Democrats start Trump impeachment probe

'Rush to judgment'

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, called the initiation of the inquiry "a rush to judgment" and said the Democrats should have waited until after details of the phone call were revealed.

"It simply confirms that House Democrats' priority is not making life better for the American people, but their nearly three-year-old fixation on impeachment," McConnell said in a statement.

In the House, Pelosi said the six congressional committees currently investigating Trump would continue with their probes as part of the impeachment inquiry.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said his panel was communicating with an attorney representing the whistleblower, and that the individual would like to testify this week.

Biden commented on Tuesday on the inquiry from Wilmington, Delaware.

"If he continues to obstruct Congress and flout the law, Donald Trump will leave Congress in my view with no choice but to initiate impeachment proceedings," Biden said.

Cal Jillson, a political scientist and historian at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, told China Daily: "The Democrats are starting down a road without knowing for sure where it leads.

"Nonetheless, instituting a formal impeachment inquiry will strengthen their hand in demanding information to clarify exactly what has happened between Trump and Zelenskiy," Jillson said.

He said that the impeachment inquiry at first could further divide the public, but its ultimate impact will be determined by what facts emerge and how the voters interpret them, in regard to next year's election.

William C. Banks, a law professor at New York's Syracuse University, told China Daily: "If the allegations are true, the abuse of power is significant, and many members of Congress will be motivated to conduct impeachment proceedings." He is the co-author of a 1994 book about tensions between the executive and legislative branches, National Security Law and the Power of the Purse.

As for the impact on the 2020 election, Banks said: "It's too early to say. It could be the beginning of the end for President Trump, or the proceedings could backfire and propel Trump to reelection."

Most Democratic presidential contenders support the impeachment inquiry, including US senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar; former US representative Beto O'Rourke; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; and former US secretary of housing and urban Development Julian Castro. US Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who announced on Tuesday that she had the necessary polling numbers to qualify for the October Democratic debates, opposes the inquiry.

If the Democratic-controlled House votes to impeach Trump, the Republican-majority Senate would have to take the next step of holding a trial. A conviction would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate to remove the president from office.

It would be the first impeachment inquiry in Congress since the 1998 probe of Bill Clinton on perjury and obstruction of justice allegations in relation to his affair with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.

Reuters contributed to this story.