The newest move taken by the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives approving rules for the next, more public stage in the inquiry pushed by the Democratic House members into US president Donald Trump's attempt to have Ukraine investigate a domestic political rival was a further step in their effort to impeach Mr. Trump. For the Democratic Party it was very important and for the impeachment process itself it was very remarkable. But it was still only a very small step on the very long way the Democrats want and have to go.
| US President Donald Trump. Photo: BBC |
This step doesn't mean that the US House of Representatives have decided to officially start the impeachment process against Mr. Trump. Therefore, it doesn't pose more and bigger threats for his presidency. But it doesn't mean nothing to him, either because it could become riskier for him in the coming time.
Until now, Mr. Trump and the Republican Party have been always complaining that the Democrats in the House of Representatives did not have had any legal ground to carry out the process of collecting evidence and pre-impeachment inquiry against Mr. Trump as well as criticizing the Democrats for their closed-doors hearings. With the newest approval of the House of Representatives, the Democrats can now neutralize the Republicans’ and Mr. Trump's complains and critics. The Democrats consider it the legalization of the pre-impeachment inquiry against Mr. Trump and encouragement to firmly advance on this way.
The vote of the House of Representatives allows for public hearings in the US Congress and will move the related hearings from behind closed doors to the public. The more the public knows about the details of the inquiry, the more difficult it will be for Mr. Trump to refuse not to cooperate with the Congress and much more difficult to ignore the inquiry. Any advance in this process could cause serious damage to Mr. Trump personally and to his chance to be re-elected in the 2020 presidential election.
This pre-impeachment inquiry certainly plays a significant role in this election, even the impeachment against Mr. Trump seems to be unrealistic at the moment. It is true that Mr. Trump lost already some powerful supporters in the Republican Party but the Senate is still controlled by the Republicans, and Mr. Trump is now still very far away from being in hot water like Richard Nixon in 1974. The Democrats have to go a very long way to be able to officially impeach Mr. Trump. They might not reach the end of this way but could profit from making troubles to Mr. Trump in the on-going presidential election campaign.
