House launches formal impeachment inquiry into Trump

President Trump took to Twitter just minutes after Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the start of a formal impeachment inquiry by the House, calling it “more breaking news Witch Hunt garbage.”

He followed that tweet up with another in which he named several top House Democrats and asked, “Can you believe this?”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi just announced Congress is launching a formal impeachment inquiry.

“The President must be held accountable. No one is above the law,” she said.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is making an announcement. You can watch this live above or follow here.

This comes after news that President Trump pressed Ukraine’s president in a call to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, a person familiar with the situation said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking to her caucus behind closed doors this afternoon, said she told President Trump this morning to release the whistleblower’s complaint, according to two sources in the room.  

A separate source in the room said Pelosi added: “Here we are. A moment of truth. Truth is what this has been about all along.” She said, “The DNI has chosen to break the law. The law is clear,” and added, “This is a betrayal of our national security. A betrayal of our election.” 

According to two other sources, Pelosi also said, “We will have an impeachment inquiry.”

About the whistleblower’s complaint: CNN had earlier reported, citing a source familiar with the case, that the complaint was prompted by concerns over communications between the President and a foreign leader. The alleged whistleblower didn’t have direct knowledge of the communications that partly prompted the complaint to the inspector general, an official briefed on the matter told CNN on Thursday. Instead, the whistleblower’s concerns came in part from learning information that was not obtained during the course of their work, and those details have played a role in the administration’s determination that the complaint didn’t fit the reporting requirements under the intelligence whistleblower law, the official said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Joe Biden have not spoken today or in recent days about the prospect of opening an impeachment inquiry into President Trump, aides to both Democrats say.

Pelosi has been focusing on her Democratic members of Congress, an aide says, holding countless conversations with them. She has not been discussing this with presidential candidates.

Earlier today, Biden said he believes Trump has left Congress “no choice but to initiate impeachment.”

Some background: Trump admitted Monday that he delayed aid to Ukraine ahead of a call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, when he pushed the leader to look into Biden and his son’s work.

In a video posted on his official Facebook page from the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the United States supports Ukraine but notably did not mention the ongoing questions on his phone call with President Trump that took place in the summer.

“The most important thing is that we all should understand that the United States supports Ukraine. They do not just help — because we are a different country now, we need to be powerful — that is why support at the geopolitical level and investment support are important,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky also mentioned he plans to invite Trump to Ukraine.

“I expect us to have awesome relations with the United States. I expect us to invite Donald Trump to visit Ukraine. I would like the leaders of the countries to come and see how great Ukraine is. One should believe not the words, but the eyes,” he said.

CNN has repeatedly attempted to reach out to Ukraine’s presidential team for comment on the the telephone conversation with Trump.

The number of House Democrats who support an impeachment inquiry into President Trump is increasing.

Of the 235 Democrats in the House, there are at least 161 who’ve made clear they support starting the impeachment inquiry process, while some have gone further, according to a CNN count.

Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a former Republican who has since become an independent, has also called for impeachment proceedings, bringing the total number of representatives to 162.

Read a full list of those Democrats here.

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang took to Twitter to react to calls for impeachment.

Yang said he thinks “impeachment is the right path forward.”

Democratic Rep. Richard Neal said each of the six committees will continue to investigate under the umbrella of an impeachment inquiry. 

“The other committees are going to act under the umbrella of formal inquiry,” Neal, the chairman of House Ways and Ways Committee, told CNN who just left House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.

Pelosi was scheduled to meet with the chairmen of six committees that are investigating the President, according to Democratic sources.

President Trump announced earlier today that he planned to release a transcript of his call with Ukraine’s president tomorrow.

The release of the transcript follows days of internal debate inside the administration over whether it would be a wise move to do so.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and officials close to the White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney argued against releasing the transcript of the call, according to multiple sources, arguing primarily that it would set a bad precedent and undermine Trump’s presidential powers to conduct foreign policy.

But others — including Attorney General Bill Barr — encouraged Trump to lean into the sunlight. Attorneys at the Department of Justice and in the White House Counsel’s Office advocated for the release of the transcript since last Thursday, according to an official briefed on the matter.

