Halloween got a little spookier for President Trump when the Democratic House of Representatives voted on Oct. 31 to formalize an impeachment inquiry into the president amidst allegations he engaged in a quid pro quo with Ukranian President Vladmir Zelensky.

While the formalization itself was not necessary for the impeachment process, it was a move to cater to the demands of Republican representatives who called for transparency from Democratic leadership.

The entire process, contrary to the comments made by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), is not a sham. On the surface, the allegations made against the president raise a lot of eyebrows as to whether Trump was trying to use foreign influence in the 2020 election. This comes after confirmations of interference by both Ukraine and Russia in the 2016 presidential election.

Yet, despite the constant pressure coming from Americans who say the impeachment process will be too divisive, the Democrats say they have the best interest of the country at heart.

Just recently, Democratic leadership released transcripts of hearings that were held with high-profile witnesses such as former Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, European Ambassador Gordon Sondland and former Ukranian Ambassador Marie Yavonovitch. But before any transcripts were released, some Democrats, Rep. Adam Schiff in particular, selectively leaked portions of testimony for the media to have a field day with new information. 

Other than that, the public has been left in the dark, solely dependent on a biased left-wing media who will obviously push and dwell on anything anti-Trump. With these leaks, the media continues to shape the public’s opinion on this Ukranian investigation and will continue to put out leftist opinion in spite of the fact that we are told that the news only reports facts and does not editorialize anything. If the Democrats are keen on protecting the credibility of the media, then they should stop putting the onus on the media to spin the story, and they instead should directly speak to the American people, with the media’s role only to broadcast any such event, not report on it themselves.

As this is being written, no one in any position of power or any private citizen is in any way able to proclaim with certainty that the president is either guilty or innocent. With all the investigations going on, the numerous testimonies by vital witnesses and surely more to come, not enough information has been released for the public to adequately view for any judgment to be made. Citizens of this country have a responsibility to wait for all the facts to be publically made available before making any judgement on Trump. The president, despite his extreme unpopularity, is still entitled to due process, even in the court of public opinion. 

“It is urgent that Democrats who are set on getting these facts out make all testimony public, not just in the sense of transcripts, but also in the visual sense as in live broadcasts that can be viewed in their entirety by the general public. What Democrats have undertaken is a process that delves into the possible removal of a president who was democratically elected by over 40 million people. They will not achieve any public support if they cannot convince at least some of those millions of people that the president engaged in an illegal quid pro quo. If this cannot be accomplished, they risk sparking greater unrest and even harsher partisan conflict. The process must be transparent and fair, and biased snippets leaked by partisan reporters are not sufficient enough to convince a significant majority of America. 

Even Democratic presidential candidate and current representative Tulsi Gabbard ripped her fellow party members for their lack of transparency, saying, “There needs to be a transparent and narrowly focused inquiry — I am disappointed with the lack of transparency,” she said. “They have been behind closed doors.”

Since then, Schiff has announced public testimony for key witnesses in a tweet from Nov. 6, “Next week, the House Intelligence Committee will hold its first open hearings as part of the impeachment inquiry. On Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019, we will hear from William Taylor and George Kent. On Friday, Nov. 15, 2019, we will hear from Marie Yovanovitch. More to come.”

The “more to come” for Schiff and the Democrats must be a homerun. Their evidence must prove the grave accusations that Democrats have leveled since September: that the president engaged in gross misconduct that threatened the national security of the United States. 

For now we wait, and hold our breaths, as the future of this country depends on the testimony of some of our most important diplomats and other foreign agents. It is an imperative for both parties to remain adamant that the American people must bear witness to the full impeachment inquiry and whatever comes next. The bumpy ride continues, and no doubt will until next November.