Trump's Impeachment

Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body places charges against a government official. Impeachment does not actually remove the official from office: it is a statement of the charges against the official - similar to an indictment in criminal law. Through impeachment, Trump could eventually be removed from office. President Trump's potential impeachment focuses on whether or not he improperly sought help from Ukraine to boost his chances of being re-elected in 2020. The first public hearings started on November 13, 2019, in the House of Representatives and the impeachment is still at an early stage. The House of Representatives is controlled by the Democrats and Trump is a Republican. Trump is accused of using Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to find damaging information on Joe Biden and Biden's son Hunter. Joe Biden is one of Trump's main Democrat challengers and finding damaging information on Biden would aid Trump's ability to be re-elected. While Joe Biden was Vice President, Hunter worked for a Ukranian energy company. Trump is accused of withholding both $400 million of military aid which had already been allocated to Ukraine by Congress and a White House meeting for Ukraine's president to bargain with Ukraine and attain damaging information on Joe and Hunter. These actions would indicate abuse of presidential power and using the office for personal political gain. Trump's personal political gain would also come to the detriment of national security because Ukraine is using the $400 million in military aid in its ongoing conflict with Russia. In early September, an unnamed intelligence official wrote a letter expressing concern about Trump's 25 July call with Zelensky. This formal complaint kicked off the impeachment process. A rough transcript of the call revealed that Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate discredited allegations against Joe and Hunter soon after Trump blocked the release of $400 million of military aid to Ukraine. Trump claims that it was appropriate to ask Ukraine to investigate corruption in the energy firm where Hunter Biden worked. A senior official later testified that Trump made it clear that the release of the military aid was conditional on the Bidens being investigated. Trump denies using US military aid as a bargaining tool and has called the impeachment inquiry a "witch hunt" led by Democrats and the media. Trump's defense consists of three parts: Zelensky said he felt no pressure, the Ukrainians were unaware the aid was held back, and the aid was eventually released. While Trump is being impeached, this does not necessarily mean he will be removed from the office. The impeachment process is long and only two Presidents have ever been impeached: Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson. Richard Nixon resigned before he could be impeached over Watergate. The diagram below shows the different potential outcomes throughout the process of Trump's impeachment.


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