On Tuesday, Sept. 24, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced a formal inquiry into the impeachment of President Trump
Roughly two weeks ago, an “anonymous whistleblower told a House Intelligence Committee aide that he was concerned about [President Donald] Trump’s behavior on the call, and the aide passed that information to Schiff,” according to National Review.
According to the whistleblower, Trump had a phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the aid Congress approved for Ukraine. According to notes released by the administration, Trump also said, “There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son.”
While there is no official transcript of the call, Trump released the White House Situation Room notetakers notes, which have continued to be referred to as “transcripts” across news platforms.
The whistleblower also claimed that Trump threatened that if President Zelensky did not start an investigation into Biden, that America would withhold foreign aid until Ukraine did such.
The call of this whistleblower caused outrage from Democratic leadership and led to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announcing last Tuesday that she was launching a formal inquiry into the impeachment of Trump. This decision came after she charged him on Twitter with a betrayal of his oath of office and a misuse of presidential powers in calling on foreign powers to investigate his political opponents.
According to the National Center for Constitutional Studies, to conduct an impeachment, the accusations must be brought up in the House, passed by the Judicial Committee and then passed by a simple majority of 51 percent in the House. If that happens, the Senate floor becomes a courtroom, with the Senators as a jury. After the House has passed an Articles of Impeachment, they have essentially indicted the individual, but it is up to the Senate to remove them with a two-thirds vote.
While impeachment may get a majority in the House, the likelihood of the president having enough of his base turn on him in the Senate to amount to 67 percent is extremely low.
These are the next steps our country will be taking, as brought up by Pelosi. In light of the whistleblower’s accusations, Congress must prove that Trump made a deal with Zelensky and broke U.S. law in a way that would constitute an impeachable offense.
If the president did in fact use his position as commander-in-chief to manipulate a foreign power to investigate his political opponent, it seems as though the House does have a solid impeachment case.
That said, it was also recently released that “the acting director of national intelligence and the Justice Department blocked the inspector general from [reporting the whistleblower complaint to Congress], arguing that it did not meet the threshold requiring its transmission to lawmakers,” according to ABC news.
With the conversation being released to the public, and more information slowly coming out, the truth seems to be revealing itself and it seems that the House is attempting to shift their story towards another type of crime, as there is no direct evidence of quid pro quo.
This impeachment query seems to the public, at this point, to be mostly politically motivated, as there is no clear cut evidence that there was a deal cut between the two presidents.
Furthermore, the purpose behind the phone call was recently released in that “Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with President Donald Trump in the now-infamous July 25 phone call, [because] he believed $391 million worth of military aid was already on its way to Kiev, two Ukrainian officials and a US official told BuzzFeed News.”
This information is integral to understanding the context behind the impeachment inquiry. If Trump single handedly decided to deny aid, after Congress had approved it, in an attempt to harm a political opponent, he has a significant issue on his hands.
With all of the information about what the whistleblower had to say available to the public and the transcripts now out, the public has two possible reasons for impeachment: a cover-up and quid pro quo.
Though Pelosi has confirmed they are pressing on with the inquiry, there is no clear definition as to what they are looking for.
No news outlet has a clear path through which the House is seeking to indict the sitting president. This is causing a major stint in the entire process.
This situation has reminded many of the not so long ago investigation into the relationship of Trump and Russia. As Democrats have been trying for two years now to impeach the president, it seems they may finally have a shot.
Although Pelosi had previously advised Dems not to push for an impeachment, her support of it now indicates to some that she may be more confident there is a case to be made here.
Impeachment is a lengthy and discouraging process for a country, but it does not seem that the prospects of it will be going away any time soon.