Nancy Pelosi calls on House Democrats to draft articles of impeachment
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ripped into a journalist who asked if she hated Donald Trump after she called for articles of impeachment to be drafted against him.
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Democrat attempts to unseat US President Donald Trump have taken a significant step forward after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for articles of impeachment to be prepared against him.
“Our democracy is at stake,” Ms Pelosi said in Washington.
“The President leaves us no choice but to act.”
Mrs Pelosi would not commit to a timeline, but Democrats are pushing for a pre-Christmas vote in the House on the articles of impeachment, which would decide whether Mr Trump stands trial in the Republican-controlled Senate, potentially in January.
Mr Trump, who has repeatedly decried impeachment proceedings as a politically motivated “witch hunt” and “scam” appeared to welcome the development.
“If you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate, and so that our Country can get back to business,” he tweeted shortly before Mrs Pelosi’s announcement.
On a dramatic day in Washington, Mrs Pelosi also let loose at a reporter from the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group, who asked, “Do you hate the president?”
“I don’t hate anybody.” the usually unflappable House Speaker said, walking towards the reporter and pointing at him as she spoke.
The reporter responded: “I think it is an important point”.
Mrs Pelosi then walked back to her podium and continued to lecture him, saying that she prayed for Mr Trump.
“As a Catholic, I resent your using the word hate in a sentence that addresses me,” she said
“So don’t mess with me when it comes to words like that!”
Shortly after, Mr Trump tweeted that “Nancy Pelosi just had a nervous fit’’.
“She says she ‘prays for the President.’ I don’t believe her, not even close.”
Nancy Pelosi just had a nervous fit. She hates that we will soon have 182 great new judges and sooo much more. Stock Market and employment records. She says she “prays for the President.†I don’t believe her, not even close. Help the homeless in your district Nancy. USMCA?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 5, 2019
Democrats are pushing to remove Mr Trump from office for what they describe as using his position for personal and political gain.
He is accused of pressuring his counterpart in Ukraine to investigate his political rival in return for hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid and a sought after White House meeting for the country’s newly installed leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky.
They have been building their case over the past month in the Democrat-controlled House that this constituted bribery.
In recent days they have broadened their charges to claim Mr Trump committed obstruction of justice, by blocking the investigation and invoking executive privilege to prevent some of his top aides from giving evidence.
Republicans are solidly backing the President and have in recent days indicated what their defence will be - that he acted within his remit.
Mr Trump denies any wrongdoing and his supporters say it was appropriate for the President and his representatives to push Ukraine to investigate the son of leading 2020 Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Mr Biden was Barack Obama’s vice president and led the US relationship with Ukraine at the same time his son Hunter held a highly paid position on the board of an energy company there.
After articles of impeachment are drafted, Democrats will vote on whether proceedings move to the Senate.
They currently have the numbers for this to occur and it is expected the vote will occur before Christmas.
Mr Trump would then face a Senate trial, where a two-thirds majority would be required for him to be found guilty.
In a trial, which would be held six days a week, Republicans are likely to call Mr Biden to testify about his role with the energy company, Burisma, which has been found to be corrupt.
A guilty verdict would be required to remove Mr Trump from office, but this would take 20 Republicans to cross the floor and is considered unlikely at this stage, given impeachment proceedings have so far played along strict party lines.
Two presidents have faced impeachment trials, Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson, but neither were found guilty.
The Do Nothing Democrats had a historically bad day yesterday in the House. They have no Impeachment case and are demeaning our Country. But nothing matters to them, they have gone crazy. Therefore I say, if you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 5, 2019
.....trial in the Senate, and so that our Country can get back to business. We will have Schiff, the Bidens, Pelosi and many more testify, and will reveal, for the first time, how corrupt our system really is. I was elected to “Clean the Swamp,†and that’s what I am doing!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 5, 2019
Mrs Pelosi said she was pressing ahead with impeachment “sadly” and with a “heavy heart”.
The Trump 2020 campaign hit back at the announcement, saying Democrats were using the proceedings to overturn the 2016 election result.
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“Impeaching the President has always been their goal,” said campaign manager Brad Parscale.
“They should just get on with it so we can have a fair trial in the Senate and expose The Swamp for what it is. Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Schiff, and Hunter Biden should testify, and then we can get back to the business of our country.”
Originally published as Nancy Pelosi calls on House Democrats to draft articles of impeachment