Nancy Pelosi
Nancy PelosiReuters

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told fellow Democrats that they would be "derelict" of their congressional duty if they do not vote on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

In a "Dear Colleague" letter circulated to members of the caucus on the eve of the vote, Pelosi asked fellow House Democrats to "join me on the Floor" on Wednesday morning as the chamber votes on the articles against Trump.

"No Member came to Congress to impeach a President. But every one of us, as our first act as a Member of Congress, stood on the House Floor, raised our hand and took a sacred oath: 'I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.' That oath makes us Custodians of the Constitution. If we do not act, we will be derelict in our duty," she wrote, according to The Hill.

Pelosi touted the three-month impeachment inquiry as "fair, transparent and deliberative," adding that "very sadly, the facts have made clear that the President abused his power for his own personal, political benefit and that he obstructed Congress as he demanded that he is above accountability, above the Constitution and above the American people."

"In America, no one is above the law," she added.

Pelosi included a call to "support and defend our Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic," ending her message: "God Bless America!"

Meanwhile, a running tally compiled by The Associated Press found, unsurprisingly, that nearly every House Democrat is expected to vote for the two articles of impeachment against Trump on Wednesday.

No Republicans have indicated they will support impeachment, the agency found.

Pelosi’s letter was sent hours after Trump sent her a letter urging her to halt the impeachment proceedings and accusing Democrats of an “unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power.”

“It is time for you and the highly partisan Democrats in Congress to immediately cease this impeachment fantasy and get back to work for the American People. While I have no expectation that you will do so, I write this letter to you for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record,” he wrote.

“This is nothing more than an illegal, partisan attempted coup that will, based on recent sentiment, badly fail at the voting both. You are not just after me, as President, you are after the entire Republican Party,” Trump wrote in the letter, which marked his first personal correspondence with Pelosi on impeachment.

Democrats accuse the president of endangering the US Constitution, jeopardizing national security and undermining the integrity of the 2020 election by asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July phone call to investigate his Democratic political rival Joe Biden.

Trump denies wrongdoing and has condemned the inquiry as a hoax.

The White House has made clear that Trump “wants to have a trial in the Senate because it’s clearly the only chamber where he can expect fairness and receive due process under the Constitution.”