DONALD TRUMP’S ALLIES have hit out at Democrats after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry of the US President. 

Pelosi announced the inquiry yesterday evening saying that “the President must be held accountable and no one is above the law.”

The significant move comes following revelations about Trump’s dealings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and claims that he pressured him into investigating former US vice president Joe Biden’s son.  

Democrats have previously mulled impeachment proceedings over Trump’s alleged dealings with Russia but Pelosi had stopped short of initiating them. 

No evidence has emerged to support Trump’s continued claims that Joe Biden used his position as Vice President to have a Ukrainian prosecutor fired in order to help his son Hunter. 

The latest row was sparked by reports that an intelligence whistleblower lodged a formal complaint about a phone call President Trump made with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

Following the announcement, Trump sent five quick-fire tweets in which he said Democrats were engaging in “a total Witch Hunt!”.

“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. So bad for our Country!, ” Trump tweeted. 

Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, meanwhile, said that Democrats’ “attacks on the President and his agenda are not only partisan and pathetic, they are in dereliction of their Constitutional duty”.

Trump’s son, Donald Jr, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also hit out at the move by the Democrats. 

“Amazing that Biden gets the pass on using his office to enrich his son, but the mere chance to somehow make it about @realDonaldTrump is all the Dems need to go all out. JOKERS!,” Donald Jr tweeted. 

Amazing that Biden gets the pass on using his office to enrich his son, but the mere chance to somehow make it about @realDonaldTrump is all the Dems need to go all out. JOKERS!

Watch Biden Brag About Bribing Ukraine To Fire Investigator Of Son's Biz https://t.co/UQUBg0TggM

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 24, 2019

Giuliani added that “Dems have no basis for impeachment. They should be investigated for obstructing justice. Their whistleblower may turn out to have no direct evidence. The story is so far off it sounds like another Dem-Media frame-up. Only crimes are Biden-Kerry pay for play. Thank you.”

Meanwhile, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York has called on Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to investigate the whistleblower’s complaint.

In a letter to McConnell, he said that the Republicans’ “see no evil, hear no evil” attitude toward the president’s actions “is unacceptable and must change.”

McConnell, however, has said the impeachment move by Democrats “simply confirms that House Democrats’ priority is not making life better for the American people but their nearly three-year-old fixation on impeachment.”

Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, meanwhile, said he doesn’t think Trump’s actions are grounds for impeachment, but said he wouldn’t have called a foreign leader to discuss a rival.

“I don’t think he should have raised the topic of Joe Biden with the Ukraine president,” Rubio said.

Senior Democrat Adam Schiff has said the still-unidentified whistleblower, believed to work for one of the US government’s intelligence bodies, could soon testify to the House Intelligence Committee, which he leads.

The New York Times reported yesterday that intelligence and White House officials were working on a deal for the whistleblower to meet with congressional investigators.

Having held off for weeks, Biden himself declared his support for an impeachment investigation.

“If he continues to obstruct Congress and flaunt the law, Donald Trump leaves Congress in my view no choice but to initiate impeachment,” Biden told a news conference. “That would be a tragedy, but a tragedy of his own making.”

Asian stocks, meanwhile, fell following the launching of formal impeachment proceedings amid renewed worries about trade.

No House Republicans have come out in favour of impeachment and Republicans currently control the Senate, making Trump’s ultimate conviction unlikely.

With reporting from Associated Press.