On Tuesday, Sept. 24, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced the news of a formal inquiry of the impeachment of President Donald Trump. The current charges against Trump are that he betrayed his oath of office and the nation’s security when he sought to enlist a foreign power to destroy a rival for his own political gain. 

In her formal inquiry, Pelosi claimed that “the president has seriously violated the Constitution” and that his actions are a “betrayal of the integrity of our elections.” 

The action of impeachment is the most serious step that Congress can take against a sitting President, and if Congress succeeds in impeachment, Trump will be the fourth president in the country’s history to face being impeached.

The start of this inquiry began nearly two years ago when Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice, Robert Mueller started to investigate the interference that Russia had on the 2016 election and its involvement with the Trump presidential campaign. 

His investigation on this claim began in May of 2017 and ended in March of 2019. Mueller wrote a 448 page report. This report decided that the Trump administration did not conspire with Russia but that Trump did try and obstruct the investigation and that he is not officially exonerated.

The issue that triggered the impeachment is the allegation that Trump intentionally pressured the Ukranian President to start an investigation of corruption on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, and threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine if they didn’t cooperate. 

The current state of the investigation is not advancing with the process due to the Trump administration unwillingness to talk or address the phone conversation with Ukraine. The week of Sept. 29, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo halted officials of the State Department from testifying. Furthermore, associates of the President’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told members of Congress that they would not meet the deadline put in place to produce documents on their work with Ukraine. Former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker did manage to testify, but it was immediately after he resigned from his position. The new possibility that the Democrats have suggested to the House is impeaching Trump due to his attempt at blocking this investigation.