Trump impeachment to go ahead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the chamber will file impeachment charges against President Donald Trump.

Pelosi said in her statement on the impeachment inquiry that she believed Trump represented a threat to the constitution and the country, citing yesterday’s testimony from legal experts.

“Our democracy is what is at stake,” Pelosi said. “The president leaves us no choice but to act, because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit.”

Pelosi continued, “Sadly but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our founders and a heart full of love for America, today I am asking our chairman to proceed with articles of impeachment.”

The speaker went on to commend committee chairs’ “sombre approach” to the inquiry, which she argued was only made necessary by the president’s actions.

On Thursday President Donald Trump tweeted: "if you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate, and so that our country can get back to business."

The showdown over timing emerged from the first House Judiciary Committee hearing on impeachment Wednesday, which shifted the debate from the specific facts of Trump's alleged wrongdoing to the appropriate constitutional consequences that he should face.

The dispute over how fast to go and over the scope of the Democratic impeachment case spilt over. Three of the four, who were invited by Democrats, agreed that the President's transgressions were already sufficiently severe to justify the ultimate political sanction of impeachment.

The fourth, a Republican invitee, urged Democrats to slow down and to exhaust the full extent of the law to compel testimony from key witnesses before making a case to the nation that Trump should be removed.

The controversy over whether Democrats are rushing to judgment offers both sides new strategic options in an increasingly vitriolic collision over whether Trump abused his power in pressuring Ukraine for favours ahead of the 2020 election.