U.S. House to launch Trump impeachment inquiry over Ukraine controversy

[webfact]

U.S. House to launch Trump impeachment inquiry over Ukraine controversy

By Patricia Zengerle and David Morgan

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he arrives to address the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 24, 2019. REUTERS/Yana Paskova

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives will launch a formal impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump over reports he sought foreign help to smear a political rival, setting up a dramatic clash between Congress and the White House that could spill into the 2020 presidential campaign.

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the inquiry on Tuesday after a closed-door meeting with Democratic lawmakers, saying Trump's actions appeared to have undermined national security and violated the U.S. Constitution.

 

"The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law," said Pelosi, who had for months been reluctant to embrace an impeachment effort.

Trump fired back quickly on Twitter, calling the inquiry "Witch Hunt garbage."

 

Pelosi's change of heart followed reports that Trump had pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July 25 phone call to investigate Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden and his son.

 

Trump promised on Tuesday to release a transcript of his phone call. He also confirmed he had withheld nearly $400 million in U.S. aid to Ukraine but denied he did so as leverage to get Zelenskiy to initiate an investigation that would damage Biden.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared to confirm reports he temporarily withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine ahead of a controversial phone call with Prime Minister Zelenskiy. Zachary Goelman reports.

 

Pelosi said the six congressional committees currently investigating Trump would continue with their probes as part of the inquiry.

Biden on Tuesday called on Trump to fully comply with congressional investigations into the matter or risk impeachment.

 

"If he continues to obstruct Congress and flout the law, Donald Trump will leave Congress in my view with no choice but to initiate impeachment proceedings," Biden told reporters in Wilmington, in his home state of Delaware.

 

Trump, who has withstood repeated scandals since taking office in January 2017, said a "complete, fully declassified and unredacted" transcript of the July 25 call would be released on Wednesday.

 

The controversy came to light after a whistleblower from within the U.S. intelligence community lodged a complaint with an internal watchdog about Trump's conversation with Zelenskiy.

 

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said his panel was communicating with an attorney representing the whistleblower and that the individual would like to testify this week.

 

Trump said the transcript would show the call was "totally appropriate," that he had not pressured Zelenskiy to investigate Biden and that there had been no "quid pro quo" for U.S. aid in exchange for a probe. Quid pro quo is a Latin phrase meaning a favour that is exchanged for a favour.

 

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and David Morgan in Washington; Additional reporting by Steve Holland at the United Nations; Writing by Will Dunham and John Whitesides; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-09-25

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[TopDeadSenter]

This will hurt Biden and help Trump. Funny, it was only a few months ago that he was about to be impeached for colluding with Russia to game an election. It looks like they are desperate to impeach Trump seeing as he will thrash any Dem candidate, yet don't have a reason to do it. Not good optics for them heading into 2020.

[dimitriv]

2 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

This will hurt Biden and help Trump. Funny, it was only a few months ago that he was about to be impeached for colluding with Russia to game an election. It looks like they are desperate to impeach Trump seeing as he will thrash any Dem candidate, yet don't have a reason to do it. Not good optics for them heading into 2020.

 

Don't you realize that Trump is a corrupt president ?

 

Even as a Republican you should not want to keep a president like this.

 

 

 

[Samui Bodoh]

The sheer levels of corruption in the Trump administration are breath-taking.

 

Sadly, to date the Democrat party has been... less than optimal. Hmm... that requires more bluntness; the Dems have been utterly <deleted> at oversight and holding the Trump administration to account.

 

The real question to me is whether the Republicans will decide to put country over party. I know that there are good Republicans who understand the damage done by Trump (Alexander, Romney, Sasse, etc. There are MANY good Republicans). Will they step up?

 

The US is truly at a crossroads. Are they going to return to a path of decency and good governance? Or, are they going to continue down the road of norm-breaking, corrupt destruction and self-harm all to satisfy the ego and desires of one person. And, Republicans need to remember that one day soon Trump will be gone, but the judgement of history against those who enabled him will live a long time.

 

I sincerely hope that the US gets its act together. A good US generally means a good world. A bad US generally means a stinking world.

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2019 by Samui Bodoh

[canuckamuck]

With Trumps record of turning the Democrats attacks into an expose of Democrat incompetence and villainy. You would think they would have learned their lesson. But when your candidates are a bunch of clowns and dotty old men. I guess the only way to win is to eliminate the competition. It is fascinating to me that they can't field a single impressive candidate since Obama. The Republicans have one of the world's most hated men as their candidate, and he will likely cruise to victory again because the Dems got nothing. Well Tulsi Gabbard could beat Trump, But they are ghosting her. They don't like an anti war candidate somehow.

