The US Congress launches the first step of the 'impeachment' against Trump

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"I announce today that the House of Representatives officially begins the process of political trial," Pelosi said in a statement to the press, after meeting with the Democratic members of the House of Representatives

The president of the US Congress, Nancy Pelosi, and the US president, Donald Trump. AFP

It was not the 'Russiagate', but the 'Ukrainegate'. The decision of Donald Trump to cancel the aid that the United States gives to Ukraine - including the delivery of military equipment - if that country did not open an investigation into Hunter Biden - son of the former vice president with Barack Obama and possible Trump rival in the elections of the next year - has made the president of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has decided the first steps to open an impeachment process against the president.

Thus, six committees of the House of Representatives must investigate whether the president of the United States tried to get the collaboration of a foreign country, Ukraine, to politically persecute a rival, Joe Biden. In the event that the opinion is favorable, the 'impeachment' may proceed further.

The 'impeachment' is, in principle, a mere motion of no confidence in the Chamber that is reserved for "serious crimes and offenses" of high public office, including the head of State and Government. Once it is approved by the House, it passes to the Senate, where it becomes a 'political trial' which, if approved by a two-thirds majority, implies the dismissal of the affected position, in this case the president, who becomes replaced by vice president. In the history of the US there have been three presidents who have suffered 'impeachment' but none has been dismissed by the Senate. The only one who resigned from his position was Richard Nixon, who did so in the middle of the process. If an impeachment is finally launched against Trump, there is no doubt that he will not be dismissed because all Senate Republicans - where that party has an absolute majority - support the president, with the sole exception of Mitt Romney.

Pelosi announced the measure by stating that "the actions that the president has taken to date have seriously violated the Constitution." The leader of the House of Representatives has always opposed a Trump impeachment for the "Russian plot" to the point that her leadership has been harshly answered by the left wing of the party. He has now changed his mind after a series of phone calls with two dozen Democratic representatives who won last November's elections in districts that had voted for Trump in 2016.

The fact that these legislators, who tend to moderate their opposition to the president due to the fear that their voters would abandon them for him, gave him 'green light' to start the 'impeachment' seems to have been decisive. Because Pelosi's goal is none other than to make the Democratic Party revalidate its majority in the House in the 2020 lessons, something that an 'impeachment', which is a process full of uncertainties that will last for months, can make it difficult. The US has never held an election campaign during an 'impeachment'. For the always cautious Democratic Party, that is a risk that could not be avoided. Politically, 2020 can be an unprecedented year in the US.

Trump, meanwhile, replied with his exquisite rhetoric calling the opening of the investigation "garbage" and "witch hunt." It is a strategy that has given excellent results in the investigation of the 'Russian plot', and now seems to be trying to repeat. Joe Biden announced that he supports Pelosi's decision, which could strengthen his leadership position in the Democratic Party polls.

Trump has denied all the accusations. But the president has changed his explanation so many times that his credibility for the opposition is void. First Trump denied everything. He later said he had spoken with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zemensky, to prevent the Biden from carrying out acts of corruption in the country. Yesterday, upon his arrival at the UN, Trump again changed the line of argument, and said he had canceled aid to Ukraine to force other countries - primarily European countries - to give more support to Kiev. Three explanations in five days seem too much. For the opposition, it is clear that the president has tried to pressure an allied country to carry out a politically motivated operation against a possible electoral rival.

The president also reacted with a challenging decision: to deliver to Democrats on Wednesday the transcript of the telephone conversation he had with the new president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zemensky, and in which, according to the Wall Street Journal, he asked him eight times that will initiate an investigation of Hunter Biden. When Trump and Zemensky spoke, the US had already suspended without explanation the aid to Ukraine, a US allied country that is in a low intensity war with Russia. Ukraine only received support from Washington again after a joint decision by the Democratic and Republican congressmen that was imposed on the president's wishes.

Trump's decision to disclose the recording doubles the bet in the dispute. But it is insufficient for the Democrats. The reason is that they want me to testify in Congress the person who spread the entire alleged Trump operation to force Ukraine to investigate the Biden. That person, whose identity has not been revealed, wants to testify. But the White House has forbidden it on the grounds that, if it did, it would reveal state secrets.