President Donald Trump is now almost certain to become the third president in U.S. history to be impeached by the House of Representatives.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a press conference on Thursday that she is formally asking the House Judiciary Committee to draft articles of impeachment against Trump over his actions toward Ukraine, saying "the president leaves us no choice but to act."
The Trump re-election campaign said in a statement: “We are less than a year away from Election Day 2020 and Democrats can’t possibly explain to the American people why they want to take the decision of who should be president out of the hands of voters," adding that Democrats "should just get on with it so we can have a fair trial in the Senate and expose The Swamp for what it is."
Pelosi, who earlier this year had counseled her caucus against impeaching the president over obstruction of justice allegations related to the Russia investigation, now says that the evidence and witness testimony from weeks of impeachment hearings are "uncontested."
"The president abused his power for his own personal, political benefit" and "seriously violated the Constitution," she said.
The announcement means that it is now increasingly likely that articles of impeachment will be drafted and voted on before the House leaves for its end-of-the-year recess, as some Democrats had previously indicated, with a Senate trial possible in the beginning of 2020.
Republicans chose Rep. Jim Jordan as their new nominee for House speaker on Friday during internal voting, putting the gavel within reach of the staunch ally of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
American citizens in Israel can start leaving the country on charter flights starting Friday after the State Department said flights will take Americans and immediate family members to either Athens, Greece or Frankfurt, Germany.
The Israeli military has ordered the 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza to evacuate to the south within 24 hours as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel.
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey faced a new charge Thursday that he conspired to act as an agent of the Egyptian government, a remarkable accusation against a Democrat who had a powerful role in U.S. policy as head of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.
An Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip would further escalate the war raging since Hamas launched its unprecedented attack, killing hundreds of civilians.
A retired bank official testified that former president Donald Trump obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in loans based on financial statements that have since been deemed fraudulent.
