As you may have heard, there is currently a serious–and even historic–impeachment case involving today’s President Trump. Many people, and especially students at our school, are confused as to what exactly is happening right now surrounding this development.

So, let’s unpack this. It all started in September when the public found out about Trump’s relationship with Ukraine. A member of the CIA stated, “The President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.” This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals. So, allegedly, Trump used Ukraine to gain an advantage over his opponents, specifically Joe Biden. Trump has confirmed that he wanted Ukraine to launch an investigation into Biden; however, he has not clarified why, so we cannot say for sure if this suggestion was for his own political gain.

The conversation between Trump and the Ukrainian president Zelensky essentially consisted of Ukraine requesting funding for their military, and Trump replying that he could help them in exchange for them doing him a favor. The New York Times released a rough transcript of the call, quoting Trump saying:

“Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it…It sounds horrible to me. ”

This conversation was released by Trump; however, it has turned a lot of people against him, and it has served as a catalyst for the whole impeachment discussion. Soliciting foreign help in an election is grounds for impeachment and potentially being removed from office, so the House of Representatives is now investigating a specific phone call that Trump released. The call occurred in July, but it was not released until September, which is why some are claiming this could also be a cover up.

Trump claimed that this wasn’t a trade and he held no bargaining chips over Ukraine, stating on Twitter that there was “no quid pro quo”.  This was refuted by Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, who claimed that the administration, specifically Trump, refused to provide Ukraine with aid until they gave Washington the information they requested. The amount they ended up paying Ukraine (allegedly post-information being received) was upwards of $400 million worth of supplies.

So as of now, that’s where the political atmosphere stands in regard to the impeachment. Looking forward, Americans can only hope that the House provides some clarity regarding the extent to how these actions will impact America.