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Nine Things to Know About Trump Impeachment Controversy

Masood Farivar

   WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday announced a "formal
   impeachment inquiry" into President Donald Trump, escalating a
   long-running clash between Democratic lawmakers and the White House
   over alleged presidential malfeasance.The announcement followed
   disclosures that Trump in a July 25 call to Ukraine's president asked
   him to investigate front-running Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his
   son, Hunter.

   Here are nine things you need to know about the festering impeachment
   controversy.
   What is impeachment?

   This refers to the constitutional process of removing a sitting
   president from office.The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to
   oust a president for "treason, bribery or other high crimes and
   misdemeanors." While there is no single definition of the phrase "high
   crimes and misdemeanors," it is generally understood to include actions
   that violate the oath of office and the public trust. The impeachment
   process begins with formal charges brought in the House of
   Representatives and ends with a trial in the Senate where two-thirds of
   senators must vote to convict the president.

   This would be the fourth congressional impeachment attempt in history.
   Former presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were impeached and
   brought to trial in the Senate, but subsequently won acquittal. Former
   President Richard M. Nixon resigned before being impeached in the
   House.

   What happened on Tuesday?

   To be clear, what Pelosi did is at least several steps from formal
   action against Trump. By ordering a formal impeachment inquiry, Pelosi
   brought a half dozen House investigations of Trump under a new rubric.
   She instructed the chairmen of six House committees -- Intelligence,
   Judiciary, Government Oversight, Foreign Affairs, Ways and Means and
   Financial Services -- to speed up their investigations to determine
   whether to impeach Trump.

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