The impeachment process has begun. If you want to quibble, think of it as the pre-impeachment process. Whatever you call it, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler is not fooling around.

Nadler said Sunday on ABC News that he would ask for documents from more than 60 people in President Donald Trump's family, business, White House and Justice Department. That seemed like a lot, but he understated the case. The New Yorker who would lead impeachment hearings launched on Monday what he called an "investigation into threats against the rule of law" and requested documents from 81 "agencies, entities and individuals."

This isn't overkill, it's playing catch-up. What we’re seeing now is the oversight and scrutiny that should have started on Day One of this administration. It's also laying the foundation for impeachment.

Last week’s Michael Cohen hearing before the House oversight committee was a dramatic headline moment for Americans, especially those who voted for a Democratic House: This is it, the time for accountability has arrived. It was also the public-facing moment that put things into sharp focus for people who don’t live and breathe politics. That is to say, most of the country.

Yet Nadler's news release was in its way even more dramatic — from the title of the inquiry that signals exactly what's at stake (the rule of law) to its sweeping description (covering "alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption and other abuses of power") to its request for documents from scores of people.

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The list of alleged and potential misdeeds grows by the day. There are at least 17 law enforcement investigations that we know of into Trump’s administration, transition, campaign, inauguration, foundation and business, and that is on top of multiple new and ongoing Capitol Hill investigations. Cohen’s public and private testimony last week gave Congress many new avenues to follow up, including new leads on the Trump Tower Moscow project and possible insurance fraud by the Trump Organization. Cohen also said he was talking to federal prosecutors in New York about another investigation into Trump wrongdoing but couldn’t disclose what it was. This could make 18 law enforcement investigations.

There are now more leads to follow

We were still digesting all of this when The New York Times reported Thursday that, according to four unnamed sources "briefed on the matter," Trump had overruled intelligence professionals to get a top-secret security clearance for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner — a report quickly confirmed by The Washington Post with its own anonymous "current and former administration officials." That kicked an existing congressional investigation of administration security clearance procedures into even higher gear.

Then on Saturday, The Post reported that as a result of Cohen’s private testimony last week, Congress is also investigating whether Cohen discussed a pardon with anyone in the administration, according to anonymous sources "familiar with the matter." Possibly related, or possibly another new front: Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, said on MSNBC that "explosive," potentially game-changing information related to “lying and obstruction of justice” arose from the private testimony. And there's more to come Wednesday, when Cohen returns for a second closed session with the House Intelligence Committee.

If the public Cohen hearing was a marker laid down by the new House Democratic majority, it was also a vivid illustration of House Republican resistance. They did not mount a defense of their fearless leader. Instead they went after Cohen and his credibility and, when it was over, Trump's top two allies on the panel asked the Justice Department to investigate Cohen for perjury.

Cohen, who heads to prison in two months for tax fraud, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress, among other charges, is indeed an "admitted liar," as conservatives have repeatedly branded him. But if even half of the leads he is providing to congressional committees pan out with documentation or are otherwise backed up by further investigation, he will have proved to be a high-value witness.

This should have happened long ago

The onslaught of congressional investigations is a direct result of House Republicans having shirked their obligations for two years in the face of Trump's norm-shattering, possibly legally compromised presidency. It is overwhelming and at the same time long overdue, particularly for impatient impeachment advocates such as liberal billionaire Tom Steyer.

"Not acting has its costs," he told the USA TODAY Editorial Board a few weeks ago. "When you normalize this kind of behavior and keep allowing him to do things that we’ve never allowed presidents to do, you have a different country at the end."

Steyer said he fears that "slow-walking" the process could kill it — leaving Trump in office for nearly two more years until the 2020 election. But he concedes that Democrats and special counsel Robert Mueller "do need to finish the job and tie it all up in a bow," in terms of fact-finding and evidence.

That process, as it unfolds in the courts and in Congress, will expose wrongdoing and educate the public. As Nadler said Sunday, "Before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen.”

If and when impeachment becomes inevitable, because of all that’s being done now, the factual groundwork will have been laid. Most of America hopefully will not be shocked or appalled. And perhaps at least some Republicans will decide, at long last, that this can’t go on.

Jill Lawrence is the commentary editor of USA TODAY and author of "The Art of the Political Deal: How Congress Beat the Odds and Broke Through Gridlock." Follow her on Twitter: @JillDLawrence