Nancy Pelosi just announced Donald Trump’s impeachment

As the day has gone on, it’s gradually become more clear that this was likely coming today. This afternoon in particular, buzz started leaking that it was definitely coming today. Sure enough, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stepped in front of the television cameras just now, and announced that Donald Trump is being impeached.

Nancy Pelosi said “I am announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.” She went on to explain that she’s directing six different House committees to all immediately proceed with impeachment. Pelosi focused entirely on Trump’s criminal plot to try to conspire with the president of Ukraine to alter the outcome of the 2020 election, but ongoing committee hearings are already focusing on a number of additional Trump crimes and scandals. Pelosi didn’t take questions. So now what?

Impeachment is a complex multi-step process. There are no magic wands for anyone involved. But Pelosi’s announcement is a historic event because it means Donald Trump’s impeachment is no longer just playing out in the House Judiciary Committee in isolation, and has now graduated to a full-blown full House impeachment that’s being led by the Speaker of the House.

Buckle up, because things are about to get pretty wacky. We’ll see how Donald Trump responds to this; his behavior has grown increasingly erratic and unstable as it’s become more clear just how much political and legal trouble he’s in. One thing is clear: Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are running the show now. Trump’s illegitimate presidency has just been set on fire, and all he can really do is watch it burn.