US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday she had ordered the House Judiciary Committee to draw up a list of President Donald Trump's accountability clauses over his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate the activities of a political rival.
"The facts are beyond doubt," Pelosi said in a televised statement. The president used his power for his personal political benefit at the expense of our national security by withholding military assistance and holding an important meeting in the Oval Office in exchange for announcing an investigation into the activities of his political rival.
"Unfortunately, but with confidence and modesty, I ask today the chairman to proceed with the preparation of the accountability clauses," she said, referring to the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Gerold Nadler.
Pelosi made the remarks a day after the Judiciary Committee held a hearing in which constitutional law experts summoned by Democratic lawmakers said Trump was involved in acts constituting crimes requiring accountability under the constitution.
A fourth expert, called by Republican lawmakers, said the Democrat-led accountability investigation was hastily and flawed.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump urged Democrats to act quickly if they planned to hold him accountable so the Republican-dominated Senate could handle the issue.
"If you are going to decide my accountability, do it now, quickly, so that we have a fair trial in the Senate, so that our country can return to work," Trump wrote on Twitter.
The US president said he would "win" in the battle to oust him after the speaker ordered the House to formulate charges against him.
"The good thing is that Republicans are more united now than ever before," Trump wrote on Twitter. We will win. ”