House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has confirmed a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump will be launched by the US House of Representatives.
On Wednesday (NZ Time), Trump confirmed nearly US$400 million in aid to Ukraine had been withheld - but he denied he held it as leverage to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to initiate an investigation that would damage Joe Biden.
The scandal first arose when a whistleblower within the United States intelligence community complained to an internal watchdog about a conversation between Trump and Zelenskiy. The Trump administration is refusing to make public that complaint or hand it over to Congress.
Critics of the President, including within the Democratic Party, claimed this showed Trump trying to enlist a foreign power to smear a potential opponent in the 2020 federal election.
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Pelosi - who has previously opposed impeachment efforts against Trump - said on Wednesday that the new allegations led her to change her mind.
"The Trump administration's actions undermine... our national security and our intelligence, and our protections of whistleblowers."
"The President must be held accountable. No one is above the law," she said.
Trump immediately responded to the announcement, tweeting: "They never even saw the transcript of the call. A total Witch Hunt!"
"PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!"
Biden earlier came out saying he would support opening impeachment proceedings if Trump fails to comply with congressional requests for information on Ukraine and other matters.
PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2019
"If he continues to obstruct Congress and flout the law, Donald Trump will leave Congress in my view with no choice but to initiate impeachment proceedings," Biden told reporters in Wilmington, in his home state of Delaware.
"That would be a tragedy, but a tragedy of his own making," he said.
Under the US Constitution, the House has the power to impeach a president for "high crimes and misdemeanors" and the Senate then holds a trial on whether to remove the president from office.
No president has ever been removed from office through impeachment. Democrats currently control the House and Republicans control the Senate.
A House committee has already launched a formal impeachment probe of Trump in light of his actions in the Russia matter but the impeachment drive never won the support of key party figures including Pelosi.
Trump accused Democrats of considering impeachment for purely political reasons.
"I'm leading in the polls. They have no idea how they stop me. The only way they can try is through impeachment," Trump said at the United Nations, although opinion polls show Biden actually leading Trump.
I am currently at the United Nations representing our Country, but have authorized the release tomorrow of the complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript of my phone conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2019
In a Twitter post, Trump said a "complete, fully declassified and unredacted" transcript of the July 25 call would be released on Wednesday.
Trump said the transcript would show the call was "totally appropriate," that he had not pressured Zelenskiy to investigate Biden and that there had been no "quid pro quo" for US aid in exchange for a probe. Quid pro quo is a Latin phrase meaning a favor that is exchanged for a favor.
Trump on Sunday acknowledged that he had discussed Biden and Biden's son Hunter, who had worked for a company drilling for gas in Ukraine, with Zelenskiy.
Trump has produced no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden or his son.
In remarks to reporters over the intensifying controversy, Trump indicated there was nothing sinister about withholding the aid but that he wanted Europe and not just the United States to step up and provide Ukraine assistance.
The money was later released by the Trump administration.
But Trump on Monday denied trying to coerce Zelenskiy in the phone call to launch a corruption investigation into Biden and his son in return for the US military aid.
Wanted money frozen
Arriving at the United Nations before his speech to the annual General Assembly on Wednesday, Trump confirmed that he had wanted the money for Ukraine frozen, saying European countries should provide assistance to Kiev, but changed his mind after "people called me."
The United States has been providing military aid to Ukraine since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. The $391.5 million in aid at issue in the current controversy was approved by the US Congress to assist Ukraine in dealing with an insurgency by Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country.
Trump's explanation for withholding the aid differed from one he offered a day earlier when he said, referring to Ukraine, "We want to make sure that country is honest," and "Why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt?"
About the call itself, Trump told reporters on Wednesday: "...when you see the readout of the call, which I assume you'll see at some point, you'll understand. That call was perfect. It couldn't have been nicer."
Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Congress had not been made aware of any substantive review of security assistance to Ukraine or any policy reason the funds should have been withheld.
In a letter to Mike Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Menendez said "it is becoming clear that" Trump put pressure on Ukrainian officials.
