Impeachment Inquiry Underway
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Tuesday a full impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. For a quick primer on how the whole thing works, click here...
The New York Times reported Rep. Pelosi's announcement followed months of pressure from fellow Democrats to take action against the administration.
“The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution,” Ms. Pelosi said after a meeting of House Democrats.
The president, she said, “must be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
As the Times reports, at issue are allegations that "Mr. Trump pressured the president of Ukraine to open a corruption investigation of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, and his son."
In a related story, the president announced Tuesday he was authorizing the release the transcript of his conversation with the Ukraine president.
The Times notes, "the decision to begin a formal impeachment inquiry does not necessarily mean that the House will ultimately vote to charge Mr. Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors — much less that the Republican-controlled Senate will vote to remove him. But Ms. Pelosi and her leadership would not initiate the process unless they were prepared to reach that outcome."
[Sources: USA Today, New York Times Online]