A Summary of Recent Events in Politics 9/30

Thirty six year old whistleblower, Edward Snowden, has appeared relevant in American news once again after the release of his book, Permanent Record. Former Trump campaign manager, Corey Lewandoski, testifies which leaves Democrats across America highly disappointed. Over 150 House members call for impeachment of President Donald Trump. Donald Trump confirms that he did, in fact, mention 2020 presidential candidate, Joe Biden, in his meeting with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky after denying it weeks ago. I’m going to break down these headlines and explain what they mean and how they affect you.

In the late Spring of 2013, Edward Snowden released confidential files belonging to the NSA (National Security Agency) to the public. Some of the exploited files included documents showing that the NSA had accessed phone records from millions of Verizon customers, that the United States government bugged European Union offices in New York, Washington and Brussels and hundreds of other sensitive files. After years of irrelevance in United States news, Edward Snowden returns to headlines after announcing the release of his book titled Permanent Record, which is about the Snowden’s acts of espionage. Bloomberg praises Snowden’s work, calling the book a “honeypot for hackers.” But NSA made an attempt to shut down Snowden and his biography after announcing that they were suing him, hoping to keep the profit made from book sales out of Snowden’s hands. Fun fact: whenever the Snowden scandal was happening in 2013-2014, President Donald Trump tweeted saying, “Snowden is a spy who has caused great damage to the U.S.A. Spies in the old days, when our country was respected and strong, would be executed.” 

Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, testified September 17th. The testimony had been viewed as the first designated impeachment hearing regarding President Trump’s presidential position. During the testimony, Lewandowski hailed Trump as a “historical and unprecedented political juggernaut.” Before Lewandowski took the stand, Democrats saw this opportunity as a potential component to contribute to their impeachment agenda but later labeled it a Republican political strategy. During the testimony, Lewandowski said, “I have no obligation to be honest to media.” On the topic of Trump’s impeachment, over 200 political strategists call for the termination of his reign as President of the United States of America. The House needs 218 votes to impeach the President, currently it is unknown whether an Impeachment Inquiry’s votes can do so. Kickstarting the progression in the Impeachment Inquiry, President Trump calls the Inquiry a “hoax” and “the continuation of a witch hunt.” 

President Donald Trump contradicted himself by confirming that he did, in fact, mention 2020 Presidential nominee Joe Biden during a conference call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zenensky after denying it weeks ago. You can read Trump and Zelensky’s conference here. Joe Biden responded to the circumstances of the conference call, stating, “This is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. It is a national security issue. It is a test of our democratic values. Congress must pursue the facts and quickly take prompt action to hold Donald Trump accountable.” 

What this means: although the circumstances regarding Snowden doesn’t directly affect most people, Snowden’s story is something that can be labeled inspiring by some and also treasonous by others. Lewandowski’s testimony is the beginning to a long series of more testimonies, political fallouts and the possible impeachment of President Donald J. Trump.