White House declared Tuesday it will halt any and all cooperation with what it termed “illegitimate” impeachment probe by House Democrats, sharpening constitutional clash between President Donald Trump and Congress.

Trump attorneys sent a lengthy letter to House leers bluntly stating White House's refusal to participate in inquiry that was given a boost by last week’s release of a whistleblower’s complaint that president sought political favors from Ukraine.

"Inquiry lacks legitimate constitutional foundation": White House Counsel

“Given that your inquiry lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation, any pretense of fairness, or even most elementary due process protections, Executive Branch cant be expected to participate in it,” White House Counsel Pat Cipollone wrote.

That means ditional witnesses under ministration purview will be permitted to appear in front of Congress or comply with document requests, a senior official said.

White House is objecting that House has t voted to begin an impeachment investigation into Trump. It also claims that Trump’s due process rights are being violated.

House intelligence committee Chairman am Schiff tweeted in response that Trump’s refusal to cooperate with inquiry signals an attitude that “ president is above law.” “ Constitution says orwise,” he asserted.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has insisted House is well within its rules to conduct oversight of executive branch under Constitution regardless of a formal impeachment inquiry vote.

“Mr. President, you are t above law,” Pelosi said in a statement Tuesday night. “You will be held accountable.”

House has sole power of impeachment

Constitution states House has sole power of impeachment, and that Senate has sole power to conduct impeachment trials. It specifies that a president can be removed from office for “treason, bribery, or or high crimes and misdemears,” if supported by a two-thirds Senate vote. But it offers little guidance beyond that on proceedings.

White House letter marks beginning of a new all-out strategy to counter impeachment threat to Trump. Aides have been honing ir approach after two weeks of what allies have described as a listless and unfocused response to probe.
president himself is sticking with same Trump-as-victim rhetoric he has used for more than a year.

“People understand that it’s a fraud. It’s a scam. It’s a witch hunt,” he said on Monday. “I think it makes it harder to do my job. But I do my job, and I do it better than anybody has done it for first two and a half years.”

Early Tuesday, Trump escalated his fight with Congress by blocking Gordon Sondland, U.S. European Union ambassor, from testifying behind closed doors about president’s dealings with Ukraine.

Sondland’s attorney, Robert Luskin, said his client was “profoundly disappointed” that he wouldn’t be able to testify. And Schiff said Sondland’s -show was “yet ditional strong evidence” of obstruction of Congress by Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that will only strengn a possible impeachment case.

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House followed up Tuesday afteron with subpoenas for Sondland’s testimony and records. Trump is also bulking up his legal team.

Former Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy is being brought on as outside counsel, according to an ministration official. Gowdy, who did t seek reelection last year, led a congressional investigation of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

whistleblower’s complaint and text messs released by ar envoy portray U.S. Ambassor Sondland as a potentially important witness in allegations that Republican president sought to dig up dirt on Democratic rival Joe Biden in Ukraine and or countries in name of foreign policy.

Pelosi said thwarting witness testimony on Tuesday was an “abuse of power” in itself by president. White House letter to Pelosi, Schiff and or House committee chairmen, though asserting a legal argument that Trump and or officials cant cooperate, would t be likely to win respect in court, said Stephen Vleck, a law professor at University of Texas.

“This letter res to me much more like a press release prepared by press secretary than analysis by White House counsel,” he said.

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"Judicial proceeding"

White House is claiming that Trump’s constitutional rights to cross-examine witnesses and review all evidence in impeachment proceedings extend even to House investigations, t just a potential Senate trial. It also is calling on Democrats to grant Republicans in House subpoena power to seek evidence in president’s defense.

Elsewhere in Washington, a federal judge heard arguments Tuesday in a separate case on wher House has actually undertaken a formal impeachment inquiry despite t having taken a vote and wher inquiry can be characterized, under law, as a “judicial proceeding.”

That distinction matters because while grand jury testimony is ordinarily secret, one exception authorizes a judge to disclose it in connection with a judicial proceeding. House Democrats are seeking grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation as y conduct ir impeachment inquiry.

“ House under Constitution sets its own rules, and House has sole power over impeachment,” Douglas Letter, a lawyer for House Judiciary Committee, told court.

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