Impeachment inquiry launched against Trump for alleged pressure on Zelensky

Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives, launched a formal impeachment inquiry against U.S. President
Trump on Sept. 24, setting up a dramatic constitutional clash just over a year
before the presidential election, the Associated Press reported. “I can say
with authority the Trump administration’s actions undermine both our national
security and our intelligence,” Pelosi said in a video statement. “The actions
of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s
betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and the
betrayal of the integrity of our elections.”

The inquiry marks the fourth time in U.S. history a
president has faced a viable threat of impeachment, the cbsnews.com news site
said. Pelosi has long resisted calls from fellow Democrat Party members to
initiate impeachment proceedings, the news site said, but they have reached a
breaking point over the administration’s refusal to hand over a whistleblower
complaint related to Trump’s telephone calls with Ukrainian President Zelensky.

In response, Trump dismissed the impeachment inquiry
as “presidential harassment” in a series of tweets on Sept. 24. “Such an
important day at the United Nations, so much work and so much success, and the
Democrats purposely had to ruin and demean it with more breaking news Witch
Hunt garbage. So bad for our Country!,” Trump tweeted. A little later, Trump
confirmed that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gained permission from the
Zelensky administration to release the transcript of the July 25 telephone call
at the source of the scandal. “They don’t either know what the big deal is. A total
Witch Hunt Scam by the Democrats!,” Trump tweeted.