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A Student Publication of Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA

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A Student Publication of Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA

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Recently in Trumpeachment

Small updates of everything happening with the Trump administration and the impeachment proceedings
Natalie Lu • October 23, 2019

A lot has happened since the announcement of the impeachment inquiry. For a breakdown of the main facts, click here.

Update, Oct. 23:

Well, the drama just got upped. Are we in a reality TV show?

House Republicans disrupted a testimony today by storming into a secure hearing room where a testimony from Laura Cooper, a Pentagon official, was supposed to take place as part of the inquiry. The Republicans brought pizza, other snacks and their cell phones. The fact that they brought their cell phones inside in particular drew a lot of criticism, since phones are not allowed into secure hearing rooms due to security concerns.

Update, Oct. 21:

The Democrats of the House of Representatives voted down a resolution by GOP members to censure Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee Chairman and a lead investigator in the impeachment inquiry.

A censure is essentially a formal condemnation of a senator. While it may not seem that serious by that definition alone, according to the United States Senate website, it “can have a powerful psychological effect on a member and his/her relationships in the Senate.”

Schiff had something to say after the vote:

Update, Oct. 15:

Rudy Giuliani confirmed with CNN that he will no longer be represented by Jon Sale, former assistant special prosecutor for the Watergate scandal. Giuliani also said that he will not comply with the congressional subpoena that was sent to him as part of the inquiry.

Since last week, numerous witnesses have testified before Congress as part of the impeachment inquiry. This includes former Russia adviser Fiona Hill, who testified today, and the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

You can read Yovanovitch’s opening statements in her testimony here. In it, she states, “Although I understand that I served at the pleasure of the President, I was nevertheless incredulous that the U.S. government chose to remove an Ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”

Trump was still demanding for the identity of the whistleblower after Rep. Adam Schiff said that the whistleblower might not end up testifying.

Also, this:

People on Twitter are having a field day with the fact that the president actually tweeted “Impeach the Pres.”

Update, Oct. 9:

#KurdsBetrayedByTrump is trending on Twitter after Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that Turkey launched a military incursion into northern Syria. A day before, President Trump had announced that the U.S. would withdraw forces from the area.

The White House also sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi, saying that President Trump and his administration will not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, or as it says in the letter, “cannot be expected to participate.” This complicates things, to put it mildly.

Pelosi later responded to the letter. In a press release, she said, “Mr. President, you are not above the law. You will be held accountable.”

And earlier today, Trump said on—surprise—Twitter that the whistleblower should apologize to him.

Update, Oct. 7, 2019:

On Friday, the State Department missed the House of Representatives’ deadline to turn over documents as part of a subpoena. Democrats in the House also sent a subpoena to the White House.

On Sunday, the attorney for the first whistleblower said he is now representing a second whistleblower coming forward with information about the president.

Today, a judge rejected Trump’s efforts to not release his tax returns, so the Manhattan district attorney’s office will subpoena for eight years of the president’s returns.

Update, Oct. 3, 2019:

President Trump publicly called for China to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter today as he also insisted, once again, for Ukraine to do the same.

Kurt Volker, the former special U.S. envoy to Ukraine, said in an interview with lawmakers that he was not involved in the attempt for an investigation from Ukraine. According to the whistleblower complaint, Volker met with Ukrainian officials the day after the July 25 call.

In the complaint, it says, “Based on multiple readouts of these meetings recounted to me by various U.S. officials, Ambassadors Volker and Sondland reportedly provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to ‘navigate’ the demands that the President had made of Mr. Zelenskyy.”

Volker also said during the interview that he had been trying to warn Ukrainian officials to stay away from American politics.

In other news, President Trump dismissed the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. According to an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Rudy Giuliani said that the reason for her dismissal stemmed from the complaints of Giuliani and Trump supporters, in which they claimed that she regularly voiced negative thoughts about the president in conversations. According to Giuliani, Yovanovitch also blocked the effort for investigations into Joe and Hunter Biden.

Update, Oct. 2, 2019:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has admitted to being part of the July 25 phone call with President Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Anything about the whistleblower?

The New York Times claimed that the whistleblower who sent in the complaint that triggered the inquiry is an officer of the CIA. The publication of the article was met with stark criticism, with people arguing that the release of the details go against the policy to protect whistleblowers’ identities.

Rep. Adam Schiff claimed that the whistleblower agreed to testify in a private hearing and is set to appear “very soon.”

What has Trump been saying?

President Trump has reportedly been on the hunt to find the whistleblower, which goes against federal statute protecting the identity of whistleblowers.

After waves of criticism, Trump tweeted multiple posts yesterday, Sept. 30, calling the inquiry a “witch hunt” and claiming that Rep. Adam Schiff “made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people.” This was in response to Schiff’s remarks during Joseph Maguire’s testimony last week. There’s much more from that day, but for the sake of my brain cells, I’m not including them.

Trump tweeted more today, calling his phone call with the Ukrainian president “perfect” and the claims about his push for interference in the election a “hoax.” He also questioned why he wasn’t entitled to the whistleblower’s identity.

Are there more updates about Trump’s colleagues and his administration?

It has been reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was part of the July 25 call with President Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

When House Democrats requested for the appearances of five State Department officials, Pompeo fired back, tweeting that Democrats were trying to “bully” them. He also said that he would “use all means at my disposal to prevent and expose any attempts to intimidate the dedicated professionals whom I am proud to lead and serve alongside at the Department of State.”

It was also reported yesterday that Trump pushed Australia’s prime minister to help Attorney General William Barr in finding information for a Justice Department inquiry. Barr also had private meetings with foreign intelligence officials to request help. This was done in hopes that the information could discredit the Mueller investigation. This information could feed the Democrats’ efforts to impeach the president, as this shows more instances of the White House pressuring foreign officials for investigations.

Democrats also sent out a subpoena to Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer. A subpoena is a writ that is sent out to order someone to appear in court.

Giuliani hired attorney Jon Sale, who had previously worked as an assistant special prosecutor for the Watergate scandal.

More updates are to follow.

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About the Contributor
Natalie Lu
Natalie Lu, Editor in Chief
Natalie Lu is the former editor-in-chief of SAC.Media. You'll generally find her listening to K-pop, watching Brooklyn 99, gushing over her two cats or finding out what weird thing is trending on social media now.