MARCH 2020 Issue two page spread

Impeachment follow-up
The issue and what exactly happened
Jhenesis Hines, Val Orozco
staff writers
NEWS
On Dec. 18, 2019, Donald Trump,
the 45th President of the United
States of America, became the third
president to be impeached and the
first president to be impeached
while concurrently running for a
second term. He was charged for
Abuse of Power and Obstruction of
Congress.
“If you are president and you
obstruct justice, try to bribe a foreign
leader and threaten national
security, you’re going to get impeached.
End of story,” U.S. Representative
Susan Davis said during
the House debate.
The term “impeachment” is
the process by which a legislative
body charges against a government
official. Although Trump was
impeached, he will not be removed
from office. There are a number of
significant steps that lead to the
expulsion of a president--which has
never happened before.
The situation started with a
whistleblower who revealed that
Trump threatened to withhold military
aid to Ukraine via phone call on
July 25, 2019--unless Ukraine provided
information about Joe Biden,
one of Trump’s competitors in the
2020 presidential race. The whistleblower
did not take the stand.
“Technically, we will never know
who he is,” AP government teacher
Jim Jiles said.
The call between the President of
Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and
Trump was disclosed by the White
House last August, and its contents
enabled Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi to open the impeachment
inquiry.
After the Democratic-majority
House of Representatives--through
a 230-197 vote--opened the articles,
it went to the Senate for a trial. Because
the Senate is Republican-dominated,
it was assumed beforehand
that Trump would be acquitted, just
as Andrew Johnson (1868) and Bill
Clinton (1998) were before.
“
The
The second trial to convict or
acquit Trump began in the Senate
on Jan. 22. This trial was overseen
by Chief Justice John Roberts.
The second trial took two weeks,
during which the Senate voted 51-49
not to call witnesses in response to
the Republican concern that witnesses
would slow down the proceedings.
The trial entailed opening
and closing statements; there was
little to no cross-examination.
Republican Mitt Romney from
Utah was the only senator to break
from his party to vote to remove
Trump. All others voted along party
lines.
For Article I: Abuse of Power, 48
senators voted guilty; 52 voted not
guilty.
For Article II: Obstruction of
Justice, 47 senators voted guilty; 53
voted not guilty.
A 67-vote threshold was necessary
for Trump’s removal. The vote
took place Thursday, Feb. 6, and
ultimately, as predicted, Trump was
acquited.
hope (was) that we
wouldn’t use divisive
politics, that we would
stop seeing the opponent
as the enemy.
social studies teacher Jim Jiles
”
“The hope (was) that we wouldn’t
use divisive politics,” Jiles said, “that
we would stop seeing the opponent
as the enemy. This (divisiveness) has
been going on for decades.”
This divisiveness was seen on
both sides. Trump’s tweets during
the trial claimed that the media
used unreliable sources to slander
and misinform ballots.
“In the end here, nothing happened,”
Trump tweeted the day of
the impeachment. “We don’t approach
anything like the egregious
conduct that should be necessary before
a President should be removed
from office. I believe that a President
can’t be removed from office if there
is no reasonable possibility that the
Senate (won’t vote to remove him).”
However, others disagree, claiming
that the facts were incriminating.
Even if acquittal was inevitable,
Trump should still be held accountable.
“His actions are in defiance of the
vision of our founders—and the oath
of office that he takes—to preserve,
protect and defend the Constitution
of the United States,” Pelosi said
in her remarks on the articles of
impeachment in December.
Some at Northwest agree with
Pelosi.
“I believe that regardless of political
parties, our citizens, Congress
and the rest of the government
should keep the President accountable
for his actions,” civics and economics
teacher Autumn Martin said.
However, many at Northwest
found the impeachment proceedings
to be a waste of time and tax dollars
with its inevitable outcome.
“I believe that it is redundant to
(try to remove) a president when
his term will be over by the end of
this year,” senior Alidaycia Saunders
said.
With the conclusion of the third
presidential impeachment trial in
American history, the final judgment
will be in nine months when
voters cast their ballots for his
reelection.
“The brilliance of America is
that we compromise,” social studies
teacher William Satterfield said.
Drawings by Christy Ma
(From left to right) A phone, president Donald
Trump and a voter box. These are key
images of the impeachment issue where
the solution may lie in dialogue and voting.
March 2020
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