POLITICS
Trump Suggests He May Give Written Testimony In House Probe
Nov 18, 2019, 11:08 AM | Updated: Jun 8, 2022, 4:49 pm
FILE: President Donald Trump (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump suggested Monday he might be willing to offer written testimony in the House impeachment inquiry over whether he pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate Joe Biden and his son while withholding aid to the country.
In a pair of tweets, Trump says he will “strongly consider” an offer by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to testify before the House impeachment panel.
Trump tweeted, “She also said I could do it in writing. Even though I did nothing wrong, and don’t like giving credibility to this No Due Process Hoax, I like the idea & will, in order to get Congress focused again, strongly consider it!”
Pelosi told CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview aired Sunday that Trump could come before the committee and “speak all the truth that he wants.”
The president provided written answers to questions from special counsel Robert Mueller during his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
….that I testify about the phony Impeachment Witch Hunt. She also said I could do it in writing. Even though I did nothing wrong, and don’t like giving credibility to this No Due Process Hoax, I like the idea & will, in order to get Congress focused again, strongly consider it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2019
Mueller’s team tried to interview the president for more than a year before Trump submitted the written testimony in response to questions on certain Russia-related topics in November 2018.
But Mueller found many of Trump’s answers in the Russia probe less than satisfying. The format, he said in his final report to Congress, showed “the inadequacy of the written format,” especially since the office was unable to ask follow-up questions.
Mueller team cited dozens of answers that it considered incomplete or imprecise. Trump said he had no recollection for several questions posed by the special counsel’s office
After Trump submitted the written answers, the special counsel’s office again sought an in-person interview with Trump, but the president declined.
