A majority of Americans now believe President Trump should be impeached.
It’s been three weeks since the beginning of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Each week comes with more news and more historic events.
A second whistleblower officially came out on Sunday, Oct. 9. The second whistleblower has firsthand knowledge of the call that the first complaint centers around and can back up the information presented. This second report corroborates the events in the first report and makes it harder to argue that the original whistleblower held a political agenda. This second whistleblower has not filed an official report on their own. There is currently only one official report filed with the inspector general but it does include information from both parties.
On Tuesday, the White House stated that it would not be cooperating with the impeachment inquiry saying it violated the President’s due process rights. A letter signed by Pat A. Cipollone, the White House Counsel, read, “President Trump and his administration cannot participate in your partisan and unconstitutional inquiry under these circumstances.”
By refusing to cooperate, the president may have just signed his fate. Nancy Pelosi stated, even before the White House’s official statement, that refusal to cooperate could become its own impeachable offense as it is obstruction of Congress. Pelosi made a statement after the House’s announcement that “efforts to hide the truth of the president’s abuse of power from the American people will be regarded as further evidence of obstruction, Mr. President, you are not above the law. You will be held accountable.”
This announcement from the White House came only a week after Trump promised to cooperate and that “we’ll work together,” even if he believed the accusations to be false. This turnaround in cooperation came after the release of text messages between officials that took away Trump’s promise of “no quid pro quo.”
The complete halt of the investigation on the side of the White House led many to fear that the investigation may be over and that the House would lose evidence and witnesses needed to continue forward.
On Wednesday, Oct. 9, two Soviet-born U.S. citizens that were associates of Rudy Giuliani were arrested on suspicion of campaign finance violations. The two men are Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who are accused of conspiring to “circumvent the federal laws against foreign interference by engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and state office.”
The two are now being subpoenaed for documents, after requesting they hand over document voluntarily.
Guliani has previously stated that he has worked with the two men in order to get Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden. The indictment of the two men revealed they had met with a U.S. congressman to remove then U.S. ambassador to Ukraine — Marie Yovanovitch.
Yovanovitch testified on Friday, Oct. 11, despite the White House ordering her to not. The impeachment case widely revolved around the instances in which she lost her job, and she knows more than most anybody about the Ukrainian phone call. During a nine-hour testimony on Friday, Yovanovitch revealed she was told Trump had lost trust in her even though she had “done nothing wrong,” according to the Secretary of State.
The defiance of Yovanovitch to testify, despite the White House telling her not to, has led to the Democrats to schedule more testimonies. On Monday, Oct. 14, Trump’s former Russia aide Fiona Hill is set to testify. This news has worried those close to the president that fear she will reveal “potentially damaging information about the president.”
The public opinion on Trump’s impeachment is beginning to change. A poll conducted by Fox news has revealed that 51 percent of those polled want Trump to be impeached and removed as compared to 41 percent from July of 2019. The Fox news poll also revealed that 43 percent view Trump’s phone call with Ukraine as an impeachable offense.
The impeachment inquiry is beginning to pick up speed as public opinion moves to back it. The White House is doing its best to defend the president amid the allegations, but more people are coming forward to fully investigate the situation.
