House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she supports a formal impeachment inquiry, though there’s no vote scheduled at this time, the latest action in a spiraling controversy over a phone call President Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Following a meeting with the House Democratic Caucus, Pelosi said six Democratic-chaired panels, led by the Judiciary Committee, will continue to investigate the president under the “umbrella of an impeachment inquiry,” even if there is no full House vote just yet.
“Today, I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry,” Pelosi told reporters on Tuesday. “The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
Her decision will divide the caucus as some members are concerned that waiting to have a formal impeachment vote will benefit Trump. Pelosi may have balked at a vote, which would help investigators get streamlined access to material, because there were not enough votes to reach a simple majority. Pelosi said she is asking committee leaders to send their findings to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, who can then submit articles of impeachment to the House floor.
“The actions taken to date by our president have seriously violated the Constitution,” said Pelosi, who indicated that Trump’s admission that he did urge Ukraine’s leader to look into a political rival was the final straw. “The actions of the Trump presidency revealed dishonorable facts of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections.”
Trump responded within moments, tweeting, “Witch Hunt!” and “PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!”
Earlier this month, as frustration over Pelosi’s hesitation reached a boiling point, Nadler announced his panel was conducting an official investigation. Pelosi said she supported Nadler and is “very pleased” with his committee’s work, but stopped short of backing his claim. She walked out on the press roughly two weeks ago, shutting down questions about whether the House is conducting a formal impeachment inquiry.
More than 170 Democrats of the 235-member caucus in the House now favor some sort of impeachment action, a number which spiked after the emergence of an intelligence community whistleblower complaint earlier this month. They are joined by Rep. Justin Amash, who is now an independent after leaving the Republican Party.
The course described by Pelosi is a marked difference from impeachment proceedings in 1998 against Democratic President Bill Clinton, when Republicans held the House majority. In October of that year, the full House voted to proceed with an impeachment inquiry.
In the Democratic presidential primary too, top candidates, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, are demanding impeachment. But the controversy most directly involves Joe Biden, the 2020 front-runner.
Democrats have raised the alarm about reports that say in a July 25 phone call Trump pressured Zelensky to work with his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to investigate Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who did business in Ukraine while his father was vice president, at the same time he was withholding $250 million in military aid.
Trump has admitted that he talked about Biden to Zelensky, but claims there was no “quid pro quo.” Trump said on Tuesday that he will release the unredacted transcript of the phone call with Zelensky, which immediately drew scorn from Democrats who say they want more information, mainly the whistleblower complaint that reportedly relates to the Trump-Zelensky call. In the Senate a resolution was approved calling for the whistleblower complaint to be released.
The president also accused Democrats of hurting their constituents by dedicating too much focus on impeachment. “The Democrats are so focused on hurting the Republican Party and the President that they are unable to get anything done because of it, including legislation on gun safety, lowering of prescription drug prices, infrastructure, etc. So bad for our Country!” he tweeted.
So far the Trump administration has refused to give Congress the whistleblower complaint, which the U.S. Intelligence Community inspector general found to be “credible” and “urgent.” Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire has rejected Democrats’ assertion that a whistleblower statute requires him to hand over the complaint, arguing, after receding guidance from the Justice Department and White House, that its contents lay outside of his jurisdiction.
Pelosi demanded Maguire give the complaint to lawmakers on Thursday. “He will have to choose whether to break the law or honor his responsibility to the Constitution,” she said.
Maguire is scheduled to testify before the House Intelligence Committee in a rare open session on Thursday. The Senate intelligence Committee is also expected to interview Maguire in a closed session that day. The whistleblower also is reaching out to the intelligence panels, seeking a way to communicate directly with lawmakers.
Biden announced on Tuesday that he backs the impeachment of Trump if the president fails to cooperate with Congress over claims by an intelligence community whistleblower about the Biden family’s dealings with Ukraine. “Using its full constitutional authority, Congress, in my view, should demand the information it has a legal right to receive. If a president does not comply with such a request to Congress, if he continues to obstruct Congress and flout the law, Donald Trump will leave the Congress with no choice but to initiate impeachment. That would be a tragedy, but a tragedy of he’s own making,” Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware.
Republican defenders of the president have urged caution with the whistleblower controversy, which only entered the public eye less than two weeks ago.
House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes warned there is no confirmation yet that it actually has anything to do with Ukraine. “Doesn’t it feel like the Russia hoax all over again? It’s like the Ukrainian hoax,” the California Republican told Fox News.
Rep. Mark Meadows accused Democrats of unfairly moving the goal posts and highlighted how reports said the whistleblower did not have direct knowledge of the communications between Trump and Ukraine. “POTUS says he’s releasing the full transcript of the Ukraine call, and amazingly Democrats now say the whistleblower complaint is more important Folks, the ‘whistleblower’ wasn’t on the call They think a secondhand account of the call will tell you more than the *actual call*,” the North Carolina Republican tweeted.
Trump, if impeached, would be the third president to meet that fate, after Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Clinton in 1998. Johnson and Clinton, both Democrats, were acquitted in their Senate trials. In 1974 the House Judiciary Committee approved articles impeachment for Republican President Richard Nixon over Watergate-related issues. But Nixon resigned before the full House voted or the Senate held a trial. Each chamber at the time had strong Democratic majorities and Nixon almost certainly would have been removed.
Trump is scheduled to meet with Zelensky on Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, after which he will hold a news conference. His re-election campaign is already fundraising off of Pelosi’s announcement.
