The President Will Be Probably Be Impeached

I write to record my recent realization that it is likely that Donald Trump will be impeached by the House of Representatives. I believed that the Mueller investigation resulted in enough evidence to warrant an impeachment inquiry, but the House leadership was reluctant to open one. They were probably content to just fight him in an election next november. But then Trump did himself in.

Just one day after Robert Mueller testified before congress, Donald Trump called the president of Ukraine and pressured him to open an investigation of Joe Biden's son.  And when a whistle-blower came forward, Donald Trump acted like it was perfectly normal for a president to use his office to get dirt on a political opponent. 

The dam broke tonight, as evidence by two extraordinary pieces in the Washington Post. 

1. At 9:00 PM Eastern, the posted an Op-Ed by seven freshman Democratic Represenatives. (Reps. Gil Cisneros of California, Jason Crow of Colorado, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Elaine Luria of Virginia, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia.)  All seven are veterans of the armed forces or America's intelligence services. None of them have been controversial during their eigh months in office. They wrote to say that if the allegationw are true, that Donald Trump must be removed from office.

You can read that here:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/24/seven-freshman-democrats-these-allegations-are-threat-all-we-have-sworn-protect/?outputType=amp

2. At 10: 40 Eastern, three Washington Post reporters broke new details on the Ukranian scandal. They report that President Trump ordered $400 of military aid to Ukraine to be withheld just days before his conversation with Ukraine's president. 

You can read that here:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-ordered-hold-on-military-aid-days-before-calling-ukrainian-president-officials-say/2019/09/23/df93a6ca-de38-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html?fbclid=IwAR148xEQ_O-SRw9Tjuz101x5XXEEzOzCVwaqPodbMjANnroAeQIY-JPKjvM

This is naked corruption. If the allegations are proven, he must be removed from office. The House probably still did not want to go down this road, but he has given them no choice.  

It's now just after midnight on the east coast. I think the next few days will be massive news days. We will probably learn more about the whistle blower complaint. I expect the house to move to officially open an inquiry and for events to unfold quickly.

Three hours ago I would have said that Trump was going to avoid an impeachment process. I no longer believe that. I think hearings will be held, articles drafted and if I had to be right now, I would say that a majority of the house will vote to impeach him.

After that, things move to the senate. There is almost no indication that any Republicans are ready to vote to convict him, although Mitt Romney has made enough half-hearted statements of concern to draw the president's ire.

Donald Trump got away with solicitiing foreign interference in his first presidential election.  Just one day after Robert Mueller testified to the contents of his report, Donald Trump began asking for that interference from a different country.  But this time he was president. And this time he got caught.  It now appears that there will be a meaningful attempt to get justice for this High Crime and Misdemeanor.