Formal Impeachment Inquiry Against Donald Trump Begins, He Says It’s ‘Presidential Harassment’
Formal Impeachment Inquiry Against Donald Trump Begins, He Says It’s ‘Presidential Harassment’
President Donald Trump might be one step closer to impeachment.
The House of Representatives launched an impeachment inquiry against Trump. The speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, announced the move Tuesday (Sept. 24).
It came as Trump was accused of pressuring Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the family of current Presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden on a phone call. Specifically, Trump alleged that during Biden’s days as VP that he made steps to pull a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating a gas company where Hunter served on the board.
Trump also allegedly withheld nearly $400 million in funds from Ukraine for months amid his request. But he previously said that freezing the money had nothing to do with his alleged pressure against Ukraine. Instead, he wanted other European countries to chip in, so the U.S. wasn’t providing aid alone. Wednesday, the transcript for the now infamous call was released.
Trump told Zelensky in part on the call,
“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution, and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it … It sounds horrible to me.”
He also said,
“I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time. Much more than the European countries are doing and they should be helping you more than they are. Germany does almost nothing for you. All they do is talk and I think it’s something that you should really ask them about.”
Read the full transcript here.
Trump has called the inquiry a “witch hunt” and “disgrace” to say the least.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2019
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