New York: United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said that impeachment charges will be filed against President Donald Trump stating that she would deliver an unusual public statement on the status of the House impeachment inquiry. According to a report by the Associated Press (AP), On Wednesday, Pelosi met behind closed doors with her Democratic caucus, asking, "Are you ready?" The answer was a resounding yes, according to those in the room.

Pelosi was speaking a day after the House Judiciary Committee began considering potential charges against Trump. The US President, however, challenged the Democrats and asked them to move quickly if they were going to impeach him. "If you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate, and so that our country can get back to business," Trump tweeted.

The Democrats are now eyeing towards a Christmastime vote on removing the 45th president of the United States, a situation Pelosi hoped to avoid but which now seems impossible. According to initial reports, Peloso is to make a public statement on impeachment at 9 am.

Judicial Committee Chair Jerry Nadler had launched Round 2 of the impeachment process against President Donald Trump on Wednesday, accusing him of seeking foreign interference in US elections and being willing to compromise the nation's security.

"Trump had indulged in conduct that amounted to "treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanours" and never before in US history had a President engaged in all three," Nadler said.  The Republican leader on the committee, Douglas Collins, said: "This is not an impeachment. This is just a simple railroad job."

The Judicial Committee picked up the impeachment process from the Intelligence Committee, which delivered a 300-page report on Tuesday outlining the charges against Trump, based on several weeks of secret hearings and public testimony by serving and former diplomats and officials. The main charge listed in the report is that Trump "placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of the United States".

The Intelligence Committee also accused him of running a "scheme subverted US foreign policy toward Ukraine and undermined our national security in favour of two politically motivated investigations that would help his presidential re-election campaign". Trump, who is in London for the NATO summit as the hearings got underway, has refused an offer from the committee to send his lawyers to participate in the proceedings.

According to reports, the Republicans has proposed several motions that consumed time by requiring voting by the 41-member Judicial Committee that includes leftist Democrat Pramila Jayapal before being shot down as the panel raced to finish its work in time for the entire House to vote on the impeachment before its Christmas vacation.

This is the third impeachment of a President in US history - the first was against Andrew Johnson in the 19th century and Bill Clinton in the last. Impeachment was started against Richard Nixon, but he quit before it was concluded.

The Democrats hope to get the Articles of Impeachment voted by the House before the Christmas vacations. Impeachment has deeply divided the nation with the support for impeachment stuck at under 49 per cent and opposition to it at under 44 per cent and the latest nationally televised hearings are another attempt to move the needle.

(With inputs from IANS)