Former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump if he does not comply with all of Congress’ request for information about a July call he made to Ukraine’s president in which he discussed Biden.

The former vice president spoke out against Trump as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Democrats would launch an impeachment inquiry over allegations that Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s business dealings in the Eastern European country.

"It's time for this administration to stop stonewalling and provide the Congress with all the facts it needs," Biden said."It's time for the Congress to fully investigate the conduct of this president. The president should stop stonewalling this investigation and all the other investigations into his alleged wrongdoing. Using its full Constitutional authority, Congress in my view should demand the information it has a legal right to receive.

"If the president does not comply with such a request of the Congress, if he continues to obstruct Congress, and flaunt the law," Biden added, "Donald Trump will leave Congress, in my view, no choice but to initiate impeachment."

Before Biden's statement, Trump announced on Twitter that on Wednesday he'll release a "complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript of my phone conversation" with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky.

"You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call," Trump added. "No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!"

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump denied that he withheld aid money from Ukraine to try to cajole Zelensky to have his government launch an investigation into Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of the Ukraine energy company Burisma Group.

Trump earlier this week admitted that he spoke with Zelensky about Biden. And on Tuesday Trump acknowledged that he slowed military aid payments to Ukraine this summer, but he said it had nothing to do with trying to pressure Ukraine officials. Instead, he said that he slowed the aid because the United States was paying too much while other countries weren’t paying enough.

But Trump also acknowledged that he told the Ukraine leader that Biden's actions as vice president and the Ukraine business interests of his son warrant investigation.

Trump has also said he had concerns about providing aid to Ukraine because of "corruption" in the country. In his brief comments to reporters Tuesday, Trump underscored that he did eventually release the aid to Ukraine this month but denied tying aid to an investigation of Biden.

"I didn't do it," Trump said. "I did not do that at all."

Biden stressed in his brief statement that his concerns are broader than pushing back against political attacks by the president.

"I can take the political attacks," Biden said. "They'll come and they'll go, and in time, they'll soon be forgotten. But if we allow a president to get away with shredding the United States Constitution, that will last forever."

House Democrats, meanwhile, coalesced around the idea that an impeachment investigation was necessary because Trump essentially tried to extort Ukraine into a political probe of a political rival and his son.

Pelosi called Trump's actions a 'betrayal of national security" as she announced her backing of impeachment, something that she has long resisted because of concerns that it could politically backfire.

"The president must be held accountable," Pelosi said. "No one is above the law."

Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and civil rights icon, on Tuesday also joined calls to begin impeachment proceedings. The senior House member, who until now had resisted calls from the liberal wing of his party for impeachment, could auger more senior Democrats shifting their stances.

"We cannot delay. We must not wait," Lewis said in a speech on the House floor Tuesday. "Now is the time to act. I have been patient while we tried every other path and used every other tool. I truly believe that the time to begin impeachment proceedings against this president has come."

Trump, who was attending the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, suggested he was unfazed by the prospect of impeachment and accused Democrats of committing "presidential harassment."

“If she does that, they all say that’s a positive for me in the election,” Trump told reporters shortly before Pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry. “You could also say who needs it, it’s bad for the county.”

The issue came to a head after a multiple news reports last week about a whistleblower complaint brought by a member of the intelligence community raised concerns about Trump’s comments to a foreign leader.

The whistleblower complaint remains secret, and Democrats and the Trump administration are in a standoff over demands that the report be turned over to Congress.

Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said an attorney for the whistleblower has approached his committee and Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire about speaking to the committee. Schiff said he hopes to hear from the whistleblower as early as this week.

Separately, Maguire is scheduled to appear Thursday before the House Intelligence committee, where Democrats are expected to question why he prevented the intelligence community's inspector general from detailing the whistleblower complaint to Congress.

Trump's campaign manager Brad Parscale called the Democrats impeachment strategy "misguided."

“Democrats can’t beat President Trump on his policies or his stellar record of accomplishment, so they’re trying to turn a Joe Biden scandal into a Trump problem," Parscale said.

Contributing: John Fritze, David Jackson, Christal Hayes, Bart Jansen and Michael Collins