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What you need to know about the Trump impeachment inquiry

By Eric Tucker
Updated  September 28, 2019 10:30am EDT
Politics
Associated Press
Donald Trump article

President Donald Trump (Official White House photo by Shealah Craighead)

WASHINGTON - A whirlwind is unfolding in Washington, with talk of impeachment by Congress, the extraordinary release of President Donald Trump's foreign communications and progress toward disclosing a whistleblower complaint that set the whole thing off.

A look at what just happened:

WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT?

A whistleblower from inside the intelligence community has lodged a complaint that was partly about a summer phone conversation between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The White House released a rough transcript of the call on Wednesday. According to that, Trump pressed Zelenskiy to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden. He urged Zelenskiy to work with Attorney General William Barr and Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

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WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT?

There are legal and political issues at play.

It's against federal law to seek foreign government assistance for U.S. elections.

Justice Department prosecutors have determined Trump did not violate campaign finance law, including a prohibition on accepting campaign contributions or a "thing of value" from foreign governments.

Still, the call poses a political problem for Trump. At minimum, it shows the president's willingness to engage a foreign government - and to enlist his own attorney general - for help digging up dirt on a political rival.

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HOW DOES IMPEACHMENT PLAY INTO THIS?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has launched a formal impeachment inquiry.

The probe focuses partly on whether Trump abused his presidential powers and sought help from a foreign government to undermine Biden and help his own reelection. Pelosi said such actions would mark a "betrayal of his oath of office."

Trump has dismissed it as a "nothing call," and many Republicans who have stood by his side so far indicate they plan to keep doing so.

RELATED COVERAGE:

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WAS THERE ANY TALK OF QUID PRO QUO?

Trump appears to stop short of that in the call.

Days before the call, Trump froze nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine. But it was not clear from the summary whether Zelenskiy was aware of that. And Trump doesn't frame his conversation with Zelenskiy in terms of an explicit quid pro quo, such as directly linking Ukraine's help to American military aid or other assistance.

But Trump did raise the Biden issue after Zekenskiy noted his desire to buy additional U.S. anti-tank missiles.

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WHAT COMES NEXT?

Lawmakers want to pry loose the whistleblower's actual complaint. The summary of the phone call was only part of the complaint, so there are more details under wraps. Those will be important ahead of hearings with the acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire on Thursday.

In terms of the impeachment inquiry, it will likely be a lengthy process.

If the House Judiciary Committee backs impeachment articles, the matter goes to the full House for a vote. Democrats control the House and its committees.

If a majority of the full House votes for impeachment, the matter goes to the Senate, which is responsible for holding a trial, overseen by the U.S. Supreme Court chief justice.