Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, announced yesterday that Trump’s alleged violations of the constitution warrant an official impeachment inquiry. Speaking to the media, she stated that “the actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonourable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office”.
This comes after allegations by an unidentified whistle-blower were turned over by the acting Director of National Intelligence. The complaint was also blocked to congress until recently. Selected individuals viewed the relevant documents and ordered the publication of them.
The documents are a memo covering the telephone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky back in July.
While there are multiple instances that could be used against Trump, the most damning is his discussion of Joe Biden. He requested that Zelensky investigate him and his son. This can be considered as an attempt to get a foreign power to meddle with a US election, as any information could be used to smear Biden. Such an action clearly violates the American constitution.
Trump responded to the inquiry in a press conference. He sat beside a sullen-looking Zelensky and maintained that the phone call was perfectly legal, and this inquiry is merely another “witch hunt” orchestrated by democrats who want to see him out of power.
However, Pelosi was initially reluctant to impeach Trump, previously saying it was “not worth” it. Only now, in the face of a seemingly clear breech of his oath, do the Democrats finally act.
Before announcing her inquiry, Pelosi told her fellow democrats they must “strike while the iron is hot”.
