President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE on Tuesday expressed defiance at the news that Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiDemocratic senator to party: 'A little message discipline wouldn't kill us' Overnight Health Care: New wave of COVID-19 cases builds in US | Florida to lift all coronavirus restrictions on restaurants, bars | Trump stirs questions with 0 drug coupon plan Overnight Defense: Appeals court revives House lawsuit against military funding for border wall | Dems push for limits on transferring military gear to police | Lawmakers ask for IG probe into Pentagon's use of COVID-19 funds MORE (D-Calif.) intends to announce a formal impeachment inquiry into him, suggesting it could benefit him politically.

"The country's doing the best it's ever done, and I just heard she'd like to impeach," Trump told reporters during a meeting with the Iraqi president at the United Nations, calling the move a "continuation of the witch hunt."

"If [Pelosi] does that, they all say that's a positive for me in the election," he said. "You could also say who needs it. It's bad for the country."

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Trump questioned how Pelosi could move forward on impeachment before the release of a transcript of his call with the Ukrainian president in which Trump reportedly pressed for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenFormer Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick Bloomberg rolls out M ad buy to boost Biden in Florida MORE or his son Hunter Biden.

"By the way, she hasn't even seen the phone call. The phone call was perfect," Trump said.

Later Tuesday, Pelosi is set to announce plans to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into the president after months of resisting calls from her caucus to do so.

More than 150 Democrats support launching an impeachment inquiry or filing articles of impeachment against Trump as of Tuesday afternoon. Dozens of those lawmakers have come forward in the last 48 hours alone, citing Trump’s interactions with Ukraine.

The president has admitted that he brought up Biden, the Democratic presidential front-runner, and corruption during a July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He has separately acknowledged that he held up military funding for Ukraine but argued he did so in an effort to secure higher contributions from France and Germany.

Trump has denied an explicit quid pro quo tying the funds to an investigation into Biden, but Democrats, including Pelosi, have said the president's efforts to solicit help from a foreign power to damage a political rival is sufficient proof of wrongdoing even in the absence of a bribe.

A transcript of Trump's call with Zelensky is expected to be released on Wednesday, though Democrats have said that is insufficient, calling for the release of a full intelligence community whistleblower complaint on the issue.

Support for impeachment has generally been well under 50 percent in polls throughout Trump's presidency. However, his disapproval ratings have hovered at or above 50 percent in many of those same surveys.