A Student Guide to the Trump Impeachment Inquiry
President Trump speaking at the United Nations.
For those that don’t know what’s going on with the impeachment investigation, find out everything you need to know here:
On September 24, Nancy Pelosi, Democrat and Speaker of the House of Representatives, filed for impeachment inquiries to begin on President Donald Trump. This means they’ve begun to question the integrity of the Trump presidency, and whether or not a crime has been committed by the current administration. As little under a month since the filing has passed, the processes haven’t reached any conclusions, though the specifics of the President’s suspected treason through coordination with foreign leaders for their involvement in American politics and consistent displays of personal bias have been reported.
The Whistleblower
This all began with the complaint of the whistleblower (a person who anonymously reports information about illicit dealings in an organization). This person, whose identity is currently being protected, despite Trump’s demands to release it, informed the Inspector General for US Intelligence about the communications occurring between President Trump and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky. It eventually made its way to Congress and was released to the public (found at the bottom of the article) despite the Justice Department’s attempt to cover up the complaint. The whistleblower claimed that President Trump was asking Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden’s son’s business dealings in Ukraine to gain a political advantage, which is considered an impeachable offense due to what Trump did in response. Following this report, other whistleblowers came out with firsthand knowledge of the incident.
Mick Mulvaney’s Mistake
Despite Trump’s cabinet denying any claims earlier in the week, Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s acting Chief of Staff, recently admitted to the quid pro quo that Trump had demanded from Ukraine: suddenly withholding 400 million dollars that was meant to support the Ukrainian military in exchange for the information. Quid pro quo is essentially an exchange of favors in politics. These actions are believed to be treason, or going against the beliefs of the Constitution, defined as “adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort” in said document. President Trump also publicly called out China to get involved in unearthing dirt on the Bidens as he was talking to reporters on Thursday, October 3, 2019.
The G7 Summit
In addition, the President is hosting the G7 Summit, where seven industrialized and democratic countries meet to discuss global issues, and planned it at the Trump National Doral hotel in Florida. Amid the criticism that he faced for a display of personal bias from both sides of the aisle, Trump claimed that his facility was the best choice for this event despite the many others they’ve looked at across the country – which is against the Constitution, in which under the emolument clause, it is stated that the President may not profit personally from being in office. After backlash from his own party, he withdrew from this idea, although it still furthered the self-detriment he’s caused to his presidency.
Trials of Trump’s Cabinet
As trials began on the week of October 14th, subpoenas were issued from the House Democrats conducting the investigation. Subpoenas, or mandatory summonings to court, were given to Mike Pampeo (Secretary of State) and Rudy Guiliani (Trump’s personal lawyer). Others, like Vice President Mike Pence, Rick Perry (Energy Secretary), and Mulvaney. These individuals were ordered to hand over documents imperative to the case, such as records of Trump’s interaction with Ukraine. In not responding to the investigation, Trump and his administration could face serious charges – similar to Guiliani’s associates’ arrest due to their association with the Russian interference.
As trials will continue into the week, you can track the potential impeachment progress using the constantly updating articles on most major news sites like this one:
The whistleblower complaint can be found here:
https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20190812_-_whistleblower_complaint_unclass.pdf
The transcript of Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president’s correspondence can be found here:
Neena Peterson, the Co-Editor-in-Chief, is a four year reporter for DHS Press, first writing for the newspaper in 2018. They prefer to focus on pieces...
