The Accusations Against Donald Trump
President Trump is accused of pressuring Ukraine to dig up damaging information on one of his main Democratic challengers for the presidency in 2020, Joe Biden, and his son Hunter
Hunter worked for a Ukrainian company when Joe Biden was US vice-president
The president is accused of dangling two things as bargaining chips to Ukraine - withholding $400m of military aid to Ukraine that had already been allocated by Congress, and a White House meeting for Ukraine's president
This, Democrats say, amounts to an abuse of presidential power, using the office for personal political gain and to the detriment of national security. Ukraine was using that money in its ongoing conflict with Russia
Donald Trump is also accused of obstructing Congress by refusing to co-operate with the congressional inquiry
Evidences Against Donald Trump
A formal complaint from a whistleblower - an unnamed intelligence official who wrote a letter expressing concern about Donald Trump's July25,2019 call with President Volodymyr Zelensky - kicked off the impeachment process in early Sep 2019
A rough transcript of the call revealed that Mr Trump had urged President Zelensky to investigate discredited allegations against Joe and Hunter Biden
The call came shortly after Mr Trump had blocked the release of millions of dollars in US military aid to Ukraine.A Senior Official later testified that the president made clear the release of the aid was conditional on Mr Biden being investigated, but the White House denies this
In a series of public hearings, a procession of US officials have testified that there was a White House shadow foreign policy led by the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani
Its aim was to get Ukraine to open an investigation into the Bidens and declare as much publicly
Donald Trump denies using US military aid as a bargaining chip with Mr Zelensky and has repeatedly insisted his call with Ukraine's leader was "perfect"
He has called the impeachment inquiry a "witch hunt" by Democrats and elements of the media
He also says it was appropriate to ask Ukraine to investigate "corruption", referring to the energy firm where Hunter Biden worked
The Republican defence comes in 3 parts
- Ukraine's president said he felt no pressure
- The Ukrainians were unaware the aid was held back
- US military aid was eventually release
What is impeachment ?
To impeach, in this context, means to bring charges in Congress that will form the basis for a trial.The US constitution states a president "shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanours"
It's important to note this is a political process, rather than a criminal one.
What is the process?
It happens in two stages.Proceedings have to be started by the House of Representatives.
A vote to impeach only needs a simple majority to pass and if it does, the process
then moves to the Senate where a trial is held
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