On Thursday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the House Judiciary Committee to proceed with articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
“The president’s actions have seriously violated the Constitution,” Pelosi said at a news conference on Capitol Hill.
He “leaves us no choice but to act,” she said.
House Democrats are in the midst of an inquiry into whether Trump abused his power by withholding military aid to Ukraine in exchange for investigations for his own political benefit at the expense of U.S. interests.
Pelosi’s comments confirm what was widely expected: that Democrats in the House will vote on whether to impeach the president.
“Sadly, but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our founders, and our heart full of love for America, today I am asking our Chairman to proceed with the articles of impeachment,” she said.
President Trump had just dared Democrats to proceed with impeachment. “The Do Nothing Democrats had a historically bad day yesterday in the House,” Trump tweeted at 8 am Thursday. They have no Impeachment case and are demeaning our Country. But nothing matters to them, they have gone crazy. Therefore I say, if you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate, and so that our Country can get back to business.”
“We will have Schiff, the Bidens, Pelosi and many more testify, and will reveal, for the first time, how corrupt our system really is,” Trump added.
https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1202590026258890754
The White House has also responded to the announcement.
.@SpeakerPelosi & the Democrats should be ashamed. @realDonaldTrump has done nothing but lead our country – resulting in a booming economy, more jobs & a stronger military, to name just a few of his major accomplishments. 🇺🇸 We look forward to a fair trial in the Senate.
— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) December 5, 2019
Reaction on Twitter came fast.
Unbelievable. She had a way out. She chose not to take it. She just said proceed with articles of impeachment. I really thought she was more politically shrewd than that. Apparently not. Schiff testifying in a Senate trial is going to be a hoot to watch.
— Duane Patterson (@Radioblogger) December 5, 2019
After criticism they are rushing on impeachment, Dems are pushing hard on new talking point that Trump must be impeached this very minute because he poses an imminent threat to the next election.
— Byron York (@ByronYork) December 5, 2019
Pelosi is going for Articles of #Impeachment after only one day of hearings in the Judiciary Committee — which went very badly for Democrats, and which involved no fact witnesses. The committee has not even reviewed Schiff's Intelligence Committee report yet. What a total farce. https://t.co/FeIAXzhZXP
— Joel B. Pollak (@joelpollak) December 5, 2019
This story is developing.
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