Impeachment?
What is going on, and what does the AA community think?
Graphic by Deana Chefchis
A phone call between the Presidents of the US and Ukraine has stirred up controversy, leading to the current congressional inquiry into impeachment. On July 25, 2019, during a phone call, President Trump asked Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden for corruption. Specifically, Trump alleges, with no evidence, that, while Vice President, Biden pushed for the removal of the Ukranian prosecutor who was looking into corruption of a gas company where Biden’s son, Hunter, sat on the Board of Directors.
The source of the allegations against Trump, an anonymous CIA analyst assigned to the White House, filed a Whistleblower Complaint, alleging that President Trump asked a foreign leader to investigate his political rival for personal gain. The whistleblower further alleges that the rough transcript was stored on an encrypted, classified server, which is used for national security reasons, and he asserts that it was placed there to cover up the phone call. The White House later released the transcript of the conversation.
Most Republicans believe that the actions of the President are not impeachable, though some have expressed concerns. While Democrats have not yet drafted Articles of Impeachment, the investigation started based on allegations of violation of election laws, abuse of power for personal gain, and Obstruction of Justice.
https://www.statista.com/chart/9675/what-an-impeachment-would-look-like/
Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, had previously been reluctant to start impeachment inquiries, yet with these new allegations, she has changed her mind. “The actions of the Trump presidency have revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections,” Pelosi said. According to the New York Times, 225 House Democrats support the impeachment inquiry, while 10 do not. As for the Republicans, 183 do not support the inquiry.
What is the chance of Trump getting impeached? Like much of the rest of the country, the Academy community is divided on the issue. “I don’t necessarily agree with the impeachment inquiry. I don’t think it’s an impeachable offense. Something fishy was obviously going on with Hunter Biden [and] Joe Biden,” remarks Pete McIntosh ’20. On the other hand, Maggie Mazer ’20 says, “Personally, I think that his actions were unconstitutional, but I don’t know if that will translate in the investigation.” Elliott Jones ’21 says, “Even if he is impeached in the House, it doesn’t mean he is out of office, and the Senate is mostly Republican, so they probably won’t put him out of office. He will stay in office.” Sara Perez ‘22 claims, “I think that this is a good decision because although Trump only has about a year left in his term, a lot of good can be done to reconstruct what he has torn apart in our country, such as, immigration reforms and other country’s views of the US with many of the immature things he’s tweeted or statements he’s made.” Kane Demers ’22 believes, “Trump’s decision to use government-funded money to find dirt on Clinton and to ally with our enemies is an act of treason, and treason is actually punishable by law and death still.” An anonymous teacher said, “I think it is crucial for the health of … our country that we have a system of checks and balances. …[O]ne should not react from a party perspective when allegations of wrongdoing by any elected official are made. Instead, we should be focused on … ascertaining the truth.”
The impeachment story is a fast-moving one in which public opinion is changing almost by the hour. The polling website 538.com is tracking polls and the changes in public opinion measured by them across the country. Congress is seeking more information from the White House, the State Department, and other sources, and it is likely that both information about the President’s actions and public opinion will continue to evolve in the coming days
Since writing articles in 6th grade, Arinjoy (AJ) Das has evolved as a writer in his school years. During his sophomore and junior year, he represented...
Neil Mahto • Oct 9, 2019 at 5:41 pm
Fellas the mueller report actually said that it could not conclude that the president had committed obstruction of justice but urged congress to look into the matter further. It explicitly says that although it could not conclude collusion or obstruction, one should not assume that means no that obstruction or collusion.
Avi Franklin • Oct 9, 2019 at 10:05 am
His twitter is pretty funny tho ngl. But what’s Obama’s last name?
sam sanchez • Oct 8, 2019 at 8:42 pm
I LOVE TRUMP!!!!!!!
FOR MORE YEARS
USA USA USA USA!!!
Gina Kennedy • Oct 7, 2019 at 9:12 pm
A president can be impeached without technically committing or being convicted of a felony. The constitution says only that “The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” The Constitution never defines “high crimes and misdemeanors” and so it is up to the nation, Congress, and the people to decide what that means. In 1970, Gerald R. Ford, then speaker of the house, said, “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.” Alexander Hamilton, in Federalist paper 65, written to defend the Constitution, says that impeachment is for those who have committed political offenses, things that do harm to the society that the person being impeached is responsible for. He described an impeachable offense as being “the misconduct of public men, or in other words from the abuse or violation of some public trust.”
It is agreed upon that non-criminal activity can be sufficient reason for the impeachment of someone holding office, so long as it meets the other criteria of an impeachable offense which are, as accepted by congress, of which an impeachable offense only needs to meet one: (1) improperly exceeding or abusing the powers of the office; (2) behavior incompatible with the function and purpose of the office; and (3) misusing the office for an improper purpose or for personal gain.
Trump’s behavior with Ukraine falls under the first and third categories, and an argument can be made that it falls under the second as well. Using his power, prestige, and contacts that he has as president to ask a foreign government to interfere with an election is both abusing the resources and contacts (ability to speak directly to the president of another country over the phone) he has as president and misusing the office for personal gain (in this case the personal gain is him being elected for another term).
