An impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump began after news that U.S. president Donald Trump and other top government officials pressured the leaders of Ukraine and other foreign nations to publicly announce investigations of former U.S. vice president and leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter and release evidence supporting a fringe theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. The inquiry revolves around a phone call between Trump and Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky implying that U.S. military aid to Ukraine was to be withheld until Zelensky gave in to the aforementioned demands. These allegations have been corroborated by many witnesses, including U.S. top-envoy-to-Ukraine Bill Taylor, Laura Cooper (the top Pentagon official overseeing Ukraine-related U.S. policy), former White House official Fiona Hill and at least six additional White House officials. The reports implicate Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani—as well as Gordon Sondland, Kurt Volker, Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, and others—in taking part in a quid pro quo campaign to pressure the Ukrainian government to take actions which would be helpful to Trump's 2020 presidential campaign. Based on the alleged abuse of power of the presidency by Trump to advance his personal political interests, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi0 initiated the impeachment inquiry on September 24, 2019. Additional alleged misconduct was reported in the days after the announcement, with Trump subsequently publicly urging Ukraine and China to investigate the Bidens.
A whistleblower's complaint which revealed the phone call was given to Congress on September 25, 2019, and released to the public the next day. The White House corroborated several of the allegations, including that a record of the July 25 call between Trump and Zelensky had been stored in a highly restricted system. A non-verbatim transcript confirms that Trump asked Zelensky to investigate the Bidens and release evidence that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. election, and repeatedly urged him to work with Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr on those matters. On October 9, the White House officially responded to the impeachment proceedings in a letter from Counsel Pat Cipollone to Pelosi that it would cease all cooperation with the investigation due to concerns including that there had not yet been a vote of the full House and that interviews of witnesses were being conducted behind closed doors. A few days later, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Trump had withheld military aid to Ukraine over its supposed corruption, but that there had been no quid pro quo.
During the depositions, Ambassador Taylor testified that he had been told that U.S. military aid to Ukraine and a Trump–Zelensky White House meeting were dependent on Zelensky publicly announcing investigations into the Bidens and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election.
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council's Director of European Affairs, testified that he had heard the phone call and that he had shared his concerns about the president's remarks with a White House lawyer. On October 31, 2019, the House voted 232–196 to establish procedures for public hearings, which started on November 13. As hearings began, Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff asserted that Trump may have committed bribery, which is specifically mentioned in the Constitution as an impeachable offense
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_inquiry_against_Donald_Trump
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