A majority of the House now supports a Trump impeachment investigation

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

At least 218 members of the House now support at least an impeachment investigation into President Trump's actions regarding Ukraine, according to the tallies of several news organizations. That means a majority of the 435-member chamber is on board with the path House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) embarked on Tuesday evening.

It's not at all clear that there are the necessary 218 votes to actually impeach Trump, setting up a trial in the Senate, but the momentum has clearly shifted in the House. Nearly 60 House Democrats shifted toward impeachment after Pelosi's announcement, Politico reports. The numbers of impeachment inquiry supporters varies — The Washington Post and The New York Times put it at 218, Politico counts 219, and NBC News found 220 House members.

The only non-Democrat in all the tallies is Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.), who recently left the Republican Party. According to the Post's count, 25 House Democrats are ready to impeach Trump now, but most say they want to start the process and see whether it leads to articles of impeachment being filed. House leaders have no plans to vote on the impeachment process unless and until such articles are drafted, the Times reports. How the inquiry will be structured and its scope are open questions that House Democratic leaders are trying to cobble out "expeditiously," as Pelosi said.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.