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Nancy Pelosi Announces Formal Impeachment Inquiry of Trump

WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Tuesday that the House would begin a formal impeachment inquiry of President Trump, saying that he had betrayed his oath of office and the nation’s security in seeking to enlist a foreign power for his own political gain.

“The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution,” she said after emerging from a meeting of House Democrats in the basement of the Capitol. Mr. Trump, she said, “must be held accountable — no one is above the law.”

The announcement was a stunning development that unfolded after months of caution by House Democrats, who have been divided over using the ultimate remedy to address what they have called flagrant misconduct by the president. It ushered in the beginning of a remarkable new chapter in American political life, with the potential to cleave an already divided nation, reshape Mr. Trump’s presidency and the country’s politics, and create heavy risks both for him and for the Democrats who have decided to weigh his removal. And it could result in Mr. Trump becoming only the third president in modern history to be impeached, after Bill Clinton and Richard M. Nixon, who resigned in the middle of the process.

In this case, with an avalanche of Democrats — including many who had resisted the move — now demanding it, Ms. Pelosi said that Mr. Trump’s reported actions, and his administration’s refusal to share details about the matter with Congress, have left the House no alternative outside of impeachment.

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. The conversation is said to be part of a whistle-blower complaint that the Trump administration has withheld from Congress.

Mr. Trump said on Tuesday that he would authorize the release of a transcript of the conversation, practically daring Democrats to try to find an impeachable offense in a conversation that he has called “perfect.” But Democrats, after months of holding back, demanded the full whistle-blower complaint, even as they pushed toward an expansive impeachment inquiry that could encompass unrelated charges.

“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,” Ms. Pelosi said.

The president, in New York for several days of international diplomacy at the United Nations, issued a defiant response on Twitter, in a series of fuming posts that culminated with a simple phrase: “PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!”

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,” Mr. Trump wrote. “So bad for our Country!



Ms. Pelosi said she had directed the chairmen of the six committees that have been investigating Mr. Trump to “proceed under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry.” In a closed-door meeting earlier in the day, she said the panels would put together their best cases on potentially impeachable offenses by the president and send them to the Judiciary Committee, according to two officials familiar with the conversation. That could potentially lay the groundwork for articles of impeachment based on the findings.

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.

Ms. Pelosi met privately on Tuesday with the leaders of the six key committees involved in investigations of Mr. Trump, and later huddled with the full Democratic caucus. Her announcement came amid a groundswell in favor of impeachment among Democrats that has intensified since late last week, with lawmakers from every corner of her caucus lining up in favor of using the House’s unique power to charge Mr. Trump if the allegations are proved true, or if his administration continues to stonewall attempts by Congress to investigate them.

The House Judiciary Committee has been conducting its own impeachment investigation focused on the findings of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, as well as allegations that Mr. Trump may be illegally profiting from spending by state and foreign governments and other matters. But that inquiry has never gotten the imprimatur of a full House vote or the full rhetorical backing of the speaker, as Democrats remained divided about the wisdom and political implications of impeaching a president without broader public support.

Now, after the revelation of a conversations between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in which Mr. Trump pressed the foreign leader to investigate the Bidens, a cascading flood of Democrats has come out in favor of a formal impeachment proceeding.

The shift in outlook among Democratic lawmakers has been rapid, and could yet still turn away from impeachment if exculpatory evidence comes to light. The developments that have turned the tide began less that two weeks ago, when Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the Intelligence Committee chairman, first revealed the existence of a secret whistle-blower complaint that the intelligence community’s internal watchdog had deemed “urgent” and credible but that the Trump administration had refused to share with Congress.

Democrats have given Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, until Thursday to turn over the whistle-blower complaint or risk reprisal. And they have threatened to subpoena the Trump administration for a copy of the transcript of the president’s call with Mr. Zelensky and other relevant documents after Thursday if they are not shared voluntarily.

There were also indications the whistle-blower might not wait around for the complaint to be disclosed. Democrats said on Tuesday that a lawyer for the whistle-blower had informed the committee his client wanted to speak with the House and Senate intelligence panels, and had requested directions from the office of the director of national intelligence on how to do so.

Though it has attracted much less fanfare, the Senate Intelligence Committee intends to meet privately with the inspector general and Mr. Maguire this week to discuss the whistle-blower complaint.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/24/us/politics/democrats-impeachment-trump.html


This deserves it's own thread.

The left is still grasping at straws.

They have tried everything but the kitchen sink and The Donald just flicks them off his lapel.

Viva Trump! Take down those libs again...

Trump tried to get Nancy to commit obstruction of justice.

omfg.....

Lol

McConnell: 'I was not given an explanation' for Ukraine aid delay

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he was not provided an explanation for why the Trump administration held up aid to Ukraine when he pressed senior officials on the matter over the summer.

