BREAKING: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to announce formal impeachment inquiry (Updated)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called a 4:00 p.m. meeting of the entire Democratic caucus Tuesday, where the party is expected to discuss impeachment.

Howard Fineman, a reporter with Yahoo News who has reliable sources, tweeted earlier today:

At a later speaking event for The Atlantic, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated that she would have “a major announcement” after the House caucus meeting [5 pm ET].

The Washington Post reports, House Speaker Pelosi to announce formal impeachment inquiry of Trump:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to announce a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump, a dramatic turnaround by the Democratic leader that sets up a constitutional and political clash pitting the Congress against the nation’s chief executive.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) is slated to make her announcement later on Tuesday after a closed-door meeting with her Democrat caucus, according to Democratic officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely describe private deliberations.

“As soon as we have the facts, we’re ready. Now that we have the facts, we’re ready,” Pelosi said at a forum hosted by The Atlantic. “For later today.”

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The California Democrat has spoken to key allies in recent days about establishing a special panel rather than leaving the task with the House Judiciary Committee, said several Democratic officials. Nothing has been decided, the individuals cautioned, but some members are expected to publicly endorse the move soon.

The New York Times also confirms, Nancy Pelosi Plans Formal Impeachment Inquiry of Trump:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to announce on Tuesday that the House will begin a formal impeachment inquiry of President Trump, Democrats close to her said, taking decisive action in response to startling allegations that the president sought to enlist a foreign power for his own political gain.

The impeachment “dam” has finally broken. It’s on!

A formal impeachment inquiry will expedite the numerous legal actions Congress has been forced to file in the face of the Trump administration’s lawless policy of “total obstruction” of Congress, an impeachable offense under Article III of the Nixon Articles of Impeachment.

Stay tuned for later updates.

UPDATE: It’s official. With Pelosi backing a formal impeachment inquiry, those Democrats in Congress who were on the fence about impeachment is now over.

As part of the new impeachment inquiry authority, Pelosi demanded that Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire hand over the whistleblower complaint and report on Thursday when he appears before the House Intelligence Committee.

“He will have to choose whether to break the law or honor his duty to the Constitution,” Pelosi said.

Around the same time as Pelosi’s address on impeachment, “Moscow Mitch” McConnell allowed a non-binding resolution in the Senate demanding that the Director of National Intelligence to produce the whistleblower complaint to Congress, as he is already required to do by law, to pass by unanimous consent. Senate Unanimously Passes Measure Urging Release Of Ukraine Whistleblower Complaint:

The measure, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), expresses the sense of the Senate that the complaint, which the intelligence community’s inspector general deemed of “urgent concern,” ought to be provided to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

The House is expected to take up this resolution tomorrow. It will be telling to see how many obstructionist Republicans vote to support this clear violation of law.

The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee is also now pushing to secure an interview with the mysterious whistleblower, who is working with the House Intelligence Committee to find a way to testify this week. Senate Intel Pushes For Interview With Whistleblower In Ukraine Scandal:

According to a Tuesday letter reported by Yahoo News, the Senate panel is asking for a “closed, bipartisan interview” with the whistleblower by staff counsel this Friday.

Separately, House Intelligence Committee Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said on Tuesday that his panel had been told by the whistleblower’s attorney that the tipster “would like to speak to our committee and has requested guidance from the Acting DNI as to how to do so.”

Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) told reporters on Tuesday that “the lawyer for the whistleblower has reached out for a counsel meeting. But again, we’re going to take this one step at a time, and I think it’s terribly important to get the facts.”

Politico is reporting that the White House preparing to release whistleblower complaint to Congress:

The White House is preparing to release to Congress by the end of the week both the whistleblower complaint and the Inspector General report that are at the center of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, according to a senior administration official, reversing its position after withholding the documents from lawmakers.

The administration official stressed the decision and timing could change over the next few days, but as of Tuesday evening the White House was planning give the information to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The format of presentation, or process of viewing the documents,remained up in the air. The president has agreed to the move, the official added.

The White House’s decision to give lawmakers any information on the whistleblower complaint marks a major change of strategy for the administration, which originally seemed intent on keeping the complaint private. Acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire, so far, has declined to turn over the complaint to congressional intelligence committees as required by law.

Trump already promised to release on Wednesday a transcript of his call with the president of Ukraine, during which he asked the foreign leader to investigate the business dealings of Hunter Biden, son of potential Democratic opponent Joe Biden.

Color me suspicious. Will Trump “sharpie” the transcript like he did NOAA weather reports? You should note that there are no verbatim transcripts of Trump’s calls. Staff take notes, and these are called “readouts.” The Washington media knows this, yet keeps using the term transcript instead of readout. The only possibility of an actual verbatim transcript is a signal intelligence intercept of  the President of Ukraine.

The release of the call transcript, which is squarely in the administration’s control, will likely come out first. The administration could use the sequencing of the release of information to its advantage by setting out the best possible story line for Trump early on, just as it did with the release of the Mueller report.

Count on it. The GOP is not a political party, it is a propaganda machine.