House Speaker Pelosi Launches Formal Impeachment Inquiry Of President Trump

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(CBS News) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the establishment of a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump on Tuesday afternoon, setting up a dramatic constitutional clash just over a year before the presidential election.

Pelosi has long resisted calls from many progressive lawmakers to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president, but Democrats appear to have reached a breaking point over the administration's refusal to hand over a whistleblower complaint and information related to other investigations.

One after another on Monday and Tuesday, Democrats from vulnerable House districts who had been resisting previous calls for impeachment came out in favor of initiating impeachment proceedings, citing concerns over Mr. Trump's potential pressuring of a foreign leader to investigate a domestic political opponent.

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