[pegman]

 If the Democrats are lucky this will take down Trump and Biden. 

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

This will hurt Biden and help Trump. Funny, it was only a few months ago that he was about to be impeached for colluding with Russia to game an election. It looks like they are desperate to impeach Trump seeing as he will thrash any Dem candidate, yet don't have a reason to do it. Not good optics for them heading into 2020.

You don't know that. Nobody knows that. You only HOPE that.

 

Quote

 

Democrats’ impeachment gamble — and why it could pay off

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday will formally back an impeachment inquiry — a move that paves the way for Donald Trump to become the third president to be impeached. There are two ways to read this:

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/24/democrats-are-crossing-rubicon-impeachment-anxiety-is-watchword/

[lannarebirth]

10 minutes ago, pegman said:

 If the Democrats are lucky this will take down Trump and Biden. 

Exactly!  Kill two birds with one stone.

 

[Tug]

It’s about time!hopefulley it will help getting past donalds stonewalling and force witness to testify without hiding behind executive privilege at least speed up the access to and turning over of requested documents 

[Jingthing]

Something the "trump" fans might not be factoring into this equation. With this formal impeachment process much more information we don't already know will be coming out into the light. Not only about Ukraine. That was the tipping point but really the tip of the iceberg. If "trump" fans actually believe their man is clean and not the criminally corrupt con man he has clearly been for several decades then they can relax.

[Jingthing]

19 minutes ago, pegman said:

 If the Democrats are lucky this will take down Trump and Biden. 

Yes, Biden shouldn't be nominated. Not because of his son but because of his overall weaknesses, now and in his past, and also there are much better choices to nominate.

[Tayaout]

11 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Something the "trump" fans might not be factoring into this equation. With this formal impeachment process much more information we don't already know will be coming out into the light. Not only about Ukraine. That was the tipping point but really the tip of the iceberg. If "trump" fans actually believe their man is clean and not the criminally corrupt con man he has clearly been for several decades then they can relax.

I'm not Trump or Biden fans but I thought they just spend 2 years and millions on investigating Trump and found nothing worthwhile. 

[pegman]

Another shoe drops. I've always thought Trump had few real admirers within the Republican congressional caucus. They fear him rather than like him. This should be an interesting next few months.

 

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/senate-demands-trump-stop-blocking-whistleblower-complaint.html

[legend49]

Great morning coffee break. First Trump and impeachment, second his mate Boris in UK just caught out by the high court on illegal moves.

[Somtamnication]

And the denials begin with the Prez and his republican deniers. Warming up the popcorn!

[Jingthing]

12 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

I'm not Trump or Biden fans but I thought they just spend 2 years and millions on investigating Trump and found nothing worthwhile. 

You thought wrong.

[stevenl]

They had no choice, his stonewalling investigations, think Ukraine, Scottish airport, forced them into this.

Hopefully this will help in getting information out.

[neeray]

23 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

I'm not Trump or Biden fans but I thought they just spend 2 years and millions on investigating Trump and found nothing worthwhile. 

They found lots worthwhile. But certain hand-picked, highly placed people have stymied the findings.

[elmrfudd]

1 hour ago, Samui Bodoh said:

The sheer levels of corruption in the Trump administration are breath-taking.

 

Sadly, to date the Democrat party has been... less than optimal. Hmm... that requires more bluntness; the Dems have been utterly <deleted> at oversight and holding the Trump administration to account.

 

The real question to me is whether the Republicans will decide to put country over party. I know that there are good Republicans who understand the damage done by Trump (Alexander, Romney, Sasse, etc. There are MANY good Republicans). Will they step up?

 

The US is truly at a crossroads. Are they going to return to a path of decency and good governance? Or, are they going to continue down the road of norm-breaking, corrupt destruction and self-harm all to satisfy the ego and desires of one person. And, Republicans need to remember that one day soon Trump will be gone, but the judgement of history against those who enabled him will live a long time.

 

I sincerely hope that the US gets its act together. A good US generally means a good world. A bad US generally means a stinking world.

 

 

 

the sheer level of irrational emotional reaction to losing an election is hilarious to watch.

[Chomper Higgot]

I gentle reminder.

 

The Whistleblower reporter Trump’s calls to multiple foreign leaders.

 

S/He is now reportedly keen to give testimony to Congress.

 

This is not just about Ukraine, there is much more to it and were about to find out how much more to it.

