Donald Trump became the fourth US president to face impeachment proceedings after Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi accused him of betraying his oath of office and US national security by seeking a foreign power’s help in the 2020 election.
In a televised address, Ms Pelosi said the House would look into claims that Mr Trump pressed Ukraine’s president to investigate the local business activities of the son of former vice-president Joe Biden, one of the leading Democratic presidential contenders.
The impeachment inquiry announced by Ms Pelosi in a six-minute statement is the first since the House impeached Bill Clinton in 1998. The move came only hours after Mr Trump sought to blunt Democratic criticism by promising to release a transcript of his controversial July 25 telephone call with Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian president.