"I was not given an explanation," McConnell told reporters Tuesday as the congressional furor grew over President Trump’s interactions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

McConnell said he spoke to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo twice about the matter without receiving clarification for the delay in $391 million in aid to Ukraine.

“I was very actively involved in advocating [for] the aid. I talked to the secretary of Defense, the secretary of State once,” he said.

“The good news was it finally happened,” he added, noting the administration finally released the aid. “I have no idea what precipitated the delay.”

Media outlets reported Tuesday that Trump asked his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney in July to put a hold on the aid before a phone call with Zelensky in which Trump suggested Ukraine conduct an investigation of Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden or Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

House Democrats are considering voting on articles of impeachment in response to the reports, which were spurred by an intelligence community whistleblower.

McConnell said the matter should be handled by the Senate Intelligence Committee and noted that acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire is scheduled to appear before the panel Thursday.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4628...raine-aid-delay

Democrats Wrote to Ukraine in May 2018, Demanding It Investigate Trump



Joel B. Pollak24 Sep 2019

Democrats wrote to the Ukrainian government in May 2018 urging it to continue investigations into President Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign — collusion later found not to exist.

The demand, which came from U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), resurfaced Wednesday in an opinion piece written by conservative Marc Thiessen in the Washington Post.

Ironically, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) declared Tuesday that the mere possibility that President Trump had asked Ukraine to continue an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden — even without a quid pro quo — was enough to trigger an impeachment inquiry. (Biden boasted in 2018 that he had forced Ukraine to remove its prosecutor by threatening to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid; he did not tell his audience at the Council on Foreign Relations that the prosecutor was looking into a firm on whose board his son, Hunter Biden, was serving.)

Thiessen observed (original links):

It got almost no attention, but in May [2018], CNN reported that Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) wrote a letter to Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Yuriy Lutsenko, expressing concern at the closing of four investigations they said were critical to the Mueller probe. In the letter, they implied that their support for U.S. assistance to Ukraine was at stake. Describing themselves as “strong advocates for a robust and close relationship with Ukraine,” the Democratic senators declared, “We have supported [the] capacity-building process and are disappointed that some in Kyiv appear to have cast aside these [democratic] principles to avoid the ire of President Trump,” before demanding Lutsenko “reverse course and halt any efforts to impede cooperation with this important investigation.”

The Democrats’ letter is available online here. In it, Menendez, Durbin, and Leahy demanded that the Ukrainian government answer their questions about the Mueller probe, and issued an implied threat: “This reported refusal to cooperate with the Mueller probe also sends a worrying signal — to the Ukrainian people as well as the international community — about your government’s commitment more broadly to support justice and the rule of law.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/...estigate-trump/

Hit this pos potus with everything. Strike on all sides! Fool us once shame on you. Fool us twice shame on us. No doubt the turtle in charge of the senate will keep his shell in the muddy swamp as usual, and only stick his beak out to support this pos.

Trump has admitted what he’s done. By god the sheep that support this guy will never be true Americans again. They’ve gone over the edge with this announcement. Watch for the call for militias soon.

You know that it's legal for the Dems to do what they did right?

You know that it would be impeachable if the POTUS applied pressure to a foreign government to investigate a person (let alone who is the son of an opponent) .... and then to withhold aid because of that.

False equivalency - it's the standard GOP play.

First off, look at your source... Brietbart... Come on man.

Next point is simple, There is a HUGE difference between requesting information and holding financial aid up to get information.

Bully.. That's all that idiot in the white house is.

and they requested information by the book. they didnt send their personal lawyer to do it.

and thats whats missing from the MAGA hatters defense.

if trump really cared about corruption, why didnt he go to the FBI about this issue?

ALSO, this is trump were talking about. if trump was withholding aid from ukraine over corruption, he wouldve been TWEETING about it non freaking stop!!

this man brags about everything! he wouldve been on twitter, in front of the camera, on fox news talking about how he needed to withhold aid ALREADY approved by congress because of corruption, and hailed himself a hero.

none of that went down. ALSO, trump's story keeps changing.

first, it was about ukrainian corruption. then, its about the europeans not paying anything?

what?

Military ammunition sale to Ukraine faces year-long delay

https://news.yahoo.com/military-ammunition-sale-to-ukraine-faces-near-yearlong-delay-000127481.html

so now its multiple things that the trump administration has withheld from ukraine with little to no explanation. interesting.

Putin is popping champagne

Breaking:

Transcripts have been released: Trump asked Ukrainian president to investigate Biden

Also Breaking: Intel IG had referred a criminal complaint to DOJ on whether Trump broke campaign law over Trump's phone call to ukraine over Biden.

