Interview season is still on and the world continues to churn out current-affair issues every other day. You wake up every morning, pick up a newspaper, scan through the international news column wondering, ‘what now?’ While reading the newspaper is a good practice, finding useful elements from a sea of information can sometimes become difficult. To help you in that department, we have gathered information on three major happenings that shook the world in 2019 and the beginning of 2020. These events might become a part of your next GD-PI-WAT topic. So, remember to pay extra attention to them. Today, we are going to focus on ‘‘Trump’s Impeachment Trial’. Read to know more.
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President Donald Trump was found 'not guilty' in his recent impeachment trial, ending the plea to remove him from office. The issue apparently bitterly divided the US. The Senate voted to acquit him of the following charges:
- Abuse of power
- Obstruction of Congress
Why is this a historical precedent?
This is the third time when a president has been put on trial for impeachment. Before this, Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson were impeached by the Senate and did not seek re-election.
What was Trump accused of?
- The first charge accuses President Trump of ‘Abusing his Power’ by withholding $391m (£300m) worth of security aid to Ukraine president and only releasing it in exchange of “dirt” on Biden (a potential rival for the upcoming presidential election).
- Mr Trump was also charged with ‘Obstruction of Congress’ because the White House and his legal team tried to block testimony and documents that were about to be investigated by the House impeachment investigators.
How Did Trump Get Acquitted?
Here are the three main ways Trump managed to land the acquittal -
- Trump obstructed the work of a House impeachment inquiry: During the review of “abuse of power” trial, Trump’s legal team decided to release records of Trump’s conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. After that, the White House refused to cooperate with any investigations into Trump’s demands of Ukraine. This limited the House Democrats’ access to first-hand information.
- Republicans stuck together: Impeachment proceedings were not able to lower Trump’s high-popularity among Republicans. Trump’s approval among Republican voters went up by 6 points over January 2020 and rising to 94 per cent. By doing this, Trump’s allies have made it clear that breaking up with Trump would come with a political price. Even during the trial, the White House ensured no Republicans would vote against Trump.
- Voters were unmoved: While building up the impeachment case, the House investigators were unable to convince the public that Trump should be removed, which may have compelled the Senators to vote differently. Even as Democrats built their case and more information became public, those numbers against Trump did not inch up, despite Trump’s low approval ratings.
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During your interviews, the panellists check if you're aware of the concepts of the domain that you wish to pursue your career in, post your MBA. To help you with that, here are a few important concepts across the domains. Take a look!
That is it, folks! Meanwhile, if you have any other GD-PI-WAT topic you want us to write on, mention it in the comment section below.
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