Trump Begs For Due Process, Gets It, Rejects It Immediately

Trump Begs For Due Process, Gets It, Rejects It Immediately

We here at Paste are old enough to remember these tweets:

Due process is basically a synonym for “fair treatment” in a legal sense, and part of that is allowing an accused party to defend him or herself in front of his or her accusers. Which, just weeks after these tweets, is exactly the opportunity Democrats gave Trump when they invited him to testify before the impeachment hearings. Sunday night, we learned this was a no-go:

Lawyers for President Trump said on Sunday that they would not participate in the House Judiciary Committee’s first public impeachment hearing on Wednesday, airing a long list of complaints that they said prevented “any semblance of a fair process.”

In a five-page letter written to Rep. Jerry Nadler, the Democratic chair of the Judiciary Committee, Trump lawyer Pat Cipollone rejected the notion of Trump appearing on Wednesday, calling the inquiry, “baseless and highly partisan,” and claiming it “violates all past historical precedent, basic due process rights, and fundamental fairness.”

Cipollone used the excuse that Trump will be in London at a NATO summit, and theoretically left open the possibility of future involvement, but it’s unlikely that the inquiry Trump has called a “witch hunt” will suddenly look like a good opportunity to clear his name. Sniping from the sidelines has always worked better.

For their part, Democrats are trying to draw attention to his refusal:

More invitations will be forthcoming, no doubt, along with more rejections. It’s fun to clamor for “due process,” but less fun to actually participate in it.

 
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