In September Speaker Nancy Pelosi broke the news that the US House of Representatives would launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump over allegations that he pressured the Ukrainian president to harm his leading political rival, Joe Biden.

“This week the president has admitted to asking the president of Ukraine to take action that would benefit him politically,” Pelosi said in a formal address in Washington. “The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the constitution. The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.”

The announcement sets the scene for an explosive clash between the Democratic party and the president ahead of the 2020 US election, although Donald Trump naturally responded to the news by way of an inflammatory Twitter rant.

“Such an important day at the United Nations, so much work and so much success, and the Democrats purposely had to ruin and demean it with more breaking news Witch Hunt garbage,” he tweeted as he attended the UN general assembly in New York. “So bad for our Country!”

Over the intervening weeks, Trump has continued this tirade against the Democrats, including tweeting about congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and calling her a “wack job”. Thankfully, Ocasio-Cortez is a fully paid-up member of the burn unit, and she delivered one of her trademark biting comebacks directly to the president.

“Better than being a criminal who betrays our country,” she tweeted. 

It wasn’t long before support for the motion poured in from leading presidential candidates, House Democrats and Hollywood celebrities alike. Lizzo tweeted an excited one-word celebration using the peach emoji, which was soon shared by former secretary of housing and urban development Julián Castro, who retweeted it with the caption “Truth Hurts”, a reference to the singer’s number 1 single.

Former daughter Chelsea Clinton, who’s currently promoting her new book The Book of Gutsy Women, which she co-authored with her mother, Hillary Clinton, also delivered a scathing burn after the president complained that the impeachment inquiry was “The greatest scam in the history of American politics.”

In a deliciously pithy takedown, Clinton proved it was gloves-off time for Trump as she replied to the tweet with her own comment: “Yes, you are.”

Leading presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren also backed the announcement, reminding everyone that she’d called for impeachment proceedings after the Mueller report was released to the public.

“I called for impeachment five months ago, the day after the Mueller report came out,” she began in series of tweets. “Trump continues to commit crimes because he believes he’s above the law. If Congress does nothing to respond, he’ll be right.

“Change happens when a grassroots movement pushes from the outside, and leaders are willing to lead from the inside,” she continued. “Thank you to everyone who protested, organised, and asked the crucial questions to get us to this moment. This is an overdue but important step.”

When They See Us director Ava DuVernay, who is an outspoken critic of Trump, shared a photo of herself and the Exonerated Five on the red carpet at the 2019 Emmy Awards. The president famously took out a full-page advert in the Daily News against the then-teenagers with the headline: “Bring Back the Death Penalty, Bring Back Our Police.”

“We are dressed and ready for the Impeachment Party,” DuVernay tweeted alongside a powerful clip of the five men clenching their fists victoriously. “What are you wearing?”

Actor Mark Ruffalo shared Pelosi’s entire speech alongside the hastag #ImpeachTrump on Twitter, while comedian Rosie O’Donnell filmed herself nodding sagely as Pelosi’s announcement plays on TV in the background. 

Many other Hollywood A-listers, including Kathy Griffin, Anne Rice and Debra Messing also shared their support for Pelosi, while Padma Lakshmi shared a gif of herself passionately cheering with the caption: “Mood when the President is going to be impeached.”

Master of horror Stephen King also chimed in, commenting, “Trump needs to go. He’s one bad hombre.”

Meanwhile Chrissy Teigen, who is no stranger to sparring with the President on Twitter, also expressed her excitement.

“I get it now! It’s actually simpler than most of the shit he’s done. Love it! Happy great day to the haters and losers!! Not sad!!” she tweeted. 

“For two and a half years, Donald Trump has had scandal after scandal,” he remarked. “Russian collusion, obstruction of justice, saying Nazis are fine people, being an unnamed co-conspirator to campaign finance violations, lying about the Moscow Trump tower, stealing money to pay for the border wall, faking the weather with a sharpie – every time…people have asked ‘is this the thing.’”

Over on Twitter, Colbert poked fun at Trump by speculating about the mystery whistleblower.

“We don’t know yet who this whistleblower is, but based on their high placement in the Trump administration and ongoing disgust with the president’s behaviour, we have generated this computer model,” Colbert tweeted alongside an image of Melania Trump looking stern.

“You know, Mr. President, Impeachment could be very positive for you. It would be even more positive if you stepped down,” he added.

“More than 180 House Democrats are now in favour of impeaching President Trump,” the host continued. “It’s like the old saying goes, ‘work with a foreign government to undermine a democratic election once, shame on you. Do it twice, we’re going to inquire about the possibility of doing something this time. Maybe. We’ll see. Possibly. I don’t know.’”

Image: Getty