US House Speaker Orders Launch of Formal Trump Impeachment Investigation

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, has ordered the initiation of formal investigations in connection with launching the impeachment process against the United States President, Donald Trump. This order was issued following reports about telephone conversations between Mr. Trump and the President of Ukraine.

Fresh discussions about impeaching Mr. Trump have intensified following the disclosure of reports about a phone call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine.

Democrats in the US Congress have accused Donald Trump of pressuring the President of Ukraine to obtain damaging information against Joe Biden.

Joe Biden, former Vice President under Barack Obama, former US President, and one of the leading frontrunners of the Democratic Party in the 2020 presidential election.

Mr. Trump, while acknowledging that he spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart about Mr. Biden, has emphasized that he “did nothing wrong”. He previously described the person who disclosed the phone conversations as someone with a “highly partisan” approach.

Pelosi’s Order, Trump’s Response

Nancy Pelosi, on the second day of October, in a speech broadcast by media, said “The President must be accountable. No one is above the law”.

Ms. Pelosi added “Therefore, I announce today that the House of Representatives is launching the formal investigation process for impeachment”.

Shortly after, Donald Trump responded to these statements with several posts on his Twitter account.

He described the launch of impeachment investigations as “purely a political witch hunt” and “harassment of the President”.

Ms. Pelosi referred to the intelligence official’s failure to present a complaint regarding the promises or pressures that Mr. Trump placed on Mr. Zelensky.

She said this action “violates the Constitution”.

Previously, the Washington Post had reported that a US “intelligence official” filed a complaint with the Inspector General of his agency regarding statements made by Mr. Trump during a phone conversation with the President of Ukraine.

However, Mr. Trump wrote on his Twitter account that Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, obtained permission from the Ukrainian government regarding the release of the text of the phone conversation.

He himself also ordered that the text of the conversation be declassified.

The US President, in criticism of Democrats, said “They haven’t even seen the transcript of the phone call yet”.

Nancy Pelosi, on the other hand, said that reports about pressure on the President of Ukraine to investigate the Biden family “betray our national security”.

In a report on September 20 in the Washington Post, citing an “intelligence official”, it was stated that Trump asked Ukrainian officials to provide information about Biden’s economic activities in Ukraine, and in return, Trump would provide greater military support to the country.

Mr. Trump had previously emphasized that from his perspective, Joe Biden’s actions are “shameful”. He has accused Mr. Biden of helping to preserve his son’s position and said that an investigation should be conducted into their financial activities.

Mr. Biden, in turn, sharply criticized the President and called for the full release of the audio file of the Trump-Zelensky conversation.

The Impeachment Process in the US Congress

Impeachment is typically required to be brought before the Judiciary Committee or another body at the discretion of the House of Representatives.

After that, the House of Representatives can formally request impeachment.

An impeachment request must be approved by half of the members of the House of Representatives to be formalized, and thus the impeachment process begins.

In this case, the House of Representatives, which currently has a Democratic majority, acts as the “prosecutor” in the role of “Attorney General”.

The US President can have his own personal lawyers and defend himself in Congress.

Meanwhile, it is the Senate that plays the role of “judge” and has the final power and the last say.

If two-thirds of the entire Senate votes in favor of the president’s removal, should the process be initiated and concluded, then it is possible that a vote for his removal could be issued.

Currently, more than half of the Senate is controlled by Republicans, Mr. Trump’s party members.

History of Impeachment in America

If Nancy Pelosi’s action, Speaker of the House, results in a formal impeachment process against Donald Trump, this would be the third time in US history that such a process involves the President of that country.

Previously, formal impeachment processes involved Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, both of whom were “acquitted” by the Senate.

The House of Representatives in 1974 also issued an impeachment process against Richard Nixon, then President.

However, Mr. Nixon stepped down from the presidency before the process began, for the first time in American history.

Source: Radio Farda