Nancy Pelosi – The Politics of Impeachment

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This is a photo of Roger Caldwell, an NNPA columnist and long-time contributor to the Advocate
Roger Caldwell is an NNPA Columnist and a long-time contributor to the Advocate

By Roger Caldwell

As the nation is split down the middle, the Democrats and the Republicans take their sides. Everyone is right, and everyone is wrong. The American Democracy is being challenged to its core, and there appears to be no place for compromise.

The Democrats under the leadership of the Speaker of the House – Nancy Pelosi has made the decision to start an impeachment investigation, which has put President Donald Trump on notice. After months of deliberation and putting the brakes on the radical Democrats, the Speaker has decided the administrations’ last scandal has pushed her to the edge. The Trump – Ukraine Scandal is more than a telephone call, it is a coordinated scheme with many different Trump’s senior officials starting with the Vice President. This plot began last spring with Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer putting pressure on the President of Ukraine.

Giuliani told the New York Times, “We’re meddling in an investigation – because that information will be very helpful to my client. The key word there was we’re. The first person plural indicated Giuliani was not carrying out this mission alone,” says reporter Jonathan Chait of the Intelligence.

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As the Democrats started digging, it was revealed that a group of senior officials were breaking the law, to protect President Trump’s personal business interest and violating re-election campaign laws. This scheme took place during many months, and the phone call was a small part of the entire scandal. When President Trump ordered military aid to Ukraine to be frozen, he used his chief of staff and budget director to execute the order.

When lawmakers and State Department staffers begin asking questions about why the money had not gone through, the high level officials begin to make up lies and fabricated stories. They said the assistance was being reviewed, and they were trying to gauge the effectiveness of the aid, a claim that struck congressional aides and lawmakers as odd.

Many officials were involved in the cover up, and eventually a whistleblower from the US intelligence community voiced urgent concerns, and now the Ukraine matter has become a full-blown scandal. The inspector general received the complaint on August 12, reviewed it and found it credible and urgent.

“The Mueller report informed or reminded everyone that it is illegal for a political campaign to accept a ‘thing of value’ from a foreign government. It could be argued that an investigation by a foreign government meant to harm a political opponent would be a thing of value, and pressing for one could be perilous for a US president,” says the Associated Press

Nancy Pelosi is the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House. She took over that position the second time, on January 13, 2019, with the largest number of House -women elected in the history of the House of Representatives. At that time she said, “I pledge that this Congress will be transparent, bipartisan, and unifying that we will seek to reach across the aisle in the Chamber and across the divisions across our nation.”

Since taking over the Speakership, Speaker Pelosi has tried to put impeachment on the backburner and operate as a moderate. With six House committees investigating a series of allegations against the president, from obstruction of justice, violating campaign laws, and paying hush money to porn actresses, everyone was aware that the president was breaking the law.

Finally with the whistleblower’s complaint, Speaker Pelosi felt compelled to initiate a formal impeachment inquiry, which is the fact-finding stage of the impeachment process. After this stage is complete the lawmakers will decide whether to bring formal articles of impeachment, which would require a full House vote.

If President Trump is impeached in the House, the process would shift to the Senate. In the Senate there would be a trial, and two-thirds majority of the Senate would be needed to remove the president from office.