It has been weeks since the Democrats announced they are starting an official impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump. So, what has been achieved during the past month and where do we stand now?
The inciting incident for the impeachment inquiry is a controversial phone call that Donald Trump held with the President of Ukraine. People familiar with the case were concerned that the President decided to withhold humanitarian help for Ukraine (which is technically at war with Russia over Crimea) and release it if the President of the ex-Soviet country agreed to investigate one of Trump’s opponents in the next election, Joe Biden. In other words, the President was using his official position as head of the US to demand a personal favor from a foreign leader.
However, as Trump’s team has struggled to deny the facts, it decided to instead reinterpret them and turn them into fuel for the President’s re-election campaign. Instead of maintaining that there was no wrongdoing in the call, Trump’s administration is now more focused on claiming the Democrats are at fault for wasting time with the inquiry.
The Democrats held private hearings for some time, but this week finally started the procedure to make the process public. It is likely that more details about Trump’s involvement with Ukraine will surface in the coming weeks, as the impeachment inquiry will be open to the public and the media from now on.
So far, the impeachment process has not had any negative effects on the US economy. The markets are used to political unrest following the President. The USD is much more influenced by Trump’s failure to get a deal with China and the economic slowdown caused by the trade war.
