On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-California, announced that the House of Representatives will move forward with an official impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
As the process unfolds, Pelosi will be looking to Democratic members of the House for their support. As of Thursday, 218 members of the House of Representatives have said they support a vote to impeach President Donald Trump.
The number of members saying they are in favor of impeaching Trump – 217 Democrats and one Independent – is significant because it represents a majority in the House. A majority of the 435 members is needed for articles of impeachment to be approved.
How did we get here and what’s next? Here’s a look:
What is Trump accused of?
A whistleblower filed a complaint alleging Trump pressuring the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to open a corruption investigation into former Vice President and current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
The whistleblower compliant includes: “In the course of my duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.”
The inspector general for the intelligence community reviewed the complaint and deemed it “credible” and “urgent.”
What has happened since knowledge of the call has come to light?
On Tuesday, Trump authorized the release of the full transcript of a phone call he had with Zelensky. It was released on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the whistleblower complaint was released.
If this leads to impeachment, what is that?
Impeachment is the process of charging an officeholder with misconduct. Impeachment is not removal from office. For an explainer on how impeachment works, click here.
What is Nancy Pelosi saying?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday accused Trump of engaging in “a cover-up” of the Ukraine affair.
She tweeted, “Donald Trump has engaged in behavior that subverts our democratic values and jeopardizes our elections. His reckless decision to call a foreign power for the purpose of getting dirt on a political opponent is unprecedented, unpresidential and a betrayal of the Constitution.”
“This is a cover-up. This is a cover-up,” Pelosi told reporters at her weekly news conference.
“Every day the sadness grows,” Pelosi said.
How has Trump responded?
Trump has tweeted:
- "I have informed @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy and all Republicans in the House that I fully support transparency on so-called whistleblower information but also insist on transparency from Joe Biden and his son Hunter, on the millions of dollars that have been quickly and easily taken out of Ukraine and China. Additionally, I demand transparency from Democrats that went to Ukraine and attempted to force the new President to do things that they wanted under the form of political threat."
- "THE GREATEST SCAM IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN POLITICS!"
- "Democrats wrote to the Ukrainian government in May 2018 urging it to continue investigations into President Donald Trump's alleged collusion with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign — collusion later found NOT TO EXIST."
- "There has been no President in the history of our Country who has been treated so badly as I have. The Democrats are frozen with hatred and fear. They get nothing done. This should never be allowed to happen to another President. Witch Hunt!"
Who are the 218?
Below is an updated list of representatives who have come out publicly for impeachment as of 5 a.m. ET Friday.:
- Alma Adams, North Carolina 12
- Pete Aguilar, California 31
- Colin Allred Texas. 32
- Cindy Axne, Iowa 3
- Nanette Barragán, California 44
- Karen Bass, California 37
- Joyce Beatty, Ohio 3
- Ami Bera, California 7
- Don Beyer, Virginia 8
- Stanford Bishop, Georgia 2
- Earl Blumenauer, Oregon 3
- Suzanne Bonamici, Oregon 1
- Brendan F. Boyle, Pennsylvania 2
- Anthony Brown, Maryland 4
- Julia Brownley, California 26
- Cheri Bustos, Illinois 17
- G. K. Butterfield, North Carolina 1
- Salud Carbajal, California 24
- Tony Cárdenas, California 29
- André Carson, Indiana 7
- Matt Cartwright, Pennsylvania 8
- Ed Case, Hawaii 1
- Sean Casten, Illinois 6
- Kathy Castor, Florida 14
- Joaquin Castro, Texas 20
- Judy Chu, California 27
- David Cicilline, Rhode Island 1
- Gil Cisneros, California 39
- Katherine M. Clark, Massachusetts 5
- Yvette D. Clarke, New York 9
- William Lacy Clay, Missouri 1
- Emanuel Cleaver II, Missouri 5
- James E. Clyburn, South Carolina 6
- Steve Cohen, Tennessee 9
- Bonnie Watson Coleman, New Jersey 12
- Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia 11
- J. Luis Correa, California 46
- Jim Costa, California 16
- Joe Courtney, Connecticut 2
- Jim Cooper, Tennessee 5
- T.J. Cox, California 21
- Angie Craig, Minnesota 2
- Charlie Crist, Florida 13
- Jason Crow, Colorado 6
- Henry Cueller, Texas 28
- Elijah Cummings, Maryland 7
- Sharice Davids, Kansas 3
- Danny K. Davis, Illinois 7
- Susan Davis, California 53
- Madeleine Dean, Pennsylvania 4
- Peter A. DeFazio, Oregon 4
- Diana DeGette, Colorado 1
- Rosa DeLauro, Connecticut 3
- Suzan DelBene, Washington 1
- Antonio Delgado, New York 19
- Val Demings, Florida 10
- Mark DeSaulnier, California 11
