US House to Launch Impeachment Inquiry Into Trump

The US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that a formal impeachment inquiry will be launched over reports President Donald Trump sought foreign help to smear a political rival.

The latest move constitutes an acute shift in the tensed relations between democrats and President Trump’s administration, months before the next presidential elections, which is set for 2020.

The announcement was made after a closed-door meeting between Pelosi and 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.

Recent reports have uncovered 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 over corruption claims.

Following Pelosi’s announcement, Trump fired back quickly on Twitter, calling the inquiry "Witch Hunt garbage."

The President promised yesterday 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.

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 favor that is exchanged for a favor.

On his part, Biden 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.

According to Reuters, the controversy came to light after a whistle-blower 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 whistle-blower and that the inpidual would like to testify this week.