Pelosi starts Trump impeachment probe after he digs his own political grave: "No one is above the law"

While pressure to impeach sitting United States President Donald Trump has been building perhaps ever since he assumed office in 2016, it appears that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is finally convinced enough to begin the impeachment process. After mounting evidence suggesting corruption and obstruction of justice against Trump surfaced over the past week and a shady last-ditch effort phone call to the Speaker went awry, Pelosi has finally launched an official impeachment investigation into the President's recent dealings with Eastern European country Ukraine, The Independent reports. At present, the odds don't look like they're in Trump's favor - the Democratic Party may, after an almost four-year Trump tyranny, achieve much-awaited vindication.

The rallying cry to impeach Trump was first reenergized when an intelligence official placed a whistleblower complaint against the President. The official expressed concerns over a particular phone call he shared with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the call, Trump allegedly pressured the Ukranian President to launch an investigation into Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden, who is on the board of Ukranian gas company, Cyprus-registered Burisma Holdings. Trump reportedly told Zelensky, "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." And when he did not relent, Trump withheld $400 million in military aid to the country. What's that called, again? Blackmail would be the correct term, wouldn't it? Moreover, not only would this be a serious violation of campaign finance laws, but the "unusual manner" in which the records of this phone call were dealt with was especially problematic, the whistleblower asserted. 

The need for impeachment became even more apparent after the whistleblower filed the complaint. Digging his own political grave, President Trump believed the best way to deal with the complaint would be to resort to another phone call. In a telephone conversation with House Speaker Pelosi, Trump enquired if they could "do something about this whistleblower complaint." NBC News political correspondent Heidi Przybyla, who was privy to a transcript of the conversation, shared on MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber, "The President actually said to Pelosi: ‘Hey, can we do something about this whistleblower complaint? Can we work something out?’" So, now Pelosi is "doing something" about it - announcing a formal impeachment probe (your move, Trump).

Przybyla revealed, "Pelosi said: ‘Yes, you can tell your people to obey the law.’ So she quickly swatted that down and made it clear it is full steam ahead.” Of course, other politicians weighed in on the investigation launch. Most notably, Hillary Clinton aired her opinions on social media platform Twitter, asserting that Trump had betrayed America. She posted: The President of the United States has betrayed our country.  That’s not a political statement—it’s a harsh reality, and we must act.  He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free.  I support impeachment.

However, Republicans proved that nothing, not even American law, can stand between them and their fierce loyalty towards President Trump. Congressman Jodey Arrington, for example, told The Huffington Post, "I think it’s within his scope of responsibility as the chief executive in the fiduciary to make sure that, when we’re providing foreign aid to countries, that they are doing their part to root out graft and corruption." Meanwhile, Senator Lindsey Graham said of Trump's phone call to the Ukranian President that there was "nothing in this phone call" that was impeachment-worthy. Well, the White House is set to release a “fully declassified and unredacted” transcript of his call to the public on Wednesday - and we can all be certain of the whole load of "nothing" that may or may not have been discussed.