Slicing open possible impeachment

Pending impeachment case foreshadows future America

Art by Jimin Yu

Art by Jimin Yu

On September 24, 2019, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and other House Democrats announced the official opening of an Impeachment Inquiry into the actions of President Donald Trump regarding his dealings with Ukraine. Specifically, Ms. Pelosi responded to a whistleblower report that President Trump had offered a deal to the President of the Ukraine involving Military assistance that would be provided if the Ukraine investigated the actions of Joseph Biden’s son, Hunter. These pending investigations were caused by the 2016 and 2020 U.S. elections in the near future.

President Trump asked Ukraine to look into Biden’s son which is an illegal act, and would provide for damaging information about his opponent. House Democrats claim that the call to Ukraine happened after the President’s offer of military aid was taken off the table, and house Democrats say that he possibly used the aid as a bribe to get the Ukrainian president to investigate political rival, Biden. President Trump and his supporters countered that the President asked his counterpart in the Ukraine to investigate a specific company, CrowdStrike, which many people believe was responsible for a large part of the 2016 election internet hoaxes.

“I think the biggest challenge America as a whole will experience with this political charge against the President is the strength of the constitution and how the people interpret it,” said history teacher Mr. Eric Levin.

The Democrat’s inquiry was sparked by the release of an anonymous report, highlighting in a letter Trump’s dealings and why he was concerned about the call with the Ukrainian President. The whistleblower indicated that he didn’t directly hear nor participate in the call; however, the whistleblower had heard talk from other officials provided the information about the call. The Democrats have since launched a formal impeachment inquiry and are looking in to vote for an impeachment investigation. It appears that the whistleblower is not willing to testify in front of Congress, and instead will only answer questions via letter. Rumors about the identity of the whistleblower indicate that the individual may be someone involved with the Biden presidential campaign.

“The government should be spending more time on more pressing matters,” said freshman student Alex Gasey.

To secure impeachment charges Democrats must secure on the president, the house must vote in favor by a two-thirds majority vote. Should impeachment charges pass the House, the senate then conducts a must hold the impeachment trial. In that trial, members of the Senate will conduct a separate investigation and then vote on whether to remove the President from office. The Even if an impeachment charge passes the House, many believe that a vote in the Senate is unlikely to get a majority in the senate because Republicans hold a majority in that chamber and are unlikely to vote in favor of impeachment.

What does this all mean? First, there is a real question about if what President Trump did was violated any law. The President released the transcript of a phone call and the whistleblowers report, signaling his belief he did nothing wrong. Second, while Joseph This means that if an illegal act was made that the chances of President trump actually being removed from office are fairly low. On the other hand, Biden and his son are unlikely to be charged with a crime in Ukraine but instead, Biden’s campaign may lose speed and support in his run for office in 2020.