Launched on September 24 by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, led by six House committees, the current inquiry is to determine whether President Trump has committed a crime or major offense.
Once the investigation is over, the 435 elected members of the House will vote to dismiss (impeach) or not Donald Trump. If a simple majority is gained (218 votes), the procedure will continue in the Senate, where parliamentarians will in turn decide on the dismissal. Two thirds of the votes, ie 67 votes, are then required.
So far, the elected members of the House have held 14 closed hearings between October 3 and November 7. From 13 November, the ball of public hearings opened. Twelve witnesses were auditioned by the American parliamentarians. They did not manage to hear anyone they wanted: some refused to cooperate, others were prevented by the White House from testifying. Nineteen people whom the parliamentarians had invited to testify could not or wanted to give their version of the facts, according to the count of Washington Post.
In addition to the chronology of events that we keep abreast of events, we have summarized here the main elements that emerge from the ongoing investigation.
What is Donald Trump suspected of?
What have the witnesses confirmed so far confirmed?
Of the twelve witnesses publicly auditioned by the House of Representatives, seven confirmed having understood, inferred or known explicitly that President Trump and his entourage (Rudy Giuliani, Mick Mulvaney, Gordon Sondland) had suspended the payment of military aid to to get the investigation started on Joe Biden (and his son Hunter).
The nature of the diplomatic channels of communication used on the other hand is less well established, some calling it"Irregularly"others assuring that all senior US officials participated.
Most of the important information given by these twelve witnesses is summarized in the table below:
