U.S. House Judiciary panel invites Trump to December 4 impeachment hearing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on Tuesday invited President Donald Trump to its first impeachment hearing, scheduled for Dec. 4, starting a new phase of the inquiry that could lead to formal charges against the president within weeks.

Trump is not required to attend the hearing. But the move allows the president and his legal team access to congressional impeachment procedures that he and other Republicans have denounced as unfair, partly because the White House has not been able to call or cross-examine witnesses.

The House Intelligence Committee, which has led the impeachment investigation through weeks of closed-door testimony and televised hearings, is expected to release a formal evidence report shortly after lawmakers return to Congress on Dec. 3 from their Thanksgiving recess.

The Judiciary panel will use the report to consider formal charges that it could recommend for a full House vote by mid-December. It gave Trump until 6 p.m. (2300 GMT) on Sunday to advise the committee on whether he would attend the hearing, and to indicate by then who would be his counsel.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Representative Jerrold Nadler, the Judiciary Committee’s Democratic chairman, told Trump in a letter that he was reminding the president that the committee’s rules allow him to attend the hearing and for his legal team to question witnesses.