That debate, and Trump’s competing instincts on the issue, often played out in public view.

On Sunday news programs, Pompeo argued “it wouldn’t be appropriate” to release calls between Trump and another foreign leader except under “the most extreme circumstances.” And Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said it “would be a terrible precedent. 

But hours later, Trump argued it would be “fine” to release the transcript — even as he took two more days to make up his mind.

The White House said reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will announce a formal impeachment inquiry are “nothing new.”

Former Vice President and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden said he can “take the political attacks” — but cautioned that President Trump’s actions could have repercussions that will last forever.

Biden went on to push Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump.

“Donald Trump will leave Congress, in my view, no choice but to initiate impeachment. That would be a tragedy, but a tragedy of his own making,” Biden said.

Some background: Trump admitted Monday that he delayed aid to Ukraine ahead of a call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, when he pushed the leader to look into Biden and his son’s work.

Former Vice President Joe Biden called on Congress to investigate President Trump.

“Denying Congress the information, which it is constitutionally entitled to, and obstructing its efforts to investigate actions is not the conduct of an American president. It’s an abuse of power,” Biden said.

“Donald Trump will leave Congress, in my view, no choice but to initiate impeachment. That would be a tragedy, but a tragedy of his own making,” Biden said.

He added that Congress should demand the information they need to investigate Trump.

“I can take the political attacks. They’ll come and they’ll go, and in time they’ll soon be forgotten, but if we allow a president to get away with shredding the United States constitution, that will last forever,” Biden said.

Watch here:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to announced a formal impeachment inquiry later today, according to multiple Hill sources.

An hour before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to convene her caucus to discuss next steps on investigations, President Trump is railing against Congressional inaction on gun control and healthcare – topics on which his administration has stonewalled, as well.   

Trump’s tweet comes less than an hour after he announced he would be releasing an unredacted transcript of his call with the Ukrainian president tomorrow.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said it’s “premature” to discuss what the Senate might do if President Trump is impeached in the House.

He said he was “never given an explanation” why the aid to Ukraine was held up even as he was pressing administration officials to release the aid.

McConnell said they were “going to find out what happened” in terms of the whistleblower’s allegations through the “apolitical” Senate Intelligence Committee process.

Asked if the Senate would take up articles of impeachment if they were sent over from the House, McConnell said he was not going to discuss all “various hypotheticals that have been aired out about what may or may not happen in the House” and said it was “premature” to consider. 

Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, just tweeted that the whistleblower’s attorney has informed the committee that he would like to testify. 

The testimony, he said, could happen as soon as this week.

About the whistleblower’s complaint: CNN had earlier reported, citing a source familiar with the case, that the complaint was prompted by concerns over communications between the President and a foreign leader. The alleged whistleblower didn’t have direct knowledge of the communications that partly prompted the complaint to the inspector general, an official briefed on the matter told CNN on Thursday. Instead, the whistleblower’s concerns came in part from learning information that was not obtained during the course of their work, and those details have played a role in the administration’s determination that the complaint didn’t fit the reporting requirements under the intelligence whistleblower law, the official said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was just speaking about President Trump’s announcement that he will release a transcript of his call with Ukraine’s president and whether her caucus will stand out of it turns out to be less harmful.

Pelosi made it clear that “it’s not about that.”

Here’s what she said:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi just addressed President Trump’s Ukraine drama.

Pelosi is expected to give a statement at 5 p.m. ET. She is speaking now at The Atlantic Festival.

President Trump just tweeted that he has “authorized the release tomorrow of the complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript of my phone conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine.”

Here are the tweets:

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, speaking in Iowa today, said he hopes the House Judiciary Committee will move forward with an impeachment inquiry against President Trump. 

Sanders, who has always been open to an impeachment inquiry, called on the committee to demand information from the Trump administration.

“But I think all over this country, we have people including Republicans, who are sick and tired of a president who believes that he does not have to obey the Constitution of the United States, and that he is above the law,” he said.

