HRC announced support for a formal inquiry into Donald Trump and an investigation of any other persons, up to and including Vice President Mike Pence, in asking the government of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, leveraging the withholding of foreign aid from the United States.

HRC President Alphonso David said:

These are serious allegations that, if true, thoroughly compromise the national security of the United States, the constitutional process, and the integrity of our electoral framework. The safety and well-being of our democracy is at stake. The U.S. House is right to launch a formal inquiry and investigate all others who may have played a role in these alleged crimes or were aware of them. As the Speaker said, no one is above the law, and that includes the President of the United States. 

On September 18, The Washington Post reported that an official in the U.S. intelligence community filed a formal whistleblower complaint after observing Donald Trump making a “troubling” promise to the head of a foreign government. Over the past week, it has been alleged that the Trump-Pence administration withheld foreign aid to the government of Ukraine as leverage over a demand that they investigate Joe Biden and his family, a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and chief political rival of Trump.