Trump slams Democrats for scheduling impeachment hearing during NATO meeting

US President Donald Trump on Monday slammed the Opposition Democratic Party for scheduling impeachment hearings against him when he is attending the NATO Summit in the United Kingdom.

Trump left the White House on Monday morning to attend the NATO Summit in Britain.

"This is one of the most important journeys that we make as President. And for them (Democrats) to be doing this and saying this and putting an impeachment on the table, which is a hoax to start off with," Trump told reporters on the South lawns of the White House before boarding Marine One aircraft.

"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," he said.

Accompanied by First Lady Melania, Trump said the impeachment proceedings were a disgrace for the country.

"The Ukrainian president came out and said very strongly that President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong. That should be case over. But he just came out a little while ago and said President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong and that should end everything," he said.

"But it will never end it because they want to do what they want to do. They're getting killed in their own districts. I think it's going to be a tremendous boon for the Republicans. Republicans have never, ever been so committed as they are right now and so united. So it's really a great thing in some ways but in other ways it's a disgrace," said Trump.

Soon after boarding Air Force One for United Kingdom, Trump repeated his accusations against the Democrats in a tweet.

"Heading to Europe to represent our country and fight hard for the American people while the Do Nothing Democrats purposely scheduled an impeachment hoax hearing on the same date as NATO. Not nice!" the US President tweeted.

The House Congressional committee began Monday morning reviewing the investigation report of Trump's impeachment inquiry setting the stage for charges to be filed.

The committee is expected to consider and vote the report on Tuesday evening, which would then head to the House Intelligence Committee for it to frame impeachment charges.

If Trump is impeached, he will be only the third such president in American history.

In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, the White House said that it will not participate in its impeachment hearings.

"We cannot fairly be expected to participate in a hearing while the witnesses are yet to be named and while it remains unclear whether the Judiciary Committee will afford the President a fair process through additional hearings," White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote to Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler.

"More importantly, an invitation to an academic discussion with law professors does not begin to provide the President with any semblance of a fair process. Accordingly, under the current circumstances, we do not intend to participate in your Wednesday hearing," he said.