The US court imposed a fine on Trump

The US President is in the headlines once again for the wrong reasons. This time he has been fined heavily by the American court. READ MORE

Trump has been accused of improperly using donations for political interests during the 2016 presidential election. Trump has been accused of using the donated money to get his 1.8-meter-high picture.

The court has ordered Donald Trump to give the US $ 2 million to several charitable organizations. Trump misused his own charity organization for his political and business interests.

A Manhattan court found that Donald J. Foundations used the funds donated by ex-servicemen to campaign for 2016 election.

In 2016, Trump directed a member of the presidential campaign team to collect donations for ex-servicemen in association with his charity.

Trump used 10,000 US dollars from the donation amount to pay for his own 1.8 high picture.

The court has given this ruling after a 21-month investigation of the Attorney General’s office in New York.

In fact, the case came against the Donald J. Trump Foundation in June 2018, in which Trump is accused of levying charity money in personal, business and political interests.

Apart from the fine, the court has asked three children of Trump to do a charity training course. Also, the involvement of Trump in any religious activities has been banned.

The court ordered the fine to be paid to eight charitable institutions, including CityMiles, United Negro College Fund and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Trump, the US president, tweeted the order, calling the foundation an “incredibly effective philanthropist”, adding that the foundation made some “minor technical glitches”.

New York’s current attorney general Letitia James called the court’s decision a major victory. He said, “This is our big win against those trying to protect the properties associated with charity and against those who misuse the funds associated with a charity.”

US Parliament approves impeachment investigation against Trump

The House of Representatives, the lower house of the US parliament, passed a resolution to move the impeachment an investigation against President Donald Trump to the next stage. This is the fourth time in the history of American Parliament.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a vote on the issue this week to satisfy Republican lawmakers who have been demanding it for a long time. The purpose of this investigation is to find out whether President Trump had pressurized Ukraine for personal political gains.

Only three times in the history of the US Parliament, impeachment investigations have been conducted against the President. Of these, impeachment against Andrew Johnson in 1968 and Bill Clinton in 1998 went to the final stages but could not pass.

Both of them were acquitted and completed their tenure, while Richard Nixon resigned before the proceedings were completed due to apprehension of impeachment.

Before the vote on Thursday, Pelosi said, “It is sad that this is not a cause for any pleasure or consolation. This is something that is very serious and pleading.” The House passed the motion with 232 votes against 196 and only two Democratic Party MPs went against it, while one Republican who left the Republican Party voted in favour.

A whistleblower voiced concern about Trump’s remarks in a conversation between President Trump and Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zalensky, on July 25. After this, on September 24, Pelosi announced to start an investigation into the matter. Investigations are on whether Trump had pressured Zalensky for personal political gain.

Democrat MPs say they have found “fatal evidence” in the hearing they have held so far. According to him, Trump allegedly told the President of Ukraine that he would get US military assistance only if he would investigate against former US Vice President Joe Biden. Joe Biden leads the Democratic Party’s challenger for Trump in next year’s presidential election.

So far, the statements of witnesses in the hearing of this case have been held behind closed doors. Republican lawmakers complain of transparency about this. According to statements given by some witnesses, Trump-connected Ukraine’s military aid to the investigation against Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden has served on the board of several natural gas companies in Ukraine.

Adam Schiff, chairman of the House of Intelligence Committee involved in the investigation, said on Thursday, “This is a serious day in the history of our country.” He said that Democrats understand the seriousness of this, but are “forced to move due to circumstances.” Schiff also said that Democrat MPs will perform this duty “with the utmost seriousness.”

Republican lawmakers complain that the proposal is not the same as the impeachment clause, which is the first step to oust President Trump, showing that Democrats are enamoured with Trump’s removal from office and the country’s problems. They are failing in their duty to solve. Minority leader Kevin McCarty said Democrats “are not working for the American people.”

US President Trump tweeted in his response to the resolution, “This is the biggest attempt to deliberately target in American history.” Trump repeatedly mentions a transcript of the conversation in the call that was issued by the White House.

It said that there was no pressure on Zalensky to start the investigation. “It is completely wrong, we have a copy of it. It was a very fair conversation,” Trump told London radio station LBC in an interview to Brexit Party leader Nigel Faraj.

Trump also says that the Democratic Party has only one way of defeating him in next year’s election to impeach him because he cannot win properly.

After this proposal is passed, the ongoing investigation of three committees of the house has been approved. Also, it will be approved to set the procedure for further investigation .

According to the US Constitution, the House of Representatives has the authority to set rules for the impeachment investigation and the Democratic Party says that they are just following the rules.

The matter will now be openly heard, although the Democratic Party has not yet told when this hearing will begin.

Democrat lawmakers say the investigation process will run under the same rules that were used against President Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.

According to the rules, the Intelligence Committee of the House will now issue a report about this and a copy of the hearing held behind closed doors. Members of both parties were present in these hearings.

After this, the Judiciary Committee will decide whether to impeach the House President or not. The Republican Party can issue summons to witnesses only if the hearing committees approve it. This means that veto power will be in the hands of Democrats.

Trump’s lawyers can take part in the proceedings of the Judicial Committee. If the White House does not provide testimony or documents “illegally” on the demand of Parliament, the Trump representatives’ demand to summon witnesses may be rejected.

According to the Constitution, the House of Representatives, the lower house of the US Parliament, has the right to investigate and make rules for impeachment while the Senate has the right to prosecute and pass impeachment. Currently, the Democratic Party has a majority in the lower house of Parliament, while the Republican Party has the majority in the Senate.

Originally published at https://www.mubahisa.in.