“The Democratic chairmen of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees sent a letter to White House counsel Pat Cipollone on Tuesday demanding that the Trump administration turn over documents related to the president’s alleged attempts to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Joe Biden by Thursday,” Axios reports.

From the letter: “If the recent reports are accurate, it means the President raised with a foreign leader pursuing investigations related to a political opponent in an upcoming U.S. election. That is the very definition of corrupt abuse of power.”

“The letter marks a significant escalation of rhetoric from House Democrats — one that aligns with speculation that the caucus could launch impeachment proceedings imminently if Trump fails to cooperate with the Ukraine investigation.”

“House Democrats hurtled on Tuesday toward a consequential set of decisions about the potential impeachment of President Trump, weighing a course that could reshape his presidency amid starting allegations that he sought to enlist a foreign power to aid him politically,” the New York Times reports.

“Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has stubbornly resisted a rush to impeachment, appeared to be rapidly changing course, as lawmakers from every corner of her caucus lined up in favor of filing formal charges against Mr. Trump if the allegations are proven true, or if his administration continues to stonewall attempts by Congress to investigate them.”

“Ms. Pelosi planned a meeting Tuesday afternoon to coordinate strategy with the six committee chairmen who have led the investigations of Mr. Trump, followed by a broader closed-door meeting of all of the chamber’s Democrats to brief them and gauge their mood in light of the changed circumstances.”

Zack Beauchamp: “The most compelling argument against impeachment, to my mind, was that it wouldn’t really accomplish anything.”

“There’s a virtual guarantee that impeachment will fail in the Republican-controlled Senate, which means there’s no real chance of actually removing Trump from office. Public opinion about the Russia scandal became more set along partisan lines as time went on, making it unlikely that drawing attention to it would galvanize public opinion against the Trump presidency in 2020. Why risk distracting Democrats from the issues on which Trump is genuinely unpopular, and jeopardizing the House Democratic majority, when the gains were so marginal?”

“This seems to be something like the reasoning that has guided Pelosi’s stolid opposition to impeachment. It’s not obviously correct, but it’s a serious argument — and one that pro-impeachment Democrats and commentators dismissed too easily.”

“The new Ukraine scandal challenges this logic. There is now an obvious and immediate pragmatic upside to impeachment: stopping an ongoing abuse of presidential power that could undermine the integrity of the 2020 election.”

Playbook: “House Democratic leadership is considering creating a specIal committee to investigate Trump’s conversation with the Ukrainian president about Joe Biden.”

“Details have not yet been worked out, and the plan is not yet finalized, but this would be a way to give special import to the probe and remove it from day-to-day committee jurisdiction. It would carry a tight deadline — as to not stretch out this process, and to signal that this isn’t an endless investigation. Some Democrats are already pointing to historic precedent: the Watergate special committee.”

“Pelosi gets to hand-select who is on this committee — ahem, Jerry Nadler — and can exert lots of control over its comings and goings. It could help the leadership continue to methodically build the case for impeachment.”