On Sept. 24, the White House released a summary transcript of a phone call President Donald Trump had with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. The alleged criminal activity was when Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate democratic member and former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Many people believe this is a way for Trump getting advantage of personal gain for his upcoming election in 2020. The same day, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced an official impeachment inquiry towards Trump.
However, Trump still has allies on his side, such as Vice President Mike Pence, Attorney General William Barr, and Secretary of State and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo. “With the House now headed down a path that virtually guarantees President Donald Trump will be impeached, conventional wisdom has settled on the idea that the Republican-led Senate will never, ever remove him from office,” according to an analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN editor-at-large.
In the next few weeks, the House of Representatives will investigate the actions of President Trump on his call. The full transcript has not been released, but according to independent Senator Angus King of Maine, 20 minutes of the call is still missing from the transcript.
On Friday, Oct. 5, Pelosi said that the Democrats are “very comfortable” with their status on the impeachment inquiry. The reasons that the Democrats stand most against Trump is that he is abusing his power and eliciting aid from a foreign power for his political campaign in 2020. Former New York City Mayor and lawyer for Trump, Rudolph W. Giuliani, has appeared on TV and admitted that the Trump phone call has occurred as shown in the transcript. Trump himself admitted to his actions and that he said what he said. The House continues to investigate multiple instances for the impeachment inquiries.
This is an on-going story and more and more information is continuing to be released. Other impeachable actions are being discovered and witnesses’ testimonies are being gathered that will make it clear what the articles of impeachment will contain.
Peter Kannikal, Staff Reporter
