Here's how impeachment actually works.

Earlier, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House is opening a formal impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, saying he’s violated his oath of office and obligations under the Constitution.

“The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law,” Pelosi said at a news conference Tuesday after a closed-door meeting with her party.

She said that six separate committees will be reporting to her on their findings related to Trump’s actions while in office under the umbrella of a formal inquiry.

It’s not clear how much it will change the direction of existing investigations. Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler has already described his panel’s inquiry as an impeachment investigation and several other committees already have been holding hearings on Trump’s conduct.

Still, Pelosi’s announcement is a dramatic escalation of the months-long confrontation between the House and the president. After previously tamping down calls from many Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings, Pelosi is now shifting to support the effort despite concerns within her party that the Republican-controlled Senate will continue shielding the president.

Her move comes as a stream of Democrats over the past two days lined up to call for action after revelations that Trump pushed Ukraine’s government to investigate Joe Biden, now the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. Most significant were the calls from a group of first-term Democrats elected from Republican-leaning districts, where backing impeachment is politically risky.

As Pelosi was speaking, Trump dismissed the move by Democrats as “witch hunt garbage.”

The new urgency among Democrats was sparked by a complaint from a whistle-blower in the intelligence community who raised alarms over the president’s interactions with a foreign leader.

Trump withheld military aid for Ukraine days before telling President Volodymyr Zelenskiy he should investigate Biden and his son Hunter, who was on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. Trump has described part of the conversation publicly this week but said he did nothing wrong.

The House and Senate Intelligence committees are set to question Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire this week about the whistle-blower complaint. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House intelligence panel, said the whistle-blower’s lawyer told them his client would like to speak to the committee.



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