By Francis Munoz, Staff Reporter
On Friday, Dec. 10, the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump. The articles passed charge him abuse of power, by participating in a quid-pro-quo with Ukraine, and obstruction when Trump refused to provide documents requested by the House. The approved articles now await a full House vote next week.
Each of the articles will be sent to the House of Representatives to be voted over. If the articles pass, the impeachment will be handed over to the Senate where they will begin their investigation.
On Sept. 24, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, publicly announced that Congress would launch a formal impeachment inquiry on Trump. This was announced after an anonymous whistleblower released their concerns about Trump’s supposed deal with Ukraine to look into former Vice President Joe Biden’s family in exchange for U.S. aid.
On Nov. 13, public hearings regarding the impeachment inquiry began, lasting until Friday, Nov. 21.
According to the whistleblower, Trump withheld providing Ukraine aid and struck a deal over the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The call transcripts released by the White House revealed that Trump asked Zelensky to look into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s relations with foreign leaders. However, it is still unknown whether or not the request was accepted.
“The whistleblower call is one of the many cases of abuse of presidential power that deserves impeachment because Donald Trump was essentially asking for foreign assistance with the 2020 election by requesting deeper information on the Bidens,” an anonymous student said.
Democrats led the impeachment process with U.S. diplomat for Ukraine William B. Taylor. Democrats questioned three state department officials to support their belief that Trump has committed an impeachable offense. The National Security Council’s former senior director for Europe and Russia Fiona Hill finished up the impeachment hearings on Nov. 21.
“Ambassador [Godon] Sondland and I spoke on the phone. He said he had talked to President Trump, as I had suggested a week earlier, but that President Trump was adamant that President Zelensky himself had to clear things up and do it in public.́ President Trump said it was not a ‘quid pro quo," Taylor said.
Although it still may be premature to decide what the intentions of Trump’s call actually were, Sondland believes that the President’s actions are grounds for impeachment.
“[Trump’s lawyer Rudy] Giuliani conveyed that Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volker, and others that President Trump wanted a public statement from President Zelensky,” Sondland said. “Mr. Giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelenski. Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States."
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