US President Trump Attacks House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrats Ahead Of Impeachment Vote Today

US President Donald Trump wrote a letter this Tuesday (17 December) fiercely attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic opposition for destroying American democracy by attempting a coup against the American head of state.

He said the whole inquiry against him is "declaring open war on American Democracy" and demanded that the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, "immediately cease this impeachment fantasy", the Efe news reported.

"By proceeding with your invalid impeachment, you are violating your oaths of office, you are breaking your allegiance to the Constitution, and you are declaring open war on American democracy," Trump said in the letter addressed to Pelosi the day before the House of Representatives is to vote for his impeachment on grounds of "obstruction of Congress" and "abuse of power."

The unusually bitter six-page letter charges head-on against the Democratic opposition.

"You are the ones interfering in America's elections. You are the ones subverting America's democracy. You are the ones Obstructing Justice. You are the ones bringing pain and suffering to our Republic for your own selfish personal, political, and partisan gain," he said.

This Wednesday (18 December) a full session of the Lower House is set to vote on the charges against Trump, which will likely pass immediately due to the large Democratic majority, which will in turn be a green light for starting a process in the Senate for his removal from office, which will begin in January.

Given the Republican control of the Upper House - 53 against 47 - and that impeachment requires a two-thirds majority to pass, the removal of Trump from office is highly improbable.

Democrats announced last September the start of an inquiry into Trump's activities after a whistle-blower revealed to intelligence services the content of a telephone conversation last July between the US president and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In their talk, the American put pressure on the Ukrainian to open an investigation into his political rival and former vice president, the Democrat Joe Biden, and his son Hunter for suspected corruption in that country.

Over the past few months, six committees of the Lower House have carried out an inquiry to open a possible impeachment process against the head of state, which has included hearings of witnesses, both behind closed doors and in open sessions of the House of Representatives.

This Monday (16 December) the House Judiciary Committee published the details of the case in a 658-page document, which concludes that Trump "betrayed the nation" for his own personal gain.

The text establishes that Trump should be accused of "high crimes and misdemeanors," according to the US Constitution, for the abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)