A good chunk of Pelosi’s caucus was already chafing at her reluctance to push forward. The Ukraine episode will inevitably create a new front in the oversight wars, with Congress demanding to see transcripts of exactly what Trump has been saying in these calls. This wasn’t an incident from two or three years ago that Congress has obsessed over; this was in July…

Rank-and-file Democrats have been inching toward impeachment proceedings against the wishes of the House leadership. Through the summer, a steady stream of lawmakers publicly announced their support for the president’s removal. The House Judiciary Committee only just began its impeachment investigation, hauling the president’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski into a hearing earlier this week. Lawmakers have largely been replowing old ground, sifting through the Mueller report, trying to obtain Trump’s taxes, and investigating how he’s benefited financially through the presidency.

Last month, Pelosi told fellow Democrats on a conference call that “the public isn’t there on impeachment.” Yet in her statement today, she sounded a more ominous note: “If the president has done what has been alleged, then he is stepping into a dangerous minefield with serious repercussions for his administration and our democracy.”