White House admits Trump bribed Ukraine, bolsters evidence for impeachment

Over the past few weeks, all of Capitol Hill has been obsessed with the chances of United States President Donald Trump being impeached for violating Presidential protocol. While the Democratic party has been surging steadily forward with their investigation, Republicans have been biting their nails in nervous anticipation. Now, a recent—and scandalous—revelation by acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney may have just tipped the impeachment scales. He admitted that Trump did, in fact, withhold military aid from Ukraine when President Volodymyr Zelensky denied his request to investigate a Democratic National Committee email server, The Washington Post reports.

During a session in the White House briefing room with reporters on Thursday, October 17, Mulvaney said in response to Trump's alleged blackmailing, "We do that all the time with foreign policy." Jennifer Rubin, writing for The Washington Post, described what followed as a "full-blown confession of impeachable conduct." He told reporters, "Did [Trump] also mention to me, in the past, the corruption related to the DNC server? Absolutely. No question about that. But that’s it. And that’s why we held up the money... The look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation. And that is absolutely appropriate." Hammering the last nail into his own coffin, he added, "Get over it."

Mulvaney's admission implies that the President engaged in a quid pro quo exchange—that is, in common law, when an item or a service is traded in return for something of value—in order to further Trump's own political interests. Under American law, such an exchange is forbidden. Therefore, it looks like the Democrats have just been handed all the ammunition they need to ensure the sitting President's impeachment. Additionally, Republicans now find themselves in a sticky situation; it's going to be incredibly difficult for the party to vote against impeachment but still retain their dignity.

This is especially true because it seems Capitol Hill has been caught in the perfect storm. Right after Mulvaney's confession, ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland allegedly told the House impeachment panel “that President Trump outsourced the job of handling United States policy on Ukraine to Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, a decision that made Sondland uncomfortable but one he still carried out.” Thus only adding further evidence of the President's quid pro quo exchange. And then, as if completely ignorant to his own downfall, Trump announced that next year’s Group of Seven summit is scheduled to be held at his Doral golf resort near Miami, Florida. Never before has the United States stood witness to such an egregious violation of the power that comes with the Presidential office. As Rubin explained, "Such a blatant example of Trump’s willingness to smash government and reap personal financial benefits weighs heavily in favor of removing him. We’d better get him out of there before he makes off with any more loot." Time's up, Donnie. Get over it.