Do the Ukraine call allegations make Trump’s impeachment more likely?

Reports that the US president asked Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden have angered Democrats, writes Chris Stevenson

Donald Trump has rejected suggestions he acted improperly on a call with the Ukrainian president (Reuters)

Donald Trump and impeachment. Three words that have been have been seen together in countless news articles over the past couple of years. The ‘i’ word has dogged the president throughout his time in the White House, with an increasing number of Democrats believing his conduct in office is enough to get him removed.

However, the party remains divided. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives where the process of impeachment would begin, worried that a failure to remove Trump (with the Senate likely to block any such move) could lead to moderate Democrats suffering at the ballot box in a crucial election year in 2020. The party has tried to shift public opinion towards impeachment a number of times, such as having Robert Mueller testify in congress about his report that found instances of possible obstruction of justice by the president, without passing judgement on them. Nothing has had the desired effect.

Jerry Nadler, the Democrat head of the House Judiciary Committee, has opened what he has called an impeachment investigation, with the first public hearing last week. He is clear that he believes the president’s “trashing all the norms which guarantee democratic government [and] aggrandising power to the presidency” means he should be impeached. Trump has denied any unlawful conduct.