President Donald Trump has faced scrutiny since the beginning of his presidency in 2017. From his questionable twitter posts to public appearance, Trump has had no mercy with the world’s judgment. Talks of his impeachment have been a common whisper for years, but in light of recent events, they became a reality. Trump faced impeachment on Dec. 18, 2019 and is now awaiting a vote from Congress that will decide if he stays in office or not.
The impeachment trial was initiated by a whistleblower’s accusation about a call between Trump and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, where Trump demanded two things. He wanted Ukraine to prove and acknowledge Ukraine’s involvement in swaying votes in favor of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and secondly, he wanted them to run an investigation on democratic presidential rival, Joe Biden, and his son in their involvement with Ukrainian energy within the board of the company Burisma. Trump was formally accused and consequently found guilty of pressuring Ukraine to find information about the Bidens, as well as obstructing Congress by refusing to co-operate with the congressional inquiry.
Trump maintained the defense of his innocence throughout the investigation and, according to BBC, backed it up through the testimony of Ukraine’s president who said that he “felt no pressure,” had no knowledge of aid being withheld, and by releasing U.S. aid to Ukraine.
The next step of the impeachment process is a trial held in the Senate during January of 2020. This vote will determine if Trump stays in office or not. If the Senate decides to remove Trump from office, they can then also decide to disqualify him from holding future office. In order to stay in office, he will need two-thirds of the vote, but if he is voted out of office, the line of succession says that Vice President Mike Pence will assume the role of President.