Also Breaking: State department says they did not have Rudy acting in official capacity to talk to ukraine about Biden

yikes.

j/c:

I do not post this in support of Trump. I post this to illustrate the disgusting hypocrisy of politics.

they impeached clinton over lying about an affair.

impeaching trump over the current issue has nothing to do with hatred and everything to do with actual unethical and criminal conduct.

stop

Breaking:

Transcripts have been released: Trump asked Ukrainian president to investigate Biden

Also Breaking: Intel IG had referred a criminal complaint to DOJ on whether Trump broke campaign law over Trump's phone call to ukraine over Biden.

Also Breaking: State department says they did not have Rudy acting in official capacity to talk to ukraine about Biden

and just so everyone is clear: the intel IG was handpicked by Trump

so reading the transcripts in conjuction with the intel IG criminal complaint:

Trump mentions Rudy and AG Barr when discussing an investigation into biden with the ukrainian president multiple times. then, the IG makes a criminal complaint to the DoJ over said phone call.

its gonna get ugly.

j/c:

Transcript:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/25/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-transcript-call/index.html

wonder how Barr will handle this.

he's named in the transcripts by trump, criminal complaint went to him and he blew it off.

Barr might have to recuse himself....and trump wont like that one bit.

pretty much how i am right now.

J/C

How cute, Memphis utilizes the moving the goal post logical fallacy. That’s also a whataboutism. What a wonderful play from the Russia disinformation playbook!

———————————

Stand and be counted. I want to know who is okay with Trump asking a foreign government to investigate his opponent, and then reduce/change aid.

For years we heard “okay, what’s your evidence” and it’s been there the nature time.

Now Trump literally giftwrapped more evidence for you.

Impeach this traitor.

And after his impeachment, try him for his rampant corruption.

They are trying to impeach the president based on that phone call?

Trump will only be more popular after the farce is over, and Biden may be in some trouble.

Do you really think that what was provided by the White House was the entire phone call? According to what is being reported, the whistle blower has a list of things and not just a phone call.

You see, anyone who trusts a pathological liar to turn over incriminating evidence against himself has to be a fool.

I'll wait until I hear from the whistle blower himself and hear a recording of the entire phone call after being checked by experts before I make any determination.

And here's the point many seem to be missing. It's an impeachment "Inquiry". Congress has not filed any articles of impeachment..... yet.

yes, let us see what is so impeachable.

Remember when Clinton got impeached, his popularity soared. Expect the same here.

J/C

I think EVERYONE should have learned by now to wait until more facts come out. BOTH sides.

The transcript that was released doesn't really show anything, if you ask me. Do you guys really think if it did, they would have released it? Willingly? Come on.

While the transcript does show Trump asking Zelensky to probe Biden, it does not show Trump explicitly linking U.S. aid to Ukraine. They would have never released it if it did.

If the whistleblower has more info, as Pitt stated, we will see it eventually - maybe.

Until then, I am keeping my judgement on all of this open, as it EASILY could go either way.

If they can show he used the aid as a means of ransom, then the impeachment proceedings are valid.

If they cannot, then they may have just bought Trump another 4 years.

Actually, I don't think there has to be a quid pro quo involved when asking a foreign government to investigate a political opponent. But I'm still looking into that aspect.

You can't make this stuff up

White Housse accidentally sends anit-impeachment talking points to Democrats

Agreed, however with that said that transcript is not a transcript. It is a summary so I would not take it at face value either way. Additionally Trump while not intelligent is like a Crime Boss and speaks in codes and would not directly incriminate himself. Just like his lawyer Cohen said. while that summary doesn't paint a significant enough picture to condone Trump, we need to know why the funds for their military and the aid was delayed .... if that was just a trump call then what other explanation do you have other thanBS??.... like all things Trump all we can do is hope the truth comes out

IDK, its been done before with the whole Dossier thing, if I remember correctly.

And if Biden did use his VP seat to stop an in investigation - well that's pretty much everything the dems have been trying to nail trump with for the last 3 years. He should be forced out the race and charged, if able to.

I want to know more about both sides of this, that's for sure.

Well he gave you a reason. One on Monday and a different one on Tuesday. All you have to do is pick one. Or was he supposed to do that?

I'm more than open to hearing everything. When it comes to both Biden and Trump. If there was wrong doing from both, then both should suffer consequences.

The claim is that the U.S. aid to Ukraine was frozen, but that it was over corruption concerns and other countries not paying their fair share. We shall see, if that was the case, there would have to be paper trail and meetings regarding that.

Well on Monday he said it was over corruption concerns.

On Tuesday he said it was because he of a lack of similar financial contribution by other Western powers to Ukraine.

Again, we shall see. I just think its dangerous to throw out assumptions as facts - because if this is nothing, the dems will look really bad.

If there is something, continue on with investigating.

We will see.

agreed.