A sitting president is facing impeachment, accused of collusion and abusing his power. Support falls along political lines: The opposition party is determined to remove him, while his allies maintain he did nothing wrong.
But this impeachment inquiry is taking place far from Washington even though a football stadium known as The Swamp looms nearby.
Student representatives at the University of Florida introduced a bill on Tuesday to impeach Michael Murphy, the student body president, accusing him of improperly using student fees to pay one of President Trumps sons to speak on campus.
It all began when Mr. Murphy, a senior, invited Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host and adviser to the presidents campaign, to speak on campus and paid them $50,000 with university funds. Some students say the payment was a violation of the Student Senate code and possibly the law.
The backlash intensified after the campus newspaper, The Independent Florida Alligator, published emails showing that Mr. Murphy had spoken with a consultant for President Trumps re-election committee to set up the visit and that Mr. Murphy had attended Mr. Trumps inauguration.
Students who drafted the impeachment bill personally handed Mr. Murphy a copy of it on Tuesday night. They argue in the bill that Mr. Murphys use of the student funds violated the Student Senate code, which forbids spending student fees to support a political party. State law, they add, forbids using state funds, which cover some students fees, to support a political campaign.
Although they are sometimes in charge of allocating millions of dollars, student governments garner relatively little interest from students and their inner workings are rarely covered outside of campus newspapers. But on Wednesday, students in Gainesville seemed to know more about the controversy engulfing Mr. Murphy than who was testifying