciary Committee will afford the President a fair process through additional hearings.“

„As for the hearing scheduled for December 4, we cannot fairly be expected to participate in a hearing while the witnesses are yet to be named and while it remains unclear whether the Judiciary Committee will afford the President a fair process through additional hearings,“ Cipollone wrote.

The White House added that Nadler’s November 26 query on whether Trump planned to participate in the coming hearings provided „little information“ about the day’s proceedings or possible witnesses.

„More importantly, an invitation to an academic discussion with law professors does not begin to provide the President with any semblance of a fair process,“ Cipollone wrote. „Accordingly, under the current circumstances, we do not intend to participate in your Wednesday hearing.“

The White House also slammed the hearing as „baseless“ and said it violated „past historical precedent“ and „fundamental fairness.“

The House impeachment inquiry is expected to move this week from its fact-finding stage in the Intelligence Committee to a consideration of whether to charge Trump with misconduct over his dealings with Ukraine.

The Democratic-led Judiciary Committee had given the White House until Sunday night to respond to its letter on whether Trump or his lawyers would be participating in Wednesday’s hearing. The committee also sent another letter on Friday that asked whether the administration would attend additional unspecified hearings in the future and gave the White House one week to respond.

The White House letter on Sunday left open the possibility that Trump might participate in future hearings and said it would respond to the second Judiciary letter by the deadline this Friday.

As Politico noted, Trump has Republican allies on the Judiciary panel who could mount a defense for him on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s hearing will be the first in a series of expected proceedings that will hear testimony on the impeachment process from a panel of legal experts.