White House set to organise Formal impeachment inquiry on Donald Trump

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has announced that a formal  impeachment  inquiry into President Donald Trump acceptance to mounting pressure, from fellow Democrats which might plunge the nation deeply into an election-year clash between Congress and the President.

The announcement came amidst report that Trump might have abused his presidential powers and sought to seek help from a foreign government to undermine former Vice President, Joe Biden, who is the current Democratic frontrunner to help his own re-election agenda.

In a summer phone call with Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump asked for help investigating Biden. In the days before the call, Trump ordered advisers to freeze $400m in military aid for Ukraine which prompted speculation that he was using the money as leverage for information on Biden. Trump has denied that charge but has acknowledged he blocked the funds for other reasons which were later released.

The Trump-Ukraine phone call is part of the whistle-blower’s complaint. Trump has blasted the inquiry as “witch-hunt garbage” and claimed he has done nothing wrong.

Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, is expected to testify next week before the House committees investigating Trump and Ukraine, citing three congressional sources. On Tuesday, the State Department banned Sondland, a major Trump political donor, from appearing at a closed-door meeting of the House panels investigating the president.

Trump has on Thursday used a campaign rally to blast the impeachment inquiry against him, stating it is a “brazen attempt” by Democrats to overthrow him, vowing that the move would backfire.  He also lashed out at Joe Biden and his son, telling the crowds that the impeachment drama would drive up his support ahead of the November 2020 election and help him win re-election for another four-year term.

According to him, “The Democrats’ brazen attempt to overthrow the government will produce a backlash at the ballot box the likes of which they have never ever seen before in the history of this country,” Trump said.