- Ted Deutch, Florida 22
- Debbie Dingell, Michigan 12
- Lloyd Doggett, Texas 35
- Mike Doyle, Pennsylvania 18
- Eliot Engel, New York 16
- Veronica Escobar, Texas 16
- Anna Eshoo, California 18
- Adriano Espaillat, New York 13
- Dwight Evans, Pennsylvania 3
- Abby Finkenauer, Iowa 1
- Lizzie Fletcher, Texas 7
- Bill Foster, Illinois 11
- Lois Frankel, Florida 21
- Marcia L. Fudge, Ohio 11
- Ruben Gallego, Arizona 7
- John Garamendi, California 3
- Jesús "Chuy" García, Illinois 4
- Sylvia Garcia, Texas 29
- Jimmy Gomez, California 34
- Vicente Gonzalez, Texas 15
- Josh Gottheimer, New Jersey 5
- Al Green, Texas 9
- Raúl M Grijalva, Arizona 3
- Deb Haaland, New Mexico 1
- Josh Harder, California 10
- Alcee Hastings, Florida 20
- Jahana Hayes, Washington 10
- Denny Heck, Washington 10
- Brian Higgins, New York 26
- Katie Hill, California 25
- Jim Himes, Connecticut 4
- Steven Horsford, Neveda 4
- Chrissy Houlahan, Pennsylvania 6
- Steny Hoyer, Maryland 5
- Jared Huffman, California 2
- Pramila Jayapal, Washington 7
- Hakeem Jeffries, New York 8
- Hank Johnson, Georgia 4
- Marcy Kaptur Ohio 9
- William Keating, Massachusetts 9
- Robin Kelly, Illinois 2
- Joseph P. Kennedy III, Massachusetts 4
- Ro Khanna, California 17
- Dan Kildee, Michigan 5
- Derek Kilmer, Washington 6
- Andy Kim, New Jersey 3
- Ann Kirkpatrick, Arizona 2
- Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois 8
- Ann McLane Kuster, New Hampshire 2
- Jim Langevin, Rhode Island 2
- Rick Larsen, Washington 2
- John Larson, Connecticut 1
- Brenda Lawrence, Michigan 14
- Barbara Lee, California 13
- Al Lawson, Forida 5
- Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas 18
- Susie Lee, Nevada 3
- Andy Levin, Michigan 9
- Mike Levin, California 49
- John Lewis, Georgia 5
- Ted Lieu, California 33
- Daniel Lipinski, Illinois 3
- Dave Loebsack, Iowa 2
- Zoe Lofgren, California 19
- Alan Lowenthal, California 47
- Nita M. Lowey, New York 17
- Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico 3
- Elaine Luria, Virginia 2
- Stephen Lynch, Massachusetts 8
- Tom Malinowski, New Jersey 7
- Carolyn B. Maloney, New York 12
- Sean Maloney, New York 18
- Doris Matsui, California 6
- Betty McCollum, Minnesota 4
- Donald McEachin, Virginia 4
- Jim McGovern, Massachusetts 2
- Jerry McNerney, California 9
- Gregory Meeks, New York 5
- Grace Meng, New York 6
- Gwen Moore, Wisconsin 4
- Joe Morelle, New York 25
- Seth Moulton, Massachusetts 6
- Stephanie Murphy, Florida 7
- Jerrold Nadler, New York 10
- Grace F. Napolitano, California 32
- Richard Neal, Massachusetts 1
- Joe Neguse, Colorado 2
- Donald Norcross, New Jersey 1
- Tom O'Halleran Arizona. 1
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York 14
- Ilhan Omar, Minnesota 5
- Frank Pallone Jr, New Jersey 6
- Jimmy Panetta, California 20
- Chris Pappas, New Hampshire 1
- Bill Pascrell Jr., New Jersey 9
- Donald M. Payne Jr., New Jersey 10
- Nancy Pelosi, California 12
- Ed Perlmutter, Colorado 7
- Scott Peters, California 52
- Dean Phillips, Minnesota 3
- Chellie Pingree, Maine 1
- Mark Pocan, Wisconsin 2
- Katie Porter, California 45
- Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Florida 26
- Ayanna S. Pressley, Massachusetts 7
- David E. Price, North Carolina 4
- Mike Quigley, Illinois 5
- Jamie Raskin, Maryland 8
- Kathleen Rice, New York 4
- Cedric L. Richmond, Louisiana 2
- Lisa Blunt Rochester, Delaware (at large)
- Harley Rouda, California 48
- Lucille Roybal-Allard, California 40
- Paul Ruiz, California 36
- C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, Maryland 2
- Bobby L. Rush, Illinois 1
- Tim Ryan, Ohio 13
- Linda Sanchez, California 38
- John Sarbanes, Maryland 3
- Mary Gay Scanlon, Pennsylvania 5
- Jan Schakowsky, Illinois 9
- Adam Schiff, California 28
- Brad Schneider, Illinois 10
- Kim Schrier, Washington 8
- Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida 23
- David Scott, Georgia 13
- Robert Scott, Virginia 3
- José E. Serrano, New York 15
- Donna Shalala, Florida 27
- Brad Sherman, California 30
- Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey 11
- Albio Sires, New Jersey 8
- Elissa Slotkin, Michigan 8
- Adam Smith, Washington 9
- Darren Soto, Florida 9
- Abigail Spanberger, Virginia 7
- Jackie Speier, California 14
- Greg Stanton, Arizona 9
- Haley Stevens, Michigan 11
- Tom Suozzi, New York 3
- Eric Swalwell, California 15
- Mark Takano, California 41
- Bennie Thompson, Mississippi 2
- Mike Thompson, California 5
- Dina Titus, Nevada 1
- Rashida Tlaib, Michigan 13
- Paul Tonko, New York 20
- Norma J. Torres, California 35
- Lori Trahan, Massachusetts 3
- David Trone, Maryland 6
- Lauren Underwood, Illinois 14
- Juan C. Vargas, California 51
- Marc Veasey, Texas 33
- Filemon Vela, Texas 34
- Nydia M. Velázquez, New York 7
- Peter Visclosky, Indiana 1
- Maxine Waters, California 43
- Peter Welch, Vermont
- Jennifer Wexton, Virginia 10
- Susan Wild, Pennsylvania 7
- Frederica Wilson, Florida 24
- John Yarmuth, Kentucky 3
One independent, former Republican Justin Amash, Mich. 3, says he is in favor of impeachment making the count 220. The majority in the House is 218. That would be the number of votes needed to impeach the president.
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