The Democrats launched an inquiry to impeach President Donald Trump. What triggered the move was Trump wanting to investigate his most powerful rival in the 2020 elections, Joe Biden and his son Hunter's business ties in Ukraine and China.
In a complaint filed with the U.S. Intelligence Community, a whistleblower from the CIA who was reported to have been serving at the White House on August 12 claimed that Trump had asked the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation against Joe Biden. The whistleblower stressed that he had obtained this information from certain officials in the White House.
The whistleblower's claims about Trump were secondhand information. Now there’s talk about a second whistleblower. This one is said to have more direct information about Trump looking into Biden in Ukraine. If the information provided by the second whistleblower confirms the allegations of the first one, the impeachment inquiry will gain new momentum.
Another troubling development for Trump was the reaction of some Republican senators to him requesting an investigation against Joe Biden and his son from Ukraine and China. The majority of Republicans stand behind Trump. Only Republican Senators Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse and Susan Collins condemned Trump soliciting information from Ukraine and China. The three senators have long been known to have had a turbulent relationship with Trump.
One of the key figures in Trump's Ukrainian activities is Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York. Aside from the fact that he’s Trump's personal lawyer, Giuliani, has no official title, thus he is criticized for being at the heart of foreign policy issues. Some Republicans accuse Attorney Giuliani of entangling Trump in his shady ways. Democratic presidents of the “Intelligence”, “Foreign Relations” and “Oversight” committees in the House of Representatives reported that they would issue a subpoena to get Giuliani to testify. These Committees are investigating allegations that Trump has abused the power of the Presidential office for political gains and forced Ukraine to intervene in the 2020 elections.
Giuliani was one of the few Republicans to support Trump's candidacy for President in 2016 since it’s early days. According to media reports, Giuliani wanted to be Secretary of State in the Trump cabinet. Trump even offered Giuliani this job. Trump's immediate circle was uncomfortable with Giuliani's influence over Trump, preventing him from becoming a White House official. Giuliani did not accept Trump's offer of becoming the Attorney general.
Another task that Trump considered for Giuliani was a judge at the Supreme Court. The federalist society, which has influence over Trump's judicial appointments, preferred Neil Gorsuch for a vacancy in the Supreme Court. The Federalist Society, which is group of some 70,000 conservative lawyers, the most number of Catholics under one roof, did not want pro-abortion Giuliani. We should recall that the Federalist Society was extremely influential in the shaping of the Republican Party’s legal policies.
The Democrats had already argued that Trump should be impeached because of allegations linked to the "Russian investigation." Giuliani responded to the calls for impeachment in August 2018: "If Trump is impeached, the Americans will revolt." The impeachment inquiry is seen as the trigger that would ignite a civil war for Republicans. The war has just begun. Since January 2018, Trump has dismissed many high-level names, including State and Defense secretaries, as well as FBI President and Vice-Presidents. So far, the White House released nearly 50 names of those who either resigned or were fired. When these names start to talk, the heat will be turned up a few notches for Trump in the coming days.
