WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump on Tuesday, acquiescing to mounting pressure from fellow Democrats and plunging a deeply divided nation into an election year clash between Congress and the commander in chief.
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The probe centers on whether Trump abused his presidential powers and sought help from a foreign government for his reelection. Pelosi said such actions would mark a “betrayal of his oath of office” and declared: “No one is above the law.”
Pelosi’s brief statement capped a frenetic stretch on Capitol Hill, as details of a classified whistleblower complaint about Trump burst into the open and momentum shifted swiftly toward an impeachment probe. The charge was led by several moderate Democratic lawmakers from political swing districts, many of them with national security backgrounds and serving in Congress for the first time.
After more than two and one-half years of sharp Democratic criticism of Trump, the formal impeachment quest sets up the party’s most urgent and consequential confrontation with a president who thrives on combat — and injects deep uncertainty in the 2020 White House race. Trump has all but dared Democrats to take this step, confident that the specter of impeachment led by the opposition party would bolster his political support
Trump, who was meeting with world leaders at the United Nations, previewed his defense in an all-caps tweet: “PRESIDENTIAL HARRASSMENT!”
Pelosi had barely finished speaking as he began a mini-blizzard of tweets assailing her announcement.
At issue are Trump’s actions with Ukraine. In a summer phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he is said to have asked for help investigating Democrat Joe Biden and his son Hunter. In the days before the call, Trump ordered advisers to freeze $400 million in military aid for Ukraine — prompting speculation that he was holding out the money as leverage for information on the Bidens. Trump has denied that charge, but acknowledged he blocked the funds.
Ahead of Pelosi’s announcement, Trump authorized the release of a transcript of his call with Ukraine’s president, predicting it would show no evidence of wrongdoing. The transcript is to be made public on Wednesday.
“You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call,” Trump said.
The clock to oblivion is ticking on Trump’s disgusting performance as President. His great legacy of ‘soooo much winning’ is turning into a legacy of dismal drek. The GOP-run US Senate today unanimously passed a binding resolution to get the WHISTLEBLOWER’s testimony. Trump joins Andrew Johnson, Tricky Dick NIXON, Bill Clinton having formal Congressional hearings on IMPEACHMENT against them. Those dogs didn’t turn out too well.
This is the new scandal of the month club. The whining millionaires (congress) have to have something to do other than write legislation and vote on them that can help the country. They were ready to impeach him the day he was elected, if this doesn’t work I can hardly wait for the next story for impeachment.
Trump rules… you can go under the guise of multiple names mr medina you’re still an irrational trump basher … how in the world do you impeach when the transcript wasn’t released yet it just shows bias and hatred ….all those self righteous Democrats they’re almost out of time so they’ll impeach trump without a crime
No one is above the law unless they are a darling of the media. Right now this country has many pressing issues and needs real solutions to health care, an aging population, dwindling income, impotent politicians (such as Mario Cuomo Jr who can’t get gas to anyone in NY State from National Grid or Con Ed). Our political structure is a stabile as our infrastructure and grabbing headlines, being camera ready, quip ready, a twit to tweet – is of greater importance than governing. You will not find a Moynihan or a Javits or a Chisolm today, just a rabble of immature and ineffective sycophants.
Problem is non of you actually know the law. You can’t have a whistle blower on President he’s covered and by law he doesn’t have to release anything
Seems well past due. Let us look and see what there is to find.
Maybe the Tsar was above the law in the Pale but we’re not in the shtetl any more. Unless you are mentally. So why did you come over in steerage? To live in another feudal tsarist country? Americans have been working on democracy since 1776. That includes checks and balances on corrupt little tsars like Trump.
too bad the dems have nothing positive to add to the country so they try to ruin Trump. They have NO ideas, no plans, just negative negative and more negative comments….