President Donald Trump’s job was thrown into jeopardy these past few weeks after a whistleblower report was sent to the Justice Department, then given to Congress for overview. The Whistleblower claimed that the president committed bribery and attempting to persuade the Ukrainian government to launch an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democrat front runner of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.

What seemingly looks like an attempt to have foreign interference with the election, the U.S. House of Representatives took this report seriously and began an impeachment inquiry into the president and his administration.

“If the whistleblower’s claims are true, it seems the Democrats finally have the evidence it needs to impeach Trump,” junior Emma Steel said. “The promise to impeach him was a common thing to say in the midterm elections, so the [Democrat-majority] House can now follow up on that promise.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a press conference that the House does not need a formal vote on the House floor to officially launch an inquiry, opposite of Republican belief. While an inquiry is a major step into the process, it is not an official impeachment trial. Until the Articles of Impeachment are passed in the House, the trials will not begin.

However, even though the House is the chamber that launches the trials, which they only needs a simple majority to pass the articles, the U.S. Senate is the chamber that conducts the trials. Presided over the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Republican-controlled Senate declare if the president guilty.
The only Republican senator that believes Trump is guilty is Utah U.S. Sen Mitt Romney, long time enemy to Trump. It will be hard to change the minds of each Republicans who defend the president.

While the president is denouncing these reports, saying it’s just another bogus Witch Hunt, the public believes these offenses are serious. As of Tuesday, according to FiveThirtyEight polls, 50.1 percent of Americans believe Trump should be impeached and removed from office.

President Trump is also blocking many of his administration officials from testifying before Congress. In a letter addressed to Speaker Pelosi, President Trump declared the White House will not cooperate with inquiry believing they have no base to support their claims.

Hearings and testimonies have begun. However, controversy struck when U.S. Rep from Florida Matt Gaetz led a revolt against the Democrats for blocking Republicans from the hearings.

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney admitted that the president was dealing with Ukraine involving a quid pro quo. He later retracted his statement.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to formally begin the impeachment inquiry. All but two members of the Democratic party voted for the resolution, while 196 Republicans voted against it. Now public hearings may begin and a list of rules have been drafted. This does not mean the president has been impeached yet, but they are nearing the articles.

Televised, public hearings have begun in the House. President Trump got in hot water the other day when he was live-tweeting during the testimony of Ex-Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. Yovanvitch was responding to the tweets by the president. House officials claimed that Trump was witness tampering the former Ambassador and his actions are unacceptable.

Aside from the Twitter battle, Speaker Pelosi said the testimonies before the House committees show clear bribery and treason committed by President Trump.

This report was last updated on Nov. 19, 2019.