[alex8912]

1 hour ago, Samui Bodoh said:

The sheer levels of corruption in the Trump administration are breath-taking.

 

Sadly, to date the Democrat party has been... less than optimal. Hmm... that requires more bluntness; the Dems have been utterly <deleted> at oversight and holding the Trump administration to account.

 

The real question to me is whether the Republicans will decide to put country over party. I know that there are good Republicans who understand the damage done by Trump (Alexander, Romney, Sasse, etc. There are MANY good Republicans). Will they step up?

 

The US is truly at a crossroads. Are they going to return to a path of decency and good governance? Or, are they going to continue down the road of norm-breaking, corrupt destruction and self-harm all to satisfy the ego and desires of one person. And, Republicans need to remember that one day soon Trump will be gone, but the judgement of history against those who enabled him will live a long time.

 

I sincerely hope that the US gets its act together. A good US generally means a good world. A bad US generally means a stinking world.

 

 

 

A good Republican Romney? LMAO! 

Do you know anyone from Massachusetts who thinks that? 

[Chomper Higgot]

3 minutes ago, elmrfudd said:

the sheer level of irrational emotional reaction to losing an election is hilarious to watch.

About to be eclipsed by the extinction burst from the Traitor in chief.

[jerojero]

Are you kidding, or dreaming? The Turtle will continue to put Party and Trump over the Country and its democracy. Stalling every move in the Senate proposed by Democrats. The Republicans are majority corrupt in allowing lunatic Trump stomp on democratic oversight Congress bestowed by law.

The sheer levels of corruption in the Trump administration are breath-taking.
 
Sadly, to date the Democrat party has been... less than optimal. Hmm... that requires more bluntness; the Dems have been utterly at oversight and holding the Trump administration to account.
 
The real question to me is whether the Republicans will decide to put country over party. I know that there are good Republicans who understand the damage done by Trump (Alexander, Romney, Sasse, etc. There are MANY good Republicans). Will they step up?
 
The US is truly at a crossroads. Are they going to return to a path of decency and good governance? Or, are they going to continue down the road of norm-breaking, corrupt destruction and self-harm all to satisfy the ego and desires of one person. And, Republicans need to remember that one day soon Trump will be gone, but the judgement of history against those who enabled him will live a long time.
 
I sincerely hope that the US gets its act together. A good US generally means a good world. A bad US generally means a stinking world.
 
 
 

[neeray]

2 minutes ago, elmrfudd said:

the sheer level of irrational emotional reaction to losing an election is hilarious to watch.

@elmrfudd, you're just so predictable. So much fun to predict your emoji reactions and read your odd comments.

Trump would be just as proud of you as you are of him.

[jerojero]

Just wait. Donny will sue to block impeachment or other legal means, and look to his Buddies on supreme court to back him.

It’s about time!hopefulley it will help getting past donalds stonewalling and force witness to testify without hiding behind executive privilege at least speed up the access to and turning over of requested documents 

[jerojero]

Hope the Democrats know they are betting the election with this. Donny is a great Con Man, and he will pull out every lie possible out of his aazz to discredit the impeachment process, the witnesses, any and all Democrats, the Congress and media. Then push legal ways to interfere with the process and rely on his Buddies on the supreme court to save his him.

[elmrfudd]

38 minutes ago, legend49 said:

Great morning coffee break. First Trump and impeachment, second his mate Boris in UK just caught out by the high court on illegal moves.

you do know that here vacuous announcement of "official impeachment inquiry" is meaningless?

 

if they have the votes, then vote for it, 70 of the stooges voted for it as soon as they were sworn in, so go for it and get it on the record.

[canuckamuck]

 You would think Biden would be happy to let this particular story go cold. After all he did leverage government loan guarantees to get the prosecutor, that was investigating Biden's son, fired. And then he bragged about it, How is this different from Complaints about Trump manipulating the system for personal benefit.

 

[pegman]

6 minutes ago, jerojero said:

Are you kidding, or dreaming? The Turtle will continue to put Party and Trump over the Country and its democracy. Stalling every move in the Senate proposed by Democrats. The Republicans are majority corrupt in allowing lunatic Trump stomp on democratic oversight Congress bestowed by law.

Well, the Republicans  voted unanimously along with the Democrats in the Senate to demand that the  whistle blower complaint go to the Intel committee. We will have to see whether this is the start of a trend. 

 

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/senate-demands-trump-stop-blocking-whistleblower-complaint.html

[Scott]

Inflammatory, troll posts removed.   Keep it civil or face a suspension.