Nancy Pelosi invites Trump to testify in the impeachment inquiry and 'speak all the truth that he wants'

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Nancy Pelosi invites Trump to testify in the impeachment inquiry and 'speak all the truth that he wants'

Nancy Pelosi

Tom Brenner/Reuters

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wields the gavel as the House of Representatives cast their votes on a resolution that sets up the next steps in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on October 31, 2019.

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  • Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi invited President Donald Trump to "speak all the truth that he wants" and testify in the impeachment inquiry.
  • "He has every opportunity to present his case," Pelosi said in an interview with CBS News' "Face the Nation," on Sunday.
  • She added that she believed Trump's actions were "so much worse" than Richard Nixon's, who resigned before the House could vote on impeachment sparked by the Watergate Scandal.
  • Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday reiterated Pelosi's invitation and said Trump "shouldn't tweet" if he's dissatisfied with the proceedings and should testify under oath instead.
  • Trump has ordered his administration not to cooperate with proceedings despite a House subpoena.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi invited President Donald Trump to "speak all the truth that he wants" and testify in the impeachment inquiry.

In an interview with CBS News' "Face the Nation," on Sunday, Pelosi offered Trump the opportunity to speak his piece and testify before the House in ongoing impeachment hearings.

"The president could come right before the committee and talk, speak all the truth that he wants if he wants," Pelosi said. "He has every opportunity to present his case."

She also said that she believed Trump's actions were "so much worse" than Richard Nixon's, who resigned before the House could vote on impeachment sparked by the Watergate Scandal.

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Trump has continued to lash out at the impeachment inquiry on Twitter, calling it a "sham" and a "witch hunt." The president has ordered his administration not to cooperate with proceedings and called the inquiry "illegitimate" and "unconstitutional."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday reiterated Pelosi's invitation and said Trump "shouldn't tweet" if he's dissatisfied with the proceedings and should testify under oath instead.

"I think the hearings have brought up many many troubling allegations," he said at a press conference in New York. "If Donald Trump doesn't agree with what he's hearing, doesn't like what he's hearing, he shouldn't tweet. He should come to the committee and testify under oath and he should allow all those around him to come to the committee and testify under oath."

"You've got to ask the question: What is he hiding?" Schumer added. "What, is he afraid to confront what these people have said?"

The impeachment inquiry centers around a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he repeatedly pressured Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son for corruption. An anonymous whistleblower complaint filed in August alleges that Trump used "the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election" during the call.

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The whistleblower's complaint has been corroborated by the White House's summary notes of the July 25 call, along with the sworn testimony of several diplomatic and national-security officials and other White House officials.

Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said his call with Zelensky was "perfect."

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