Pelosi pursues articles of impeachment against Trump, says democracy at stake

FILE PHOTO: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks at the unveiling of the congressional portrait of Former House Speaker John Boehner at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., November 19, 2019. REUTERS/Erin Scott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Warning that U.S. democracy is at stake, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi directed a congressional committee on Thursday to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, a historic step setting up a fight over whether to oust him from office.

In a dramatic televised statement, Pelosi accused the Republican president of abusing his power and alluded to Britain's King George III, the monarch against whom the American colonies rebelled in forming the United States in 1776, saying that in the United States, "the people are the king."