The Falconer asked La Salle students to share their views on the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. This is what they had to say. (Although The Falconer sought a range of opinions for this video, the students we interviewed were in consensus on this issue.)

For more perspective on this situation, see the summary by Andrew Clair below.

These past few weeks, a massive scandal has gripped the media and the White House, swaying the eye of the public towards impeachment of President Trump after an exceedingly rocky two year presidency. The story has not been concluded, and the case for removal is not yet complete, but one thing is for sure: this is the largest hurdle to the Trump Administration yet.

A call on July 25 between President Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, featured Trump pressing the foreign leader into investigating a potentially nepotistic scandal where Joe Biden used his former vice presidency to illegally aid his son, Hunter Biden, in finding a highly paying job in natural gas.

Only a week before, President Trump’s chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, had issued an order to suspend nearly $400 million in military aid, suggesting that these congressionally delegated funds were being abused to advance a political agenda and damage the prospects of the main contender of the sitting president.

Attention was brought to this after a whistleblower published a letter where he tied these actions to an unconstitutional quid pro quo, sparking an impeachment inquiry led by Nancy Pelosi, the speaker for the House of Representatives. Many witnesses have come out in support of impeachment from the State Department since, and the evidence is mounting.

In the latest events, not only has the president’s chief of staff admitted to the aforementioned quid pro quo, severely damaging Trump’s case and vastly improving Nancy Pelosi’s case for impeachment, but two other people have also shared damaging information: William Taylor, a top American diplomat to Ukraine, and Gordon Sunderland, the American ambassador to the European Union.

Republicans, on the other hand, do not seem to be disputing the claims and evidence against President Trump, but contending with the way in which the impeachment inquiry is being led, using closed door depositions and holding witnesses’ testimony out of the public eye. Despite these assertions, though, Democrats will not only release the transcripts of all witnesses’ testimonies, but will allow many House Republicans (including those who stormed into one of the impeachment hearings in protest) to oversee the impeachment precedings.

Starting today, Nov. 13, the first public testimonials are being held, with mounting anticipation for a Democratic case that will likely impeach the president, at least in the House of Representatives. Despite the evidence, though, a majority Republican senate may never budge towards removal.