8 Takeaways From The Trump-Ukraine Scandal

Well, that escalated quickly.

At the beginning of this week, it wasn't at all clear that the country was heading toward another impeachment investigation, 21 years after Republicans filed articles of impeachment against Democratic President Bill Clinton.

But by the end of this week, that's exactly what was happening. Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry against President Trump after the release of an official transcript of a call between Trump and the president of Ukraine — and a whistleblower complaint that detailed allegations of a pressure campaign from Trump and his allies toward Ukraine to help investigate Joe Biden.

Here's are eight things that have become clear in this murky story and where politically this all might be heading:

1. The president of the United States solicited help from a foreign country to investigate a potential 2020 political rival, while withholding military aid to that country.

If that sounds ... ," President Trump told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to the official White House account of the call between Trump and Zelenskiy in July. That ask came after Zelenskiy thanked Trump for U.S. military support and said he'd like to buy more.