State of Impeachment Probe: Unimpeachable Evidence Emerges
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Formal impeachment hearings before the House Intelligence Committee began Wednesday, November 13th with acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European Affairs George Kent, and former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch appearing on Friday the 15th. These hearings brought forth new revelations, including an allegation of witness tampering, and will be covered extensively in our November Monthly News Recap. This piece is not updated with the new testimonies.
On September 24, 2019, Nancy Pelosi launched a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump, following three years of a Trump presidency riddled with impeachable offenses.
Trump has been accused of bribing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden by withholding millions of dollars of military aid to Ukraine. He also pressured Ukraine to investigate Burisma, a Ukranian energy company that Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, was associated with. Trump has attempted to defend his actions by claiming that the military aid to Ukraine was withheld as part of quid pro quo negotiation, arguing that withholding the aid did not violate his powers as a president because Ukraine was not aware of the intentions of the U.S.
Multiple witnesses testified before the impeachment committee, and nearly all their evidence indicated that Trump is at fault. By testifying, they have exposed the corruption within the executive branch and the Trump administration that the public may have been oblivious to.
One of these witnesses was Marie Yovanovitch, previously a U.S ambassador to Ukraine. She conveyed that Trump pursued her removal for over a year, and Trump’s cabinet targeted her specifically. She was relieved of her position in May of this year. Yovanovitch recalled a conversation with John Sullivan, a State Department official, who informed her of a campaign against her in the White House because she was preventing efforts to persuade Ukraine to pursue the Biden investigation.
Fiona Hill, Trump’s former advisor on Russia, detailed that she and other officials were so concerned about the White House’s actions with Ukraine that they raised the issue to a White House Lawyer. She described how Giuliani circumvented typical diplomatic procedures to coerced Ukraine into doing what Trump wanted them to do. Micheal McKinely, who recently resigned from his post as top aide to Pompeo described how he became increasingly frustrated with the treatment of Yovanovich, and highlighted that he felt he had done all that he could to benefit the government.
To top it off, William Taylor, who is currently the highest ranking U.S diplomat in Ukraine, testified as well. He claimed that Gordon Sondland, the US Ambassador to the EU, told him that everything the Ukraine received from the US depended on them opening an investigation of Biden. On a phone call with Sondland, Taylor recounted Sondland telling him Trump wanted Zelensky to do a public interview with CNN where he announced the investigation. Taylor testified behind closed doors but mentioned in a written statement that he felt there were irregularities in the way Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s attorney, conducted business with Ukraine. When Trump called Zelensky in July, Taylor was not a part of the call and was unaware of what was said between the parties. Essentially, the delivery of military aid to Ukraine was contingent upon Ukraine investigating Biden.
Laura Cooper, a Pentagon official regulating U.S. Policy in Ukraine testified in front of democrats investigating Trump. During the testimony, GOP legislators stormed the secure room, delaying the process by about five hours. The protesters, led by Representatives Gaetz and Scalise, claimed that the secretive testimonies “behind closed doors” led to an uninformed American public and unfairly portrayed Trump in a negative light. In protesting, these Congressmen broke laws surrounding the most secure chamber in the Capitol—they brought technology into a location that is supposed to be shielded from media surveillance, something that could potentially be taken advantage of by Russia or China. Democrats considered having the capitol police remove their colleagues, but ultimately decided against it.
An October 23 Quinnipiac University poll found that 93 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of Independents supported impeachment. Overall, 55 percent of people support impeachment, a new high. Although it is very likely that Democrats will vote to impeach Trump in the House through a simple majority, the Senate seems like more of a toss-up. However, as Trump begins to alienate his base more and more, it is possible that his supporters will no longer be able to find a reason to stick with him, and Senate Republicans will become more inclined to remove him—assuming staunch Trump-loyalist Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell begins the trial proceedings, that is.
So what if Trump actually is removed? Vice President Mike Pence would become president, with Pelosi second in line. Pence is as far right as the establishment conservative party goes, with ideology comparable to a white man straight out of the 1950s. He doesn’t believe in abortion, has fought to defund Planned Parenthood, helped pass a law that would allow businesses to refuse service to LGBTQ+ people under religious justifications, doesn’t believe in climate change, and is heavily funded by the NRA. If Democrats in the Senate are going to vote to remove Trump, his replacement is something that they must keep in mind.
by PIA & ANGELIQUE