As the public hearings for the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump continue to reveal shocking facts, Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday, invited him to testify in front of investigators ahead of a week that will see several key witnesses appear publicly.
Speaking to reporters, Pelosi also went on to say that Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate one of his potential opponents in the 2020 election Joe Biden, “makes what Nixon did look almost small.”
In an interview that aired on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, she said “If he has information that is exculpatory, that means ex, taking away, culpable, blame, then we look forward to seeing it. Trump could come right before the committee and talk, speak all the truth that he wants if he wants.”
Pelosi talked about Nixon’s resignation after the Watergate scandal involving a break-in at Democratic party headquarters in 1972 and the subsequent cover-up.
After the scandal was investigated by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and the House judiciary committee approved articles of impeachment against him, President Nixon resigned in 1974, but the full House voted on the issue, and he was not impeached.
The comments come as the House Intelligence Committee prepares for the second week of public hearings as part of its inquiry, which includes Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union who allegedly has a significant role in the Ukraine scandal.
Last week, former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as part of the House-initiated impeachment hearing against Trump.
Yovanovitch was the third witness to appear before the House Committee headed by Congressman Adam Schiff in the Democrat”s impeachment against Trump.
The public hearing of the probe kicked off on Wednesday as William Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine and George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs, testified for more than five hours before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
“Untrue are unsourced allegations that I told unidentified embassy employees or Ukrainian officials that President”s Trump”s orders should be ignored because he was going to be impeached or for any other reason. I did not and I would not say such a thing. Such statements would be inconsistent with my training as a foreign service officer and my role as an ambassador,” she said.
The previous Obama administration, she said, did not ask her to help the Clinton campaign or harm the Trump campaign, she said.
“Nor had I taken any such steps if they had. Partisanship of this type is not compatible with the role of a career foreign service officer,” she said. The former diplomat said she never met Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, nor she had any direct or indirect conversations with him.