UNITED States (U.S.) President Donald Trump has said he likes “the idea” of testifying in the impeachment inquiry against him.
In a tweet yesterday, Trump said he would “strongly consider” the move after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested it over the weekend.
The Democrat-led inquiry is establishing whether Trump withheld aid to Ukraine in return for an inquiry into ex-Vice President Joe Biden.
The Republican president has dismissed it as a “witch hunt”.
On Sunday, Ms Pelosi said the President was welcome to “speak all the truth that he wants if he wants” before investigators.
“If he has information that is exculpatory, that means ex, taking away, culpable, blame, then we look forward to seeing it,” she told the CBS News programme Face the Nation.
In his tweets, Trump attacked Ms Pelosi as “Our Crazy, Do Nothing” Speaker, but said he would consider testifying “in order to get Congress focused again”.
The president has recently faced renewed criticism for his use of Twitter. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, told reporters that if Trump “doesn’t like what he’s hearing, he shouldn’t tweet”, but instead “testify under oath”.
His comments came after Trump tweeted attacks on a witness – Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine – while she was testifying to Congress on Friday.
Ms Yovanovitch said it was “very intimidating”, which Trump denied.
Ms Yovanovitch was removed as ambassador to Kyiv in May, two months before a controversial phone call between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, which is now key to the inquiry.
A rough transcript of the call revealed that Trump had urged President Zelensky to investigate unsubstantiated allegations against Biden and his son Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.
READ ALSO: Trump says he might be willing to testify in impeachment inquiry
In the latest development, state department official David Holmes told investigators in closed door testimony on Saturday that he had overheard a U.S. diplomat telling Trump that Ukraine would carry out investigations the president had asked for.
The House of Representatives is also investigating whether Trump lied to special counsel Robert Mueller in written answers he provided in the Russia investigation, the House’s general counsel said in federal court yesteray.
“Did the President lie? Was the President not truthful in his responses to the Mueller investigation?” House general counsel Douglas Letter told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit about why the House now needs access to grand jury material Mueller collected in his investigation.
The House’s arguments yesterday draw new focus to whether Trump had lied to Mueller following public revelations at Roger Stone’s trial this month.
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