President Donald Trump Refuses to Cooperate with Congressional Impeachment Inquiry

Patrick Kissel, Reporter

President Donald Trump has refused to cooperate with an impeachment inquiry being undertaken by Democrats in the House of Representatives. Numerous other Trump administration officials have also thus far refused to cooperate.

The refusal to cooperate came in the form of a letter sent by the White House to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, informing Congress that the White House will not cooperate with the inquiry being conducted by numerous congressional committees.

“[He should be impeached.] Donald Trump is disrespectful of the LGBTQ+ community, women, the African American community and all other minorities,” senior Anna Mitchell said.

The letter claimed the inquiry was an unconstitutional attempt to overthrow the Trump administration and overturn the results of the 2016 election. However, impeachment is a constitutional process outlined in Article I Section 2 Clauses 7 and 8, and Article II, section 4.

“In order to fulfill his duties to the American people, the Constitution, the executive branch and all future occupants of the office of the presidency, President Trump and his administration cannot participate in your partisan and unconstitutional inquiry under these circumstances,” the letter reads.

Pelosi responded to the letter by saying, “Mr. President, you are not above the law. You will be held accountable.”

The State Department has also blocked American ambassador to the European Union Eric Sondland from attending a scheduled deposition on Tuesday with multiple House committees. Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff, who Trump accused of treason in a slew of tweets earlier this month, decried the move as another act of obstruction by the White House.

“I believe the impeachment of Donald Trump is long overdue. He has violated the rights of Americans domestic and abroad, he has broken his oath of office, and he has committed crimes both home and foreign,” junior Clayton Herbst said.

Democrats have since subpoenaed Sondland to testify before congressional committees, and to hand over a slew of pertinent documents, and have warned the White House that any move to interfere with the inquiry would be viewed as evidence of obstruction of justice.

“He shouldn’t be due to the poor facts and evidence [democrats] have,” sophomore Gavin Schaefer said.

Sondland has been a major focus of the congressional investigations after text messages between Sondland and U.S. diplomats which showed discontent among U.S. diplomats surrounding Trump’s withholding of military aid to Ukraine. Trump has since claimed he would have liked to send Sondland to testify, but claimed he could not, because Sondland would be testifying before “a totally compromised kangaroo court.”

“I think that [impeachment] should have been done sooner than now but I am glad they are finally taking steps to impeachment,” freshman Kaitlyn Williamson said.