The latest on Trump's impeachment inquiry

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said the impeachment inquiry into President Trump is "not anything to be joyful about" and called this a "sad time for the American people."

Pelosi added that the House had "no choice but to go forward" with the proceedings.

"We see the actions of this President being an assault on the Constitution," she said. "We had no choice but to go forward. It's hard. We want to weigh the equities. We want to be fair as we go forward."

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is speaking at a news conference alongside House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff.

She has not yet brought up the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

The President today continued to defend his July 25 call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, tweeting that it was "a very good conversation."

Trump added that he knew many people were listening in on his conversation.

Here's his tweet:

More context: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo admitted today that he was on the call between Trump and Zelensky.

Three House committee chairmen have released a memo informing House Oversight committee members that they are drafting a subpoena compelling the White House to produce key documents as part of the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry.

Oversight Chair Elijah Cummings, Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff and Foreign Affairs Chair Eliot Engel wrote the memo. The subpoena will be issued on Friday under the Rules of the House of Representatives. 

Cummings will issue the subpoena officially, but is working in tandem with the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees.  

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff will hold a news conference at 10:45 a.m. ET.

It's been just over a week since Pelosi announced the House was opening a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Congress is in recess this week and next, but the House Intelligence Committee is holding briefings and is ready for possible hearings.

Your impeachment questions, answered

If the House votes to impeach President Trump, the matter heads to the Senate, which would hold a trial.

Is it true that if the Senate delivers a "not guilty" verdict, then upon leaving office, Trump cannot be prosecuted criminally because of double jeopardy?

No, that is not true.

Impeachment and criminal prosecution are two entirely distinct processes, serving different purposes: Impeachment is a political process prescribed by the Constitution to remove the president or other federal officials from office, separate and apart from criminal charges.

A president can be impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate but then never charged criminally.

Conversely, a president can be impeached by the House, acquitted — meaning found not guilty — by the Senate, and then later indicted after leaving office.

Either way, double jeopardy would not prevent prosecution because impeachment is not a criminal process — and does not qualify as a "first" jeopardy, so to speak.

Read more impeachment questions and ask your own here.

State Department inspector general Steve Linick will brief congressional committees this afternoon and “provide staff with copies of documents related to the State Department and Ukraine," a person familiar with the briefing tells CNN’s.

This will happen in a bipartisan, closed-door briefing with relevant congressional committees.

The invitation to the Hill said:

Some background on this meeting: Yesterday, Linick requested an urgent briefing with senior congressional staff members just after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back on House Democratic demands to turn over documents related to Ukraine, according to sources briefed on the matter.

One congressional aide described the State inspector general's request as "highly unusual and cryptically worded."

State Department inspector general Steve Linick yesterday requested an urgent briefing with senior congressional staff members after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back on House Democratic demands to turn over documents related to Ukraine and to depose current and former State officials, according to sources briefed on the matter.

Here's what we know about Linick:

Your impeachment questions, answered

If the House votes to impeach President Trump, the Senate would hold a trial. In order to remove him from office, 67 senators would have to vote to do so.

But if Trump is impeached by the House and found guilty by the Senate, could he be removed from office and then run again in 2020?

The Constitution states that a judgment of impeachment results in "removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States."

So on its face, the Constitution appears to stipulate that if a person is impeached by the House, convicted by the Senate and removed from office, he also can be disqualified from holding office in the future.

But some legal scholars have argued that the Senate must vote separately on...

Looking at historical precedent, the Senate has at least twice voted to remove federal judges, and then separately voted on whether to disqualify the judges from holding office in the future. And while a two-thirds vote of the Senate is constitutionally required for removal, the Senate has used a lower simple-majority vote standard in prior cases of disqualification.

So, if the Senate did vote to convict and remove the President, it likely would also vote separately on whether to bar him from holding office again in the future.

Read more impeachment questions and ask your own here.