Nancy Pelosi announces 'formal impeachment inquiry' into Trump

It's officially happening.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Tuesday that the House would formally pursue an impeachment inquiry against President Trump. The decision from the impeachment holdout comes after Trump admitted to urging pushing Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden, with Pelosi saying that the House was "moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry."

Pelosi started by lining up several instances where Trump's actions constituted a "violation of the constitution" and how they "undermine our national security and intelligence." The Ukraine conversations, specifically, amount to Trump's "betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the security of our elections," Pelosi continued.

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Pelosi's announcement confirms several reports from earlier in the day, in which Democratic lawmakers and aides told several news outlets Pelosi was prepared to back an impeachment inquiry. Since a whistleblower first reportedly indicated and then Trump admitted to pushing Ukraine's government to investigate Hunter Biden as an apparent attempt at smearing his father's 2020 campaign, previously reluctant House Democrats have flipped to back impeaching Trump.

Still, this doesn't indicate what will change about the current impeachment track House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) is on. He is holding what he calls impeachment hearings and is pursuing a so-called impeachment inquiry, but Pelosi had only been reluctant to use those terms before Tuesday. As CNN's Manu Raju explains it, "Pelosi is endorsing is a continuation of existing investigations" under Nadler and five other House committees so they can collect evidence "to recommend articles of impeachment."