Trump asked a foreign government to interfere with an election, likely the second time he has done so. While many things in this country are very decisive, it is generally agreed that foreign involvement in an election is bad, and even more so when that involvement is invited by a candidate. Therefore, Trump, who we know for sure asked the Ukranian government to become involved in the 2020 election and who likely had the Russians involved in the 2016 election, has done something bad, something that harms the nation and the nation’s trust in the leader, and falls under two of the three general categories set by congress as types of impeachment. impeachment is a reasonable consequence for his choices.
Sources:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190905072225/https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house.gov/files/1974ImpeachmentInquiryReport.pdf (pp. 13-17)
https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/speeches/700415.pdf
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Senate_Impeachment_Role.htm#4
http://congressionalresearch.com/98-990/document.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_United_States#cite_note-CRSReport2015-1
Adeeb khan • Oct 7, 2019 at 8:01 pm
Risk of impeachment actually benefits Trump as his base is much more likely to double-down on his election. Additionally, voter numbers could possibly face sharp decline due to Republican and Libertarian disengagement. A preemptive measure to stabilize voter numbers would be for the RNC to support Weld 2020, and although there is little probability in him creating an apt voter base and gain swing voters, it would be much better than voter loss. Ultimately, Trump shouldn’t be impeached, instead, bar Trump from 2020 elections on the basis of foreign collusion charges, initiate a transparent investigation, and impose restrictions on both the DNC and RNC in terms of candidate promotion.
Jullian Chanda • Oct 7, 2019 at 6:26 pm
The Mueller report neither condemned nor exonerated the president. The Russia probe indicted 34 people, most Russians, but 5 of the 34, Papadopoulos, Manafort, Gates, Flynn, and Cohen, are directed connected to the president. The president claimed there was no obstruction, no collusion. Yet, his campaign adviser, campaign chair, campaign aide, national security adviser, and lawyer have all been indicted. Again, he was neither condemned nor exonerated, but he must have been either grossly incompetent or in on it. Now with the Ukraine scandal is another addition to the long list of misdeeds the president has ‘allegedly’ committed. Not to long ago he lied to the American public about the forecast of hurricane Dorian reaching Alabama. When corrected he didn’t swallow his pride and just went along with the lie eventually redrawing the hurricane path to fit his own model. His twitter is a dumpster fire. He’s narcissist, a liar, a sexist, a racist, stupid, incompetent, and possibly, a Russian pawn. He is simply unfit to be president.
Lakshay Sood • Oct 7, 2019 at 4:44 pm
The United States Consitution states “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Although President Trump has said many things that are divisive he has done a lot of things to improve our country. He has secured our border, added many millions of jobs, and exceeded our economic growth rate to name a few. Unfortunately, he has a terrible habit of giving nicknames to people, such as Pocahontas for Sen. Liz Warren (D – Mass.) and bullying people. He bullies members of congress from his won party for not voting with him, so all the GOP lawmakers, may oppose Trump privately but not publicly (to afraid to speak out). I applaud trump for his work , but his behavior clearly is bad.
To House Democrats: Please Don’t Impeach Trump as it would be a way he could attack you and see that you accused as he would be acquitted by the senate. YOU WILL MOST LIKELY LOSE the white house and senate and could risk losing the house to the GOP!
George Rule • Oct 7, 2019 at 3:21 pm
The Mueller report states that there was no evidence what so ever that Donald Trump had allegations with foreign countries. Personally speaking, Donald Trump is the hands-down worst people person we have ever had in the office as president; on the other hand, he is one of the best financial businessmen we’ve had in the house. While I despise some of his actions, (he has been at times, sexist, racist, and politically incorrect) the fact that people only care about someone’s personality and if they’re kind to you rather than actually trying to help fix America. For example, Barack Obama has been known for being very kind, humble, and intelligent. On the destructive side, he was a horrible business person; remember 2008? And yet Donald Trump has so many false accusations against him, yet no one is rewarding or even acknowledging him for boosting our economy, lowering employment rate, raising the minimum wage nationally, etc. All in all, I find it more than irritating that, white house officials who have lots of authority choose to make up blatant racist lies and scandals just to get him out of office, which damages the wellbeing of our country in the process.
Audrey Brunner • Oct 7, 2019 at 12:29 pm
It is important to note that this is not the first time the president has corroborated with foreign governments to interfere with an American election, as proven by the Mueller report. Elections are sacred to our democracy, and the highest power in the country conspiring with a foreign governments who we do not have the best relations with is no doubt a violation of the Constitution, not to mention corrupt. A corrupt president should not be in the Whitehouse.
In addition, Trump’s claims about Biden are not at all accurate. Biden pressured for the firing of Shokin, the prosecutor, because he was unwilling to prosecute elite corruption, not because his son had connections to a particular company. The story presented by Trump and many news outlets is ripe with incorrect information that compromise the integrity of our nation and it’s news sources.