US House Democrats released on Tuesday the text of a resolution that will detail their procedures as they move forward with the impeachment enquiry into President Donald Trump.
The full House is expected to vote Thursday on the resolution after the House Rules Committee debates and marks it up on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s release comes as pressure grows on Democrats to make the impeachment enquiry more open, including holding public hearings with key witnesses in the Ukraine affair that has engulfed the Trump administration.
In a statement, the White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham called the impeachment inquiry “an illegitimate sham from the start as it lacked any proper authorization by a House vote.”
“This resolution does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the Administration,” she added.
Last month, the impeachment enquiry into Trump was initiated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after an anonymous whistleblower had raised concerns about the president’s interactions with Ukraine.
Trump was alleged to have abused power by using a military aid that Congress approved to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating Biden, the leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, so as to help his re-election campaign. Besides, the White House allegedly tried to cover it up.
Last week, Trump described his impeachment as a “lynching” and he managed once again to create a political firestorm around race while frustrating members of his party and drawing condemnation from lawmakers who hold his political fate in their hands.
His impeachment looked ever more likely after the Democratic-led lower house of Congress questioned the acting US ambassador to Ukraine, Bill Taylor.
Two weeks ago, Trump had said that he would participate in a going impeachment enquiry against him led by the House Democrats “if the rules are fair”.
Trump’s remarks came right after a day White House issued a letter that notified the Democrats of an uncooperative stance of the administration in relation to their efforts to remove the President from office.
Earlier this month, Ukraine’s former president had said that he discussed investments with President Donald Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, in 2017, but that he never discussed Ukrainian companies with any US official.