BY Michael Corcoran
Staff Reporter
There have been recent inquiries to impeach the President of the United States over the complaint of a whistle-blower along with the released transcript of a phone call between President Trump and the newly elected president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, which occurred on July 25.
According to the Associated Press, in the complaint, the whistle-blower states how they have heard from colleagues that the American president is using his official power to supposedly use foreign countries to investigate domestic political rivals for the 2020 election.
The Associated Press reported that in the call, Trump urged Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden’s family and Ukraine’s own involvement in the 2016 presidential election.
After the transcript was released on Sept. 24, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stated that the House will be moving forward with official impeachment inquiry.
Professor Gary Rose explains the process of what would happen next. “Several committees are investigating the matter, which could lead to the House Judiciary Committee framing Articles of Impeachment,” said Rose. “Those Articles would have to be voted on by the full House. A majority vote (218) would result in impeachment. The President would then face a trial in the Senate. A 2/3 vote in the Senate would result in removal of the president.”
There have been multiple accusations and speculations as to what is going to happen in the coming weeks for the president, but more news seems to be coming out every single day.
Impeachment does not necessarily mean the automatic removal of the president. Professor Bill Yousman had more to share about the topic.
“The framers of the Constitution included the possibility of impeachment for a reason. In this case, I believe there is more than enough evidence of serious wrong-doing on the part of the president to warrant an investigation,” said Yousman. “People should remember that impeachment does not necessarily mean removal from office. That decision would still be at the discretion of the Senate, which is majority Republican and has thus far stood with the president.”
According to thoughtco.com, the only other presidents who were impeached were Andrew Jackson, for being accused of violating the Tenure of Office Act, and Bill Clinton, for misleading a grand jury about his affair with Monica Lewinsky in the White House.
Yousman also believes that if there is no investigation, then America has lost its core aspects that the country was built on.
“If we don’t at least have an investigation then a core aspect of American democracy would be abandoned and the message to future leaders would be that they can do anything they like without the necessary checks and balances on absolute power,” said Yousman.
On the contrary, Rose feels that Speaker Pelosi should ask the entire House their opinion. “I think that Speaker Nancy Pelosi should ask the full House to vote on whether or not the Committees should move forward with this impeachment inquiry,” said Rose. “I’m troubled by the unilateral decision on the part of Pelosi to begin an inquiry without a preliminary House vote. She is violating impeachment protocol.”
Pelosi believes there’s more to this inquiry.
According to the Associated Press, Pelosi said that “all roads seem to lead to Putin” when it comes to Trump. The California Democrat told reporters on Oct. 15 that nevertheless, she’s not going to call for a formal House vote on impeachment. Trump has said that without a vote, the ongoing impeachment inquiry is “illegitimate.” However, Pelosi commented back saying, “we’re not here to call bluffs” and “this is not a game to us.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
