A good time to summarize the Whistleblower scandal to date. And just undisputed facts unless otherwise noted.
Trump personally orchestrated a quid pro quo extortion plot in which he would withhold congress-mandated essential military defense aid to our ally, Ukraine, in exchange for Ukraine’s President announcing publicly, and undertaking an investigation into Joe Biden. This is a violation of federal law, and under careful consideration as an abuse of power.
Present and former State Department officials, some career diplomats, others political appointees loyal to Trump have so stated under oath before congressional committees. The call summary, erroneously referred to as the call transcript, further support the quid pro quo crime. The initial complaint has proven true in all material aspects.
There is no set of rules or procedures that exist under which the House is obligated by law to follow in undertaking an impeachment inquiry, apart from the broad authority stated in the US Constitution, and dissimilar prior impeachment inquiries initially undertaken by the DOJ, then presented to Congress to consider. At best, prior impeachment inquiry protocols are arguably only persuasive, rather than binding precedent. Trump’s supporters have abandoned the initial defense of no quid pro quo, and now grasp to differences in how prior impeachment inquiries were conducted, albeit under quite different circumstances and procedures of prosecution.
Here, AG Barr elected to dispose of the Whistleblower complaint, and not undertake any inquiry. That left it to Congress to initiate the inquiry.
So there we are. Corroborated testimony from a myriad of witnesses, many loyal to Trump, that reveal the illegal Trump quid pro quo scheme a crime, and therefore subject to the consideration of the House to impeach, and the Senate to try and remove Trump.
Rather than a popularly expounded talking point that this process is an attempt to undue an election, should Trump be removed, it would be an entirely constitutional exercise, with the elected Vice President to assume the office of President. No coup, only a constitutional exercise in democracy.