Trump’s Abuse of Presidential Oath

By Claire Prudhomme

The past three weeks have shown significant struggle in the White House Administration. News outlets have extended a similar story debating Trump’s abuse of his oath of office. On October 4th, Trump appealed on live television to the Ukrainian and Chinese government to investigate Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

Trump claims and charges that Mr. Biden, as vice president, asked for a Ukrainian prosecutor to help protect Hunter, who was at the time on a board of a Ukrainian gas company. Trump also claims that Hunter Biden has taken “billions of dollars” away from a company in China. 

In 2014, Hunter Biden worked on a board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, which was facing accusations of corruption. Hunter Biden was paid 50,000 dollars per month according to the New York Times, but the investigation against the company did not involve Hunter.

Although Joe Biden was the Obama Administration’s senior policy lead on Ukraine and he did tell the Ukrainian leaders they had to fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin to receive financial aid from the United States, he did not push for the leaders to protect his son and he was acting per the Obama administration’s policy.

President Trump’s call to action from a foreign government to investigate a U.S. citizen is directly in violation of the U.S. rule of law and a private U.S. citizen’s right. The proper and legal way to do an investigation would not be by foreign administrations but through the Justice Department who could, in turn, ask for other governments to help if need be.

This is discussed as an abuse of presidential office or abuse of the presidential oath as it is a breach of political legality. Federal law prohibits using anything from foreigners to help an election campaign, but Trump is making it clear that he will abuse his oath of office for personal gain.

The entire situation of the Impeachment process or talk that has seemingly been attempted for the past four years. Real legalities and laws were broken: Trump has asked or solicited for foreign aid in elections, he has allegedly blocked witnesses from testifying, and he has yet to turn over his tax returns.

CUA students should be aware of the truth to information, when hearing any statements from news outlets, they should delve into the world of politics and find out the truth without any partisan emphasis. All students, not just politics majors or anyone in the political realm, should engage themselves in the political world because it is the future of the country at risk.