The newest development in the impeachment craze came yesterday, Wednesday, after the White House released President Donald Trump’s transcribed phone call with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.
House Democrats have been calling for the redacted transcript after a whistleblower identified the President allegedly making a quid pro quo with Zelenskyy over the phone.
An anonymous source reported that the president would freeze $400 million in aid if Ukraine did not investigate Joe Biden’s son for receiving $50,000 a month from a Ukrainian gas company.
According to a DOJ letter obtained by Fox News, the Justice Department did not find the whistleblower complaint of “urgent concern.” The letter reads:
“For the reasons set forth above, we conclude that the complaint submitted to the [intelligence community inspector general] does not involve an ‘urgent concern’…”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been juggling the idea of impeachment proceedings for a while now, and last Thursday said, “Impeachment is a very divisive measure, but if we have to go there, we’ll have to go there. But we can’t go there unless we have the facts.”
The 24-17 House Judiciary Committee vote for an impeachment inquiry that happened last Thursday morning formalized committee chairman Jerry Nadler’s resolution for investigative procedures and will allow for the president’s lawyers to react to evidence brought up in the hearings.
After the vote, notable Republicans such as Rep. Doug Collins took to social media, calling the Democrat-run committee “A giant Instagram filter.”
This is the largest step the Democrat party have taken to run the president out of office, though the party has struggled to unite on a particular charge that would signify impeachment would pass.
But impeachment is not that simple because an inquiry does not equal the 218 votes needed for a formal impeachment. It’s important to understand that an inquiry or ‘investigation’ is not the same as an impeachment.
The inquiry simply will draw the rules and boundaries for impeachment and allow the president’s legal team to react to evidence brought against them.
It gets even more complicated because after reading the Mueller report and linking it to James Comey’s FBI Policy void, the evidence for impeachment continues to weaken.
At that point, the number one argument used against President Trump was that he obstructed justice by firing the FBI Director James Comey while investigating Russian collusion with Trump and the 2016 election.
The later published report by Robert Mueller as well as his testimony revealed counterproductive for the already split Democrat party. The biggest takeaway from both is there was no collusion nor obstruction according to the special counsel.
This setback for Democrats pushing for impeachment could be the very reason for the inquiry, a ‘second try.’
If the Impeachment were to go through, and the president were to win, he could then run off the fact that he has been thoroughly acquitted by Congress.
What this all means for students and the election
Students have a growing voice in today’s politics and possess the ability to impact an election. According to a study, the student voter turnout in the 2016 election rose three percent from 2012 and is predicted to continue in an upward trend.
Rock Bridge already has a large portion of students with a political voice, and that’s continuing to grow as well, with an increase in members for both the Young Republicans and Young Democrats.
This impeachment inquiry is a major step in formal impeachment (if it were to happen). If the Democrats continue to push for proceedings, the upcoming 2020 election could be decided by the outcome. Impeachment is a complicated process that could result in a Trump victory or a historical movement that could decide his presidency and the coming election.
So, what do you think? What are the ramifications of impeachment?
