House

Nadler sets Dec. 6 deadline for White House to say if it will take part in impeachment hearings

by Rachel Frazin - 11/29/19 3:18 PM ET

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) has informed President Trump that he has until Dec. 6 to let the committee know whether his counsel will participate in upcoming impeachment proceedings.

“I am writing to determine if your counsel will … participate in the upcoming impeachment proceedings. In particular, please provide the Committee notice of whether your counsel intends to participate, specifying which of the privileges your counsel seeks to exercise, no later than 5:00 p.m. on December 6, 2019,” Nadler wrote to Trump in a letter dated Friday.

The notice follows a Monday letter from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to Democratic lawmakers saying that the committees leading the impeachment inquiry are putting together a report for the Judiciary Committee that they hope to send after members return from Thanksgiving.

“Over the course of our inquiry, we have uncovered a months-long effort in which President Trump again sought foreign interference in our elections for his personal and political benefit at the expense of our national interest,” Schiff wrote.

Nadler on Friday also wrote to the Judiciary Committee’s top Republican Doug Collins (Ga.) asking whether Collins would like to issue any subpoenas or interrogatories relating to the matter. He also gave the GOP congressman until Dec. 6 to notify him.

“I am prepared to schedule a meeting of the Committee on Monday, December 9, 2019 to consider any such referrals,” Nadler wrote to Collins.

A Republican Judiciary aide told The Hill in an email that Nadler has not responded to four recent letters from Republicans with concerns about the impeachment probe.

The aide also said that Republicans hope to hear from Nadler about why he is setting deadlines before receiving the Intelligence Committee’s report.

The resolution on impeachment passed by the House last month says that the judiciary ranking minority member is allowed to require subpoenas and interrogatories “with the concurrence of the chair.”

If the chair doesn’t agree, then the ranking member can refer the decision to the committee.

The chairman’s letters follow two weeks of public testimony this month in the impeachment hearing into President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

Updated 9:15 p.m.

Tags Adam Schiff Donald Trump Doug Collins Impeachment impeachment inquiry Jerrold Nadler Judiciary Committee