A brief timeline of Trump’s impeachment process up to today

Courtesy+of+Buzzfeed+News

Courtesy of Buzzfeed News

Priscilla Ziskin, Entertainment Editor

Since his presidency began, Trump has faced hundreds of allegations, but no consequences. This last week, the pressure to impeach the president has strengthened from many sources. 

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, made a speech on Sept. 25 stating Trump’s morally questionable words during his call with Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine. 

“This week the president has admitted to asking the president of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically,” said Pelosi. “The actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today I’m announcing the House of Representatives moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.” 

The transcript of the phone call with Zelensky revealed that the President wanted him to investigate Joe Biden, who is Trump’s political rival. 

Then, a whistleblower complaint surfaced regarding multiple convictions against the president, from the phone call, to personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani pressuring Ukrainian officials, to “a pattern of obfuscation at the White House,” according to The Washington Post

On Sept. 27, House Democrats subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The inquiry intended to reveal important documents and attempt to discern who knows about President Trump and Zelensky’s encounters involving presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Joseph R. Biden Jr., among other discussions. 

A few days later, Pompeo admitted that he knew about the phone call and heard it for himself, though he denied knowing anything about it in the first place. 

Shortly after, the Department of Justice claimed that Attorney General William Barr and Trump both reached out to foreign countries to receive information about the Russian interference probe, which is an ongoing case as well. 

According to The Hill, “the Justice Department statement quickly followed reports that Trump had asked Australia’s prime minister during a recent phone call to assist Barr in gathering information for the Russia inquiry and that Barr had held meetings overseas in Italy seeking the country’s help. Barr has also reportedly requested assistance from British intelligence officials in connection with the inquiry.” 

On Oct. 1, President Trump tweeted a photo of a map of America saying, “try to impeach this.” It was confirmed inaccurate, showing most of the country covered in red. 

Two hours later, he tweeted, “so if the so-called ‘Whistleblower’ has all second-hand information, and almost everything he has said about my ‘perfect’ call with the Ukrainian President is wrong (much to the embarrassment of Pelosi & Schiff), why aren’t we entitled to interview & learn everything about the Whistleblower, and also the person who gave all of the false information to him. This is simply about a phone conversation that could not have been nicer, warmer, or better. No pressure at all (as confirmed by  Ukrainian Pres.). It is just another Democrat Hoax!” 

During two appearances on Wednesday at The White House, it was reported that Trump looked flustered. Reuter’s reporter Jeff Mason repeatedly asked him his intentions with President Zelensky, and also what he wanted to know about Biden and his son. He refused to answer the question until other reporters stepped in and asked the same thing.

“Look, Biden and his son are stone-cold crooked and you know it,” Trump said. “His son walks out with millions of dollars, the kid knows nothing. You know it, and so do we.” 

On Oct. 8, the White House began to counter against pressures for impeachment. The White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, issued a letter saying the impeachment inquiry “violates fundamental fairness” and that the administration will not take part in the process until the House votes to open an investigation.

Currently, 225 members of the House of Representatives out of 435 have agreed to proceed with the impeachment process. All are Democrats except independent Rep. Justin Amash. 218 members need to vote for impeachment for it to pass. 

Now the Senate has to decide, but it may not be likely. A two-thirds majority vote is required. Out of 100 members, 53 are Republican.