Sanders continued: “Enough is enough. Today I hope very much that the Judiciary Committee will go forward with an impeachment inquiry, but let me also say this. And that is, that the Congress of the United States must show the American people, that it can walk and chew bubblegum at the same time.”  

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will make a statement at 5 p.m. ET following her meeting with the House Democratic Caucus, her deputy chief of staff announced on Twitter.

The growing controversy over President Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s president has brought House Democrats near a “tipping point” on impeachment as the party weighs how to respond to the incident. 

Remember: The House has not taken any steps toward an impeachment inquiry. But if Congress does take action, here’s a step-by-step look at how it would play out:

Here’s the breakdown of how impeachment match would work:

House Democrats are nearing a tipping point on impeachment in the wake of the Trump administration blocking a whistleblower complaint’s release to Congress.

Moderate Democrats are showing new openness to move ahead with such an inquiry.

At least 155 of the 235 Democrats in the House have made clear they support starting the impeachment inquiry process.

Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a former Republican who has since become an independent, has also called for impeachment proceedings, bringing the total number of representatives to 156.

You can see the full whip list here.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning to put a resolution on the House floor tomorrow to address the Ukraine issue amid growing calls to start the impeachment process, sources said.

What that resolution will specifically say is still being worked out. In fact, a Democratic leadership aide said key committees are working on the language now.

A source adds Pelosi wants to do this before Thursday when Joseph McGuire, the acting director of National Intelligence, comes to the House Intelligence Committee in hopes of pressuring him to reveal the details of the whistleblower complaint.

Separately, CNN is told that Pelosi is telling members she thinks this issue is understandable for the American public, and they get it. (This is critical since her whole thing has been public support.)

Pelosi is also encouraging members of her caucus to state their impeachment position now in order to show there is a groundswell in the caucus. (As Rep. John Lewis and other Pelosi allies have done.) She is also giving that same message to freshmen.

This comes as Pelosi will meet with key committee chairmen this afternoon who are leading investigations into President Trump, ahead of a full caucus meeting at 4 p.m. ET. Pelosi is expected to address reporters after the meeting.

Former Vice President Joe Biden will say that Congress has “no choice but to impeach” President Trump if he does not comply with representatives’ requests for information, according to a campaign aide.

Biden is expected to speak today at 2:30 p.m. ET. 

President Trump again admitted to withholding aid to Ukraine, providing the excuse that he was awaiting additional aid from European nations, and claiming there was “never any quid pro quo.”

“I wanted to get other countries – other countries should also pay because, frankly, it affects them more,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with embattled UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Trump said he took these concerns to acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. 

On Monday, The Washington Post first reported that the President had directed his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to freeze nearly $400 million of US military and security aid to Ukraine in the days before he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, when he pushed the leader to look into Biden and his son’s work.

There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.

Rep. John Lewis, speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives, called for impeachment proceedings to begin, saying, “We cannot delay. We must not wait. Now is the time to act. I have been patient while we tried every other path and used every other tool.”

Lewis continued: “I believe, I truly believe, the time to begin impeachment proceedings against this president has come. To delay, or to do otherwise, would betray the foundation of our democracy.”

What we’re expecting this afternoon: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to meet with six committee chairs who are investigating the President, according to Democratic sources.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to comment on impeachment, if her views have changed, if she is endorsing impeachment proceedings or even a select committee.

Pelosi this afternoon is scheduled to meet with six committee chairs who are investigating the President, according to Democratic sources.

President Trump, asked about reporting that he put a hold on millions in military aid to Ukraine a week before the phone call to the nation’s president, said he withheld the aid because other countries were not also spending.

Trump said that the payment was eventually made.

The President made similar comments earlier today as he arrived at the United Nations.

“We’re putting up the bulk of the money. And I’m asking why is that?” Trump said earlier today. “Why is it only the United States putting up the money? And by the way, we paid that money. ”

Asked by CNN if he is comfortable with President Trump bringing up vice President Joe Biden in call with Ukraine’s president, GOP Rep. Mark Meadows responded, “I think Biden’s actions need to be investigated … I certainly applaud him for highlighting that. I think it’s something that should be looked into. It’s very serious.”

