President Trump said early Monday that there is “no reason” to call witnesses in the impeachment inquiry.
“What I said on the phone call with the Ukrainian President is ‘perfectly’ stated. There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words and meaning,” he tweeted.
“This is just another Democrat Hoax that I have had to live with from the day I got elected (and before!),” he added. “Disgraceful!”
{mosads}Trump in an earlier tweet on Monday morning quoted conservative radio and TV host Mark Levin and again called the impeachment probe a “Witch Hunt.”
“Mark Levin, a great lawyer and scholar, said last night on his @marklevinshow, that all you have to do is read the transcript of the call, you do not need Never Trumpers or other witnesses to say what it means or says,” he tweeted.
“It is plainly and very well stated for all to see. Witch Hunt.”
The president’s early morning posts, which included multiple retweets of Levin and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, come after the House last week voted to approve rules for the impeachment inquiry that cover public hearings.
Asked on Sunday if we wants his former national security adviser John Bolton to testify, Trump told reporters “that’s up to him and the lawyers.”
“I like John Bolton, I always got along with him, but that’s going to be up to the lawyers,” Trump said.
He also doubled down on his comments that there was no “quid pro quo” in his dealings with Ukraine, which are at the center of the impeachment inquiry.
“Read the transcript,” he repeatedly told reporters when asked.
The “transcript” Trump is referring to is a partial memo of a July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that shows the president asking the foreign leader to look into former Vice President Joe Biden, a top Democratic presidential candidate, and Biden’s son.
House Democrats have said many witnesses that have testified in closed-door depositions before the three House committees leading the inquiry have painted a damaging picture that indicates Trump withheld foreign aid to Ukraine in return for the country to investigate the Bidens.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The president and many congressional Republicans have also decried the inquiry as a partisan attack and criticized the process as unfair.
All four White House officials scheduled to testify Monday will not appear, CNN reported.
Other officials scheduled to appear this week, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, whom Trump blamed for telling him to ask Ukraine to look into the Bidens, will also not appear.
Updated at 7:43 a.m.