by Jay Doherty, Staff Reporter
On September 24, 2019, Nancy Pelosi announced the filing of a formal impeachment inquiry against incumbent U.S. President Donald J. Trump, in response to a controversy that many Latin students have hotly debated for weeks.
The inquiry, which is the first step in any formal impeachment proceeding, calls on United States Representatives to investigate any potential “high crimes and misdemeanors” committed by President Trump. The topic House Democrats are investigating is whether or not President Trump solicited assistance and/or withheld aid money from a foreign government for his own benefit in the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election. 
In this case, the foreign entity is the Ukrainian government and the 2020 figure is top Trump rival Joseph R. Biden Jr. The inquiry itself stemmed from a whistleblower complaint written anonymously by a CIA official, who claimed to have second-hand knowledge of the allegations. The complaint suggests that U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr O. Zelensky to “initiate or continue an investigation into the activities of former Vice President Joseph Biden and his son, Hunter Biden” in a July phone call. That claim, which received intense scrutiny from many House Republicans, was later proven true when a rough transcript of the leaders’ conversation was released publicly by The White House’s in their attempt to deflate the tension surrounding the issue. 
The controversy then escalated even further when it was revealed that The White House transferred the file to a highly classified government computer system. The conversation had no direct mention of national security or violent threats, which has continued to intrigue Democrats in pursuing this impeachment probe. 
In terms of key domestic figures involved, the complaint alleges that the President’s personal lawyer, Rudolf W. Giuliani and U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr are just some of the eminent figures in the investigation so far. From what is known publicly at the moment, there is little about Attorney General Barr’s dealings in the matter, but the opposite is true for the President’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliaini.
The former New York City Mayor has entrenched himself in the investigation through a slew of questionable summer meetings with foreign officials, which he claims were arranged and held uninstructed and independent by and of The President. Most recently, two of Giuliani’s Ukrainian legal clients Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested at a Virginia airport on campaign finance charges. The two Ukrainian men illegally donated a suspiciously large amount of money to a pro-Trump political action commitee, and also played a role in recalling U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch from their home country.
Despite Trump’s legal team repeatedly denying any direct association with the two guilty men, there are numerous images with Trump, Parnas, and Fruman that have surfaced online.
The broader implication of Trump’s impeachment comes into question as the 2020 race is approximately one year away, which is crunch time in candidates minds. Assuming Trump is actually impeached and Vice President Michael R. Pence is found to have no connection to the Ukraine matters, he would be primed to take over the office. Pence, the former governor of Indiana, is well known for his conservative policies surrounding controversial issues like LGBTQ+ rights, gun control, and fiscal matters. Due to Pence’s place in the line of Presidential succession, he is also being looked at as a key figure in this impeachment probe as he, like Attorney General Barr, is in the top 10 in the protocol for succession. 
When asked about the potential reality of Pence taking control of the Oval Office, Sophomore Eliana Moreno remarked, “I want Trump impeached, but I am not looking forward to Mike Pence taking his place.”
Analysts have suggested that impeachment can take years to be completed, arguing it is more efficient to simply vote out President Trump in the normally scheduled election. In reference to Trump opposition, an anonymous junior student said that Andrew “Yang is one of two top 8 or 9 dems who 10%+ of Trump voters said they would consider” if he were to be impeached.
Latin sophomore Shaan Kamal remarked “It’s going to be a win-win or lose-lose depending on who you support” referencing the potential of President Trump being impeached, and Vice President Pence taking over. 
Over the past two weeks, support for President Trump’s impeachment has steadily grown, now with 51% of Americans supporting the idea of impeachment and his removal from office, according to a recent Fox News poll.
In the early days of this impeachment inquiry, President Trump kept relatively quiet, and used the same recycled deflections he frequented during the Russian collusion investigation led by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III, but recently he has become infuriated with House Democrats pursuing his removal.
At a previously scheduled Louisiana rally on Friday, October 11, President Trump proudly bashed the “radical democrats” exclaiming “they know they can’t win an election so they are pursuing an illegal, invalid, and unconstitutional bulls**t impeachment”. 
Meanwhile, House Democrats leading the probe such as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff continues to announce countless subpoenas and interview requests as both sides attempt to prove their case, and hopefully the truth.
While impeachment may look bad for America on an international level, all we can do as Americans is hope that justice is served, and done so separately from political views, thoughts and beliefs.