House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Tuesday announced the House’s formal impeachment inquiry of President Trump.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces that the House will initiate an impeachment inquiry regarding President Trump’s dealing with Ukraine.
“Therefore today, I’m announcing that the House of Representatives is moving forward with an impeachment inquiry. I’m directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella.”
Trump is accused of threatening in a phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to withhold military aid unless Zelensky investigated the business dealings of Joe Biden‘s son Hunter in the European country. Trump says he held up the aid amid concerns about corruption in Ukraine, but not in a quid-pro-quo arrangement to target Biden and his Presidential campaign specifically.
The House Judiciary Committee will conduct an inquiry into the matter. If its members find that a crime has occurred, they will transmit their findings to the full House, which would then vote on whether to draft articles of impeachment. Assuming that passes, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts would preside over a trial in the Senate — which is unlikely to vote to remove the President with Republicans holding a 53-47 majority. (USA Today)
Hot Takes:
- Trump agreeing to release the transcript of the phone call is a smokescreen. He knows it’s bad, but not so bad he wouldn’t survive, and he hopes people will say, “That’s it?” But the full report is way worse.
- They couldn’t get him on Russia, so now they’ve found another nothing-burger.
- Pelosi resisted calls for impeachment for close to a year over Russia, but now she feels like she has political cover with most House Democrats on board.