House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) holds a news conference to discuss the Committee's oversight agenda following the Mueller Hearing in Washington, July 26, 2019. Erin Scott | Reuters

Two weeks of explosive public hearings in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump have left lawmakers as divided and entrenched as ever, but House Democrats are charging ahead with the next phase of the probe. The spotlight now turns to the House Judiciary Committee, which is set to hold its first impeachment hearing at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday. The panel is expected to hear from legal scholars, though it has yet to announce who will be called to speak. It has shared an invitation for one notable guest, however: the president himself. Democrats are investigating whether Trump abused his power by pressuring Ukraine and its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to announce investigations into Trump's political rivals while dangling an invitation to the White House and withholding a military aid package approved by Congress.

Trump is on the guest list

Trump and his allies aren't satisfied

With the Judiciary Committee now taking the lead, the House rules allow Trump to get involved. But that isn't likely to mollify the president or his allies, who have railed against the proceedings as biased and unfair since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the formal inquiry in September. Republicans blasted House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., for conducting depositions behind closed doors that excluded Trump's counsel, and for rejecting some of the GOP-proposed witnesses. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., the Judiciary Committee's ranking member, will have the power to call witnesses in the hearings, according to the rules. But just like in the Intelligence Committee hearings, suggestions about witnesses must be approved by the Democratic chairman. While the White House did not reject Nadler's invitation, it reiterated some harsh words about the inquiry. "The White House is currently reviewing Chairman Nadler's letter — but what is obvious to every American is that this letter comes at the end of an illegitimate sham partisan process," White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement Wednesday. "The President has done nothing wrong and the Democrats know it."

The Democrats' report

Committee ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) speaks during a hearing before the House (Select) Intelligence Committee November 1, 2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Getty Images