The White House informed House Democrats on Sunday that it will not participate in the Judiciary Committee’s first impeachment hearing, set for December 4, Politico reported.

It excoriated Democrats’ impeachment inquiry as a “baseless” and “partisan” exercise in scathing five-page letter to the panel’s chairman, Jerrold Nadler.

Last week, Nadler invited US President Donald Trump to this impeachment hearing and asked him to respond by 6pm local time on December 1.

Earlier, Trump had not ruled out giving testimony in Congress as part of impeachment monitoring.