House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Tuesday a formal impeachment inquiry into US President Donald Trump. The move represents the first step in a process that could remove the president from office, and is sure to heighten partisanship ahead of the 2020 election, Deutsche Welle reports.
"The actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable facts of the president's betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections," Pelosi said in a televised address.
"The president must be held accountable, nobody is above the law."
The decision to launch a formal impeachment inquiry was triggered by allegations that Trump sought help from a foreign government in his reelection bid.
At the center of the scandal is a secret intelligence whistleblower complaint about the president's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which Trump allegedly pressured his counterpart to dig up dirt on former vice president and possible 2020 Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
