On September 24, 2019, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the house would initiate an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Ever since the Mueller report was released, impeachment has been circulating through the media. It was only until Tuesday, September 24, that this impeachment could be possible. So what exactly does impeachment mean?
What is Impeachment?
Impeachment is often recognized as the catalyst to the end of a president’s term. While this could be true, only two presidents have ever been impeached, and neither of them was removed from office. Impeachment simply means that the president will be questioned by Congress, but does not mean that the president will be removed from office. Although impeachment is immensely relevant, there is merely an impeachment inquiry being held right now.
What is an impeachment inquiry?
An impeachment inquiry is the beginning of the process of impeachment but does not inevitably lead to impeachment. In this case, the impeachment inquiry means that democratic officials elected for this process will investigate and possibly propose articles of impeachment. This would then be voted on by the House of Representatives. If a simple majority passes any article of impeachment, the president is officially impeached. Only after that is when the Senate votes on it, confirming or denying the president’s conviction depending on a two-thirds vote.
So, why is there an impeachment inquiry of President Trump?
The main reason for the impeachment inquiry coming out recently is mainly because of the “whistleblower complaint” shared with the New York Times. A whistleblower is a person who informs on a person or organization engaged in an illicit activity. In this complaint, the anonymous government employee claimed that Trump asked the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Trump’s most threatening rival in the upcoming election, Vice President Joe Biden. Specifically, Trump asked for an investigation of Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. The anonymous source also stated that all records of the phone calls were put on “lockdown” and stored on a top-secret computer this summer. The source said that many white house aids were concerned that the president was abusing the system, but had confirmed that it was “not the first time.” This yields evident questioning concerning the president’s motives.
Why should the whistleblower be believed?
This is a question many people are asking. There is strong evidence showing that this person knows what he/she is talking about. The acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire, appointed by the president, claimed that many of the events pointed out in the report align with information released by the president. He also claimed that he has no reason to doubt the whistleblower’s intentions. The New York Times also released information stating that the whistleblower is a C.I.A. officer. In any case, a whistleblower, when admitting controversial information, is prepared for a life-changing event to transpire. Thus, no one would release faulty information when it can lead to such high-risk retribution.There is evident proof that this is not simply fabricated.
Will President Trump be impeached or even removed from office? We must be patient and await the outcome. We are living in an extraordinary time period. History is being made; all we have to do is pay attention.
*Because of dynamic events and hourly developments, this article may lack important information released after publication
Sources:
