Nancy Pelosi announces formal impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump over Ukraine scandal
WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Tuesday a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump over the president's efforts to get Ukraine to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden.
"The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law," said Pelosi, who accused him of betraying his oath of office and endangering national security.
"The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution," she said, "especially when the president says 'I can do whatever I want.'"
Democrats have expressed alarm over an August complaint from an unnamed official in the intelligence community who expressed concerns over Trump's contacts with Ukraine. On July 25, Trump had a phone call with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky to urge him to fight corruption. He has acknowledged bringing up Biden in that conversation.
Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani have been pushing Ukraine to investigate Burisma Group, a Ukrainian energy company where the vice president's son Hunter served on the board of directors.
During the time period when Trump and Zelensky spoke, the Trump administration was holding up millions of dollars in military aid approved by Congress.
Trump, who was attending the United Nations summit in New York, said an impeachment inquiry would cause Democrats to lose the election in 2020.
“If she (Pelosi) does that, they all say that’s a positive for me in the election,” he said. “You could also say who needs it, it’s bad for the county.”
He later tweeted: “Such an important day at the United Nations, so much work and so much success, and the Democrats purposely had to ruin and demean it with more breaking news Witch Hunt garbage. So bad for our Country!”
Other Democratic House members – including those representing majority-Republican districts – stepped forward individually.
The House Intelligence Committee scheduled a public hearing Thursday with the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, to ask why he prevented the intelligence community's inspector general from detailing the whistleblower complaint to Congress. Maguire has said the complaint didn't qualify for disclosure because it didn't involve allegations of conduct by a member of the intelligence community.
Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., tweeted Tuesday that the whistleblower's lawyer, Andrew Bakaj, offered to have his client meet with the panel and has requested guidance from Maguire. Schiff said the meeting could happen as soon as this week.
The top lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee – Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. – also asked Bakaj for their panel to have a confidential meeting Friday with the whistleblower.
Many House Democrats say Thursday could be a tipping point if there hadn't been one already, noting that if Congress was stonewalled on getting these documents it would force their hand on impeachment.
Impeaching a U.S. president might not be the be all end all for their career. Not only can a president remain in office after impeachment, but even see higher approval ratings. We explain. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
Trump has promised to release a full transcript of the phone call with the Ukraine president on Wednesday and insisted there was no attempt to link the military aid to investigating Biden and his son.
“There was no pressure put on them whatsoever. But there was pressure put on with respect to Joe Biden. What Joe Biden did for his son that's something they should be looking at,” Trump said.
At a news conference in Delaware, Biden called for the administration to “stop stonewalling” and urged Congress to fully investigate the president.
“I can take the personal attacks,” Biden said. “But if we allow a president to get away with shredding the U.S. Constitution, that will last forever.”
For months, as House Democrats have pursued wide-ranging investigations of the Trump, Pelosi has been reluctant to begin formal impeachment proceedings, saying she believe the best way to remove the president from office is for Democrats to win the White House in November 2020.
Pelosi is considering several options in response to the controversy, including forming a special committee and introducing a resolution denouncing Trump’s actions, according to a senior Democratic source. “This is a moment,” the source said, adding Pelosi could modify her long-held stance opposing impeachment.
Pelosi is facing a caucus that has increasingly grown supportive of impeachment. Well more than half of all House Democrats support impeachment in some manner.
The Ukraine allegations changed the political equation. Seven first-term Democrats who served in the military or in intelligence agencies – Reps. Gil Cisneros of California, Jason Crow of Colorado, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Elaine Luria of Virginia, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia – wrote a Washington Post op-ed Monday called the Ukraine allegations stunning and said they must be investigated.
“The president of the United States may have used his position to pressure a foreign country into investigating a political opponent, and he sought to use U.S. taxpayer dollars as leverage to do it,” the seven lawmakers said. “If these allegations are true, we believe these actions represent an impeachable offense.”
Others stepped forward one by one. Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-N.Y., tweeted Tuesday that the president’s first responsibility is to keep the country safe, “but it has become clear that our president has placed his personal interests above the national security of our nation. I believe articles of impeachment are warranted.”
The first responsibility of the President of the United States is to keep our country safe, but it has become clear that our president has placed his personal interests above the national security of our nation. I believe articles of impeachment are warranted. My statement:
2,958 people are talking about this
Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., said in a statement she was “deeply alarmed” by the reports of Trump’s abuse of power. “President Trump may have used the power of his office to pressure a foreign head of state for his own political gain. If true, these actions represent an impeachable offense.”
A House majority of at least 218 votes would be needed to approve articles of impeachment. That means Pelosi would need all but 18 members of her caucus of 235 Democrats and independent Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a former Republican who supports impeachment, to support the effort, if all 199 Republicans are opposed.
House Democrats are already conducting investigations of Trump to determine whether he obstructed justice in the Russia inquiry, violated campaign-finance laws for paying off a porn star before the election, fell under the influence of foreign governments or profits unconstitutionally from his namesake business while in office.
But Republicans have argued that Democrats are grasping at straws after special counsel Robert Mueller established no conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and Russians who sought repeatedly to influence the outcome. Even if the House votes to impeach Trump, the Republican-controlled Senate is unlikely to remove him from office. Trump himself vowed to fight all subpoenas from congressional investigators, under what he called partisan harassment of his administration.
"What I really see happening is that Democrats are winding up the outrage machine again," said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the third highest-ranking Republican in the Senate.
President Donald Trump is denying that he told the president of Ukraine that his country would only get U.S. aid if they investigated the son of Democratic rival Joe Biden. Trump said emphatically: "I didn't do it." (Sept. 23) AP, AP
Bart Jansen and Christal Hayes
Nancy Pelosi announces formal impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump over Ukraine scandal
Comments