The White House says President Trump and his lawyers will not attend the impeachment hearing in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee said Mr Trump cannot be expected to participate “fairly”.
Last week, Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Mr Trump should either attend or “stop complaining about the process”.
The White House did not say whether Mr Trump would attend a second hearing.
Rather it would respond separately to an invitation to the second hearing – which does not yet have a date set.