White House Democratic candidate Joe Biden asked that President Donald Trump be subjected to a dismissal process, stating that he had "betrayed" the United States, but the president remained firm and anticipated that the case will end in the Supreme Court.
"To preserve our Constitution, our democracy, our fundamental principles, Trump must be subjected to a process of impeachment," Biden said.
"The Constitution stomps and we cannot let it get away with it," he added at a rally with his supporters in New Hampshire.
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But Trump showed no signs of giving in to the pressure of the political trial investigation of Democratic lawmakers, who control the House of Representatives.
Having threatened a constitutional crisis by refusing to cooperate with the Congress investigation, Trump predicted that the dispute would end "being a great case in the Supreme Court."
Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, accuse Trump of hampering the investigation.
"No one is above the law, not even President Trump," said the leader of the Democratic majority in the lower house, Steny Hoyer.
Trump is under fire after meeting a July 25 phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodimir Zelenski in which he tried to get help from Kiev to get incriminating information about Biden, former vice president of Barack Obama and one of the best positioned candidates for the elections of the next year.
Campaign acts
On Twitter, where Trump bombards his followers with conspiracy theories about a secret "deep state" that attempts to overthrow him, the president claimed that the unidentified whistleblower who precipitated the political trial investigation had proven to be partial and inaccurate.
"The data of the complainant about my 'no pressure' conversation with the Ukrainian president has been so wrong, and now (when appearing) the conflict of interest and the relationship with a Democratic candidate, that he or she should be exposed and interrogated," Trump wrote.
In another tweet he dismissed the impeachment process as an attempt by the Democrats to influence the elections. "Its absolute focus is 2020, nothing more," he said.
But Trump, who broke with tradition and began his reelection campaign almost since he set foot in the White House in 2017, has attacked the investigation with a view to taking it to political trial as if it were the cornerstone of his campaign for presidential elections.
Both he and the Republican Party have made an aggressive fundraising campaign on the grounds that they receive unfair treatment from the lower house.
And on Thursday and Friday, Trump will take that message to his supporters in acts in Minneapolis and Louisiana.
Even if the House takes Trump to political trial, the Republican-controlled Senate is unlikely to dismiss him.
The controversial call
In the conversation at the center of the controversy, Trump asked Zelenski to investigate alleged irregular businesses involving Biden and his son Hunter.
Democrats say Trump tried to coerce Zelenski by retaining US military aid to Ukraine. Trump denies it and says his only desire is to fight corruption.
Trump then said publicly that China should also investigate the Biden, which according to its adversaries reinforces the accusation that the president is seeking foreign help to interfere in the elections, something illegal in the United States.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration prevented a potentially key witness, the European Union ambassador, Gordon Sondland, from testifying before Congress. This prompted a formal citation of the Democrats to Sondland to appear on October 16.
Adam Schiff, leader of one of the House of Representatives committees that conduct the investigation, considered the witness's withdrawal as "a strong additional evidence of obstruction."
Later that same day, the White House announced in a long legal statement that it rejected any cooperation with the Democrats.
On Friday, another key witness, former US ambassador to Kiev, Marie Yovanovitch, must appear before the Intelligence Committee of the lower house.
According to US media, Trump removed her from office because she opposed her efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Biden.
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