Democrats Opening Impeachment Inquiry – Washington Democrats are finally getting their wish – a chance to impeach President Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that an impeachment inquiry will be opened in the House of Representatives after a whistleblower filed a complaint regarding a call Trump had with the Ukrainian president. To impeach, the Democrat-led House would need just a simple majority – 218 Representatives – to vote in favor. But to remove him from office, 2/3 of Senators would need to vote to have him relieved of his duties, an unlikely scenario if no more damaging information comes out. The White House released a memorandum of Trump’s call with Ukrainian president Zelensky, and the full whistleblower complaint was declassified and publicly released on Thursday morning.

DNI Testifies, Whistleblower Identified – The Acting Director of National Security Joseph Maguire testified before an open hearing of the House Intelligence Committee regarding the Trump-Ukraine scandal. Maguire told lawmakers that he believes the whistleblower acted legally and followed all procedures. He also defended himself from Democrats who called him out for speaking to the White House Counsel before giving the whistleblower complaint to Congress. The New York Times said the whistleblower is a CIA officer who had been assigned to the White House at some point, but did not give his or her name.

Senate Votes To Block Trump’s Border Emergency – The Senate voted Wednesday to overturn Trump’s national emergency declaration regarding the crisis at the nation’s border with Mexico. Although Senators voted 54-41 in favor of overturning the declaration, they did not meet the veto-proof majority necessary to block the $3.6 billion in funds the Trump administration has allocated for operations at the border. The House will now vote to overturn the declaration before it heads to the Oval Office, where Trump is sure to veto it.

Senate Confirms New Labor Secretary – On Thursday, the Senate voted 53-44 to confirm President Trump’s nominee for Labor Secretary, Eugene Scalia. He is the son of late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia. Democrats vehemently opposed his nomination to lead the Labor Department, who questioned his record on rights issues, and due to opposition from labor unions. Scalia is a partner at a law firm and served as solicitor of the Labor Department under President George W. Bush.

More Vaping Illnesses – The CDC announced that there are now 10 reported deaths from vaping-related illnesses and hundreds of suspected cases of illness from the addictive habit. Pressure has been growing on legislators and bureaucrats to ban or place restrictions on the sale of vaping devices as more and more reports of illnesses are reported. Juul Labs, the biggest maker of electronic cigaretted, announced that they would stop advertising their products, as the company is under major pressure and scrutiny for allegedly marketing their products to underage users. Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker this week banned all sales of e-cigs in his state in response to the growing crisis, following the lead of New York governor Andrew Cuomo.