The White House rejected as unfair a resolution by Democrats that will formalize an impeachment inquiry that began last month.

The resolution, which could pass the House as early as this week, outlines some rights for Republicans but keeps most power with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who has been deposing witnesses in closed-door hearings.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone said in an Oct. 8 letter that the White House would not cooperate with the impeachment proceeding because it lacked authorization by a House floor vote.

By introducing the resolution, Democrats hope to remove a key Republican argument that the proceeding is illegitimate. But White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham contended it changes little in terms of the inquiry being stacked against Trump.

"The resolution put forward by Speaker Pelosi confirms that House Democrats’ impeachment has been an illegitimate sham from the start as it lacked any proper authorization by a House vote," Grisham said. "This resolution does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the Administration"

She added: "It continues this scam by allowing Chairman Schiff, who repeatedly lies to the American people, to hold a new round of hearings, still without any due process for the President.The White House is barred from participating at all, until after Chairman Schiff conducts two rounds of one-sided hearings to generate a biased report for the Judiciary Committee. Even then, the White House's rights remain undefined, unclear, and uncertain – because those rules still haven’t been written."

According to the eight-page resolution, House Republicans can request witnesses, but if Schiff declines, the full House Intelligence Committee must decide. Democrats outnumber Republicans on the committee 13 to nine.

The resolution approves continued investigation of Trump by a total of six House committees, including the House Judiciary Committee, and vaguely references the House Rules Committee having a role in establishing "such procedures as to allow for the participation of the President and his counsel."

Within the White House, there's a division on the proper approach toward impeachment, with Cipollone accused of having a politically naive "bunker mentality" by allies of White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Mulvaney recently appeared to concede Trump made a quid pro quo in tying about $400 million in Ukraine aid to investigations of Democrats. He later backtracked.