Donald Trump has not provided the vision previous presidents have. Photo: AFP

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Tuesday the opening of a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, saying he had violated the constitution in seeking help from Ukraine to hurt Democratic opponent Joe Biden.

“The actions of the Trump presidency revealed [the] dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections,” she said.

“Therefore, today I’m announcing the House of Representatives moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.”

Pelosi spoke after meeting fellow members of the Democratic House caucus, where impeachment calls are surging despite concerns by leadership that the move could hurt their chances in the 2020 election.

The announcement was sparked by a scandal over Trump’s reported attempt to pressure the incoming president of Ukraine to open a corruption investigation into his main challenger for the White House, Joe Biden, and Biden’s son Hunter.

Triggering the confrontation was an as yet secret whistleblower complaint centered on Trump’s phone call July 25 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump has admitted he spoke to Zelensky about Biden in the call, and said Tuesday he had halted aid to the country temporarily, before it was unfrozen last week.

But he rejected charges that the two were tied, saying the aid freeze was to prod European countries to increase their support for the Ukraine government.

Pelosi had been stiffly resisting impeachment, hoping to keep the focus on capturing the Senate and White House in 2020.

But after seven moderate Democrats declared themselves in support of a full-blown impeachment probe late Monday, analysts counted at least 170 of the party’s 235 House members in support.

“I was there… in the ’90s when we wrote the whistleblower laws and continued to write them to ensure the security of our intelligence and the safety of our whistleblowers,” Pelosi said.

“I know what their purpose was. And we proceeded with balance and caution as we wrote the laws.

“I can say with authority, the Trump administration’s actions undermine both – our national security and our intelligence – and our protections of the whistleblowers, more than both.”

– AFP

Join the Conversation

11 Comments

  1. When someone writes an piece of writing he/she keeps the plan of a user in his/her brain that how a user can understand it.
    Thus that’s why this post is amazing. Thanks!

  3. Its such as you read my thoughts! You appear to understand so much
    about this, like you wrote the e book in it or something.
    I feel that you simply could do with a few p.c. to force the message home a bit,
    but instead of that, that is magnificent blog. A great read.
    I will definitely be back.

  4. I’m really enjoying the theme/design of your blog.
    Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues?
    A few of my blog audience have complained about my blog not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Chrome.
    Do you have any ideas to help fix this issue?

  6. I got this web site from my friend who informed me about this website and at
    the moment this time I am browsing this website and reading very informative content at this place.

  7. Aw, this was an exceptionally nice post. Spending
    some time and actual effort to create a really good article… but what
    can I say… I procrastinate a lot and never manage to get nearly anything
    done.

  8. After looking over a few of the blog posts on your
    website, I honestly appreciate your way of writing a blog.

    I saved it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back soon. Take a look at my
    website as well and let me know your opinion.

  9. I like the valuable info you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here regularly. I am quite sure I’ll learn a lot of new stuff right here! Best of luck for the next!

Leave a comment