POOL

Washington - 24 September 2019

++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House:

"Good afternoon. Last Tuesday we observed the anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution on September 17th. Sadly on that day, the intelligence community inspector general formally notified the Congress that the administration was forbidding him from turning over a whistle blower complaint on Constitution Day. This is a violation of law. Shortly thereafter press reports began to break of a phone call by the President of the United States calling upon a foreign power to intervene in his election. This is a breach of his constitutional responsibilities. The facts are these. The Intelligence Community inspector general, who was appointed by President Trump, determined that the complaint is both an urgent concern and credible. And its disclosure, he went on to say relates to one of the most significant important of the Director of National Intelligence's responsibility to the American people. On Thursday the inspector general testified before the House Intelligence Committee, stating that the acting director of National Intelligence blocked him from disclosing the whistleblower complaint. This is a violation of law. The law is unequivocal."

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House:

"And this week the president has admitted to asking the president of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically. The action of the trip the actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president's betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today I'm announcing the House of Representatives moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. I'm directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry. The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched the House into a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump on Tuesday, acquiescing to mounting pressure from fellow Democrats and plunging a deeply divided nation into an election year clash between Congress and the commander in chief.

The probe centers on whether Trump abused his presidential powers and sought help from a foreign government for his reelection, actions Pelosi said would mark a "betrayal of his oath of office." She declared: "No one is above the law."

Pelosi had long resisted pursuing impeachment, but her caucus moved swiftly in favor of a probe in recent days following reports that Trump asked Ukraine's president to investigate Democratic foe Joe Biden and his son. Her decision sets up her party's most urgent and consequential confrontation with a president who thrives on combat, and it injects deep uncertainty in the 2020 White House race.

Trump, who was meeting with world leaders at the United Nations, called the impending inquiry a "witch hunt" and predicted it would be a "positive for me."