Trump Impeachment News: 200 Congressmen Vote Support For Impeachment Inquiry

Support for the official impeachment inquiry into president Donald Trump announced Tuesday afternoon by House Majority Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has gained irresistible momentum and is now backed by 199 out of the 235 Democrats in the House of Representative as of 9:00 p.m. EDT.

Of the remaining Democrats, 16 oppose the move or remain undecided while 23 other Democrats have yet to vote on the matter, this is according to a New York Times tally. In the entire House that consists of 435 members, 200 representatives support the impeachment inquiry.

Another 87 don't support or remain undecided while 148 still have to state their position on the impeachment inquiry. Most of those that won't support the impeachment inquiry, as well as most of those still on the fence are Republicans.

The House will need two-thirds of its total members (or 290) to approve the articles of impeachment against Trump.

Among the Democrats that remain undecided is Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who was one of those that sought to become the party's presidential nominee for 2020 before she dropped out of the race.

The clear divide among party lines as regards impeaching Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors, specifically obstruction of justice as is alleged in the Ukrainian imbroglio, illustrates the tough job ahead for Democrats in impeaching Trump.

It also partly explains why Pelosi has opposed impeaching Trump since Democrats regained control of the House in the November 2018 mid-term elections. Pelosi has long called the impeachment “divisive.” Apart from defeating Trump in 2020, Pelosi aims to keep the House in Democrat hands while making inroads into the Republican-controlled Senate.

The upcoming impeachment inquiry will look into allegations Trump coerced Ukraine into investigating former vice president Joe Biden and Biden's son, Hunter, in exchange for releasing U.S. military aid to that country.

Joe Biden stands a good chance of becoming the Democrats' candidate for president but is being given a run for his money by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Warren now leads Biden in a number of new polls.

Triggering the impeachment inquiry was a quashed whistleblower complaint having to do with Trump's phone call to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump officials made matters worse by withholding the complaint from the House despite a law mandating they release it.

Trump forced Democrats to act on impeachment by admitting he had talked to Zelensky and asked him eight times to investigate Hunter Biden. That Trump withheld $450 million in Congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine in a quid pro quo arrangement to entice Ukraine to look into and possibly interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential elections was more than enough reason for Democrats to call for Trump's impeachment.