House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump Tuesday afternoon, according to the Associated Press.
“The intelligence community inspector general formally notified the Congress that the administration was forbidding him from turning over a whistleblower complaint—on Constitution Day. This is a violation of law,” she said.
“Today I am announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with a formal impeachment inquiry.”
BREAKING: Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "Today, I'm announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry."
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 24, 2019
"The president must be held accountable; no one is above the law." https://t.co/E2e0WqWOBQ pic.twitter.com/CRELddNf7K
A lot of news surrounding Trump and impeachment broke on Tuesday. Here’s a breakdown of all the news bits you might have missed.
- Around 11 a.m. MT, The Washington Post reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi planned to announce a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Pelosi planned to make her announcement Tuesday at a closed-door meeting with Democrats. Axios offered a look into Pelosi’s thinking on impeachment, which is certainly worth a read.
- Per Axios, the U.S. Senate unanimously called for Trump to release the full Ukraine whistleblower complaint, which allegedly involves Trump and Ukraine.
- President Trump tweeted that he would release the transcript of his July phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to quell any concerns over his call for Kiev to investigate his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
....You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call. No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2019
- According to The New York Times, the July transcript is only one piece of the puzzle. “A whistle-blower complaint, which the administration has blocked lawmakers from seeing, is said to deal at least in part with Ukraine and cover multiple actions,” according to The New York Times.
- California Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, tweeted Tuesday that the whistleblower’s counsel said their client was willing to speak to the committee and testify.
We have been informed by the whistleblower’s counsel that their client would like to speak to our committee and has requested guidance from the Acting DNI as to how to do so.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) September 24, 2019
We‘re in touch with counsel and look forward to the whistleblower’s testimony as soon as this week.
- Biden said he would back impeachment if Trump didn’t work with Congress to release information about the Ukraine phone call, according to The New York Times.
- Other Democratic presidential candidates called for Trump to release details of the interactions between Trump and the Ukrainian leader. The candidates argued the transcript of one phone call was not enough, according to The Hill.
- Over the weekend, a Wall Street Journal report revealed that Trump pressed Ukraine’s president to investigate Biden’s son Hunter. He reportedly called for Zelensky to work with Rudy Guiuliani to hurt Biden. On Monday, The Washington Post reported that Trump ordered with withholding military aid to Ukraine. A whistleblower previously released a report that someone, apparently Trump, made an inappropriate “promise” to a foreign leader, according to The Washington Post.