do. does look like tonight, house speaker nancy pelosi in front of the american people a short time ago, saying president trump betrayed the oath of office. announcing the house will begin a formal impeachment inquiry of president trump. after months of caution, the speaker telling the american people why. it comes after allegations the president pressured a foreign leader to investigate one of his political opponents, joe biden, while the trump administration held hundreds of millions in u.s. aid. tonight, the speaker saying the president has seriously violated the constitution. mary bruce live on the hill. tonight, president trump calling this a witch hunt. saying the transcript of that call with ukraine s new president will be made public tomorrow. saying that call was, quote, perfect. and tonight, we have news of a phone call between president jon karl standing by.i. the other major news this tuesday night, the tropical
chief of staff to halt nearly $400 million in foreign aid to ukraine. but he insists holding that money was not an attempt to pressure the ukrainian president. and there was never any quid pro quo. reporter: but the president has offered shifting reasons for why he stopped those payments. just 24 hours ago, he said he withheld the money because he wanted to get ukraine to address corruption. why would you give money to a country that you think is is corrupt? reporter: but today, he said he withheld those hundreds of millions for a different reason. i want other countries to put up money. i think it s unfair that we put up the money. then people called me and said, oh, let it go, and i let it go. but we paid the money. the money was paid. reporter: there is no evidence joe biden or his son acted improperly with regard to ukraine. today, the candidate fired back at president trump. but if we allow a president to get away with shredding the united states constitution, that
accountable. no one is above the law. nancy pelosi announcing unprecedented action against president trump. tonight perspective on what an impeachment inquiry means. it was hot today and we re about to do it again tomorrow in the forecast. putting boulders on the sidewalk so homeless people can t camp out. is this helpful or harmful? we dig into it as part of our efforts to build a better bay area. that breaking news, a grass fire is putting up a lot of smoke. the fire is west of the main street train station near webster street. winds are shifting east. no buildings are threatened. people nearby can see and smell that smoke. they are being told to keep their doors and windows closed. the fire department says this is a two alarm fire.
resisted calls for impeachment for months, you have reported on this, but she says the president s actions involving this phone call with ukraine s new president, bringing up joe biden and holding hundreds of millions in u.s. aid, all of this, she said, made it unavoidable today? reporter: david, pelosi made very clear the tipping point here was the president s admission that he talked to a foreign leader about investigating his political rival. that is what broke the dam here for pelosi and scores of other democrats. tonight, at least 181 members, more than two-thirds of house democrats, now say it is time to impeach. david? mary bruce leading us off. and mary, as you know tonight, president trump dismissing the investigation, calling it another witch hunt, saying he will release the transcript of that phone call with the president of ukraine tomorrow, calling the phone call perfect. but it s more than just that call. will congress see the whistleblower s complaint that triggered
the ukraine controversy with an echo of what he said over and over again about the special counsel investigation. i think it s ridiculous. it s a witch hunt. reporter: as for the prospect of impeachment? if she does that, they all say that s a positive for me, from the election. jon karl with us here in new york, because the president has been at the u.n. here in new york city, as well. and we know the president promising to release that transcript tomorrow, but speaker pelosi wants the whistleblower s complaint. and in a rare move late today, senate republicans, jon, said they want this, too? reporter: in fact, david, the entire senate voted 100-0 to call on the trump administration to turn that whistleblower complaint over to the intelligence committees. and in another twist today, house intelligence chairman adam schiff says that he has been contacted by a lawyer for the whistleblower, the whistleblower wants to appear before congress. the whistleblower now wants to come