Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi launched a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
“The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law,” Pelosi said in a televised statement.
Minutes later, Trump unleashed a barrage of tweets reflecting his feelings toward the impeachment inquiry.
A whistleblower complaint reported Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, for corruption. The complaint prompted Pelosi and House Democrats to ramp up pressure on the Trump Administration. While the transcript of the July phone call released on Wednesday shows Trump asked Zelensky to investigate Biden, there is no evidence of wrongdoing at this time by either party, according to CNN. 
“That call was perfect. It couldn’t have been nicer,” Trump told reporters outside the United Nations Headquarters on Tuesday. 
According to The Washington Post, Trump told his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to hold $400 million in military aid to Ukraine a week before the call took place. News of the president’s order to withhold aid triggered questions and speculation from both sides of the political spectrum.
When asked if he put a hold on millions in military aid to Ukraine, Trump responded, “Those funds were paid. They were fully paid.”
The president referred to the possibility of impeachment as both “ridiculous” and a “witch hunt” when asked about the situation. 
Pelosi’s stance on impeachment shifted in the wake of the whistleblower’s complaint. Much to the ire of her more progressive colleagues in the House, the California Democrat had previously resisted calls to impeach the president.
LSU College Democrats Secretary Emanuel Lain expressed the club’s support for the impending impeachment inquiry.
“The College Democrats of LSU absolutely support the impeachment inquiry and has felt this way since the Mueller Report laid out the many impeachable offenses this President has committed such as obstruction of justice and many others,” Lain said in a statement. “The new information regarding the President pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rival while holding up already Congressional appropriated aid only bolsters our belief that he must be impeached.” 
While a number of Democrats agree with the advancement of an impeachment inquiry against Trump, many Republicans don’t share the same opinion. Senate Republicans have questioned both the validity and credibility of the whistleblower complaint. 
“Is it a whistleblower or is it a leaker, I don’t know which,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
LSU Political Science Professor James Stoner said this is the fourth impeachment inquiry in America’s history.
“Impeachment is set up to hold officers accountable between elections and it would have as its consequence removal from office due to treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” Stoner said.
Stoner noted the impeachment inquiry against President Trump lies in the ball park of the vaguer charge of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” However, Stoner also mentioned the impeachment inquiry, like the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, seemed to be motivated by sharp political differences and political animus. 
If the inquiry were to progress to an impeachment trial, it would be conducted in a similar manner as a judicial trial. However, in an impeachment, the trial would be held in the legislature. The accusation is made by the House of Representatives instead of an attorney, and the verdict would be decided by the Senate rather than a jury. 
Unlike the House of Representatives, Republicans control the Senate, which Stoner said will make conviction unlikely at this point. 
“It seems to me unlikely that more than a single Republican would vote to convict President Trump unless serious crime is uncovered,” Stoner said. “It’s a high stakes game when the removal of the president is on the table.”
The Reveille also reached out to the College Republicans of LSU for a statement regarding yesterday’s impeachment inquiry announcement. College Republicans of LSU did not respond to requests for comment.