npr:

With Democrats in the House of Representatives formally moving to draft articles of impeachment against President Trump, the top Republican on the committee that will author those articles is saying the White House should participate in the impeachment inquiry. But participation should happen only, he says, “when there is an actual opportunity in which it is a situation in which they can present, do the presentation that they need to.”

In a forceful critique of the impeachment inquiry, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, accused Democrats of making White House participation all but impossible by not allowing for “a robust set of hearings.”

“At the end of the day, if people don’t believe what you’re doing is fair, then it doesn’t matter,” Collins said in an interview Thursday with All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly.

Speaking from his office on Capitol Hill, Collins said Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are not being given the opportunity to question the fact witnesses who have testified before the House Intelligence Committee since the start of the impeachment inquiry in September. Republican members of the Intelligence Committee were present for those testimonies and were allowed to question the witnesses.

The White House has blocked key witnesses from testifying in the inquiry and declined to participate in this week’s Judiciary Committee hearing but has left open the possibility of participating in future proceedings.

Collins argued that Democrats are presuming guilt and creating a scenario for the president where “you have to prove your innocence … and that’s just not the way our system works.”

Top Judiciary Republican Says White House Should Participate In Inquiry, With Caveats

Photo: Mhari Shaw/NPR
Caption: Democrats have failed to allow for “a robust set of hearings” on impeachment in the House Judiciary Committee, says Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the committee.