Why do presidents get impeached?
Lies. Defying Congress. Obstruction.
Sound familiar?
The United States is dealing with a president who frequently lies, disregards the authority of Congress and abuses his power. The House of Representatives launched their impeachment inquiry based on the information provided by whistleblowers, which are government employees who have exposed the president’s potential illegal actions of pressuring a foreign government for personal gain.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the first whistleblower as being an unreliable source and has threatened their legal right to keep their identity anonymous. Trump said, “I deserve to know my accuser.” This should frighten Americans, as Trump encourages people to break the law and uncover the whistleblowers.
By making these statements, Trump threatens and prevents future government employees from coming forward against their employers. Trump is also threatening the whistleblower’s identity and preventing them from testifying.
However, a second whistleblower came forward the week of Oct. 6, with first-hand knowledge that supports the claims of the first whistleblower. The whistleblowers’ complaints are key to the impeachment inquiry that has been launched against President Trump. The impeachment case is based on the infamous July 25 Ukraine call when Trump used his political authority to establish foreign policy and personal relations for personal gain in helping defeat potential 2020 political opponent Joe Biden.
According to CNN, the second whistleblower has spoken to the intelligence community’s inspector general and has not filed their own complaint, as talking to “the inspector watchdog” is deemed a “protected disclosure and is a whistleblower under the law.”
In response, the strategy of the White House is to not comply with any requests from Congress and to tell other officials to not come forward with information.
The whistleblowers are vital to the impeachment inquiry and will testify against Trump and state their first and second-hand experiences of witnessing the president abuse his power. However, the whistleblowers are continuously faced with an extreme amount of scrutiny from Trump, and his supporters, as they demand his accusers to be named and unmasked. Although the whistleblowers have filed their complaints, it is unclear if they will testify due to fear of their safety.
Trump calls it a “witch hunt” but in reality it is corruption. Trump has openly admitted to talking to the president of Ukraine and the released transcripts are only a summary of the phone call put out by White House officials.
Although the official verbatim transcripts have not been released, the paraphrased transcripts show that Trump discussed his possible future 2020 political opponent, Joe Biden.
A majority of Americans support Trump’s impeachment. CNN reported that the Washington Post/ABC News poll show, “58 percent said Congress should have begun the inquiry.” Issues among the job of the presidency should not be arising as frequently as they do.
Only two past presidents have been impeached, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. In addition, Richard Nixon resigned before he could be impeached and removed from office.
The current president should be impeached, but if he wanted to save the country’s money and not expose his corrupt administration, then he would resign.
