Trump fumes over impeachment drive while he's at NATO summit

• The Democrats, the radical-left Democrats, the do-nothing Democrats, decided when I'm going to NATO -- this was set up a year ago -- that when I'm going to NATO, that was the exact time, Trump.
• "It's an absolute disgrace what they're doing to our country," he said. "The whole thing is a hoax. Everybody knows it."
• We cannot fairly be expected to participate... while it remains unclear whether the Judiciary Committee will afford the President a fair process through additional hearings," Cipollone.

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump branded Democrats a "disgrace" Monday for holding impeachment proceedings while he attends a NATO summit in England and rejected participating in what he called "a hoax."

"The Democrats, the radical-left Democrats, the do-nothing Democrats, decided when I'm going to NATO -- this was set up a year ago -- that when I'm going to NATO, that was the exact time," Trump said angrily on departing the White House.

"It's an absolute disgrace what they're doing to our country," he said. "The whole thing is a hoax. Everybody knows it."

While Trump is away, House Democrats will ramp up what appears to be inevitable momentum to making the real estate tycoon only the third president ever impeached.

This starts Wednesday with a hearing in the Judiciary Committee at which experts will weigh whether Trump's alleged crimes in pressuring Ukraine to investigate a domestic political opponent meet the constitutional impeachment bar.

Trump's chief White House lawyer, Pat Cipollone, told the Democratic leader of the committee, Jerry Nadler, on Sunday that he was rejecting an invitation to send representatives to the session.

"We cannot fairly be expected to participate... while it remains unclear whether the Judiciary Committee will afford the President a fair process through additional hearings," Cipollone wrote.

Cipollone did not rule out White House participation in subsequent hearings. Throughout the drama, however, Trump has opted for stone-walling and flat-out resistance to what his supporters say amounts to a "coup."