Asked if Trump should release the transcripts, Meadows said, “I’m always for transparency.”

Meadows also disputed that the individual is a whistleblower because CNN reported the person had second-hand knowledge of the incident.

What we know: Biden will speak later today about “the DNI whistleblower report and President Trump’s ongoing abuse of power,” according to a campaign news statement. It will happen at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Democratic presidential candidate Steve Bullock just issued a statement saying Congress must swiftly investigate the Ukraine allegations against President Trump.

He added that the House should begin impeachment proceedings if they are not provided with the relevant transcripts of President Trump’s interactions with Ukrainian officials.

“If they don’t get it, I see no other option than starting impeachment proceedings,” he said.

Former Vice President Joe Biden will speak about “the DNI whistleblower report and President Trump’s ongoing abuse of power,” according to a campaign press release. It will happen at 2:30 p.m. ET in Wilmington, Delaware.

We will cover this live here.

Some context: President Trump asked his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to put a hold on millions in military aid to Ukraine roughly one week before a call with the Ukrainian president in which he pressured the country to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, two senior administration officials said on Monday.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat on the House Judiciary, said he believes articles of impeachment are “inevitable” and warned President Trump of his “constitutional reckoning.”

But not all Democrats are on board. Rep. Ben McAdams of Utah — a Democrat who is vulnerable in 2020 — told CNN that he’s “considering” impeachment but didn’t want to discuss the issue further.

A senior House Democratic aide said some Democrats have raised the idea of setting up a select committee to investigate all the allegations of wrongdoing.

Here’s why: Now it appears that the issues — like the Ukraine drama — cross the jurisdiction of several committees. 

Some Democrats are likely to endorse this move publicly, but Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has not decided on this yet, Democratic sources said.

Keep in mind: Setting up a panel would be complicated and time-consuming so many Democrats are skeptical they would go this route. But it’s another sign of the growing focus on impeachment in the House Democratic Caucus.

President Trump told reporters he “assumes” they’ll see the transcript of his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

President Trump called the prospect of impeachment “ridiculous” and a “witch hunt” when asked about it this morning as he was walking into the UN.

President Trump was just asked about reporting that he asked his chief of staff to put a hold on millions in military aid to Ukraine roughly one week before his phone call with the nation’s president.

“Those funds were paid. They were fully paid,” Trump said.

Trump suggested he withheld funds because “Europe and other nations” were not contributing to Ukraine.

Senate Republicans yesterday avoided criticism of President Trump’s conduct over the handling of a controversial whistleblower’s complaint, with one prominent senator even suggesting the whistleblower is a “leaker” who should be criminally investigated.

Here’s what they’ve been saying:

House Speaker Pelosi this afternoon is scheduled to meet with six committee chairs who are investigating the President, according to Democratic sources.

The meeting comes ahead of her full caucus meeting, where she will discuss the investigations and the Ukraine-whistleblower controversy. With the chairs, she will discuss their presentation to the caucus, sources said.

The speaker has been on the phone with her colleagues over the last several days to take the temperature of the whistleblower controversy as she decides whether to embrace impeachment, Democrats say.

Some of the speaker’s closet allies — including Rosa DeLauro and Debbie Dingell — signaled their support for impeachment proceedings, a sign she could be moving closer to backing impeachment.

President Trump asked his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to put a hold on millions in military aid to Ukraine roughly one week before a call with the Ukrainian president in which he pressured the country to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, two senior administration officials said on Monday.

Trump, who was in the middle of a broad review of foreign aid programs when he singled out Ukraine specifically this summer, was primarily concerned with “corruption” in Ukraine and Europe shouldering more of the financial burden for supporting Ukraine’s defense, according to one of the officials.

News of Trump’s order to withhold aid to the Ukraine ahead of his July 25 call may trigger questions — and speculation — about the President’s motive in doing so.

The Washington Post was first to report that Trump told Mulvaney to put a hold on almost $400 million in military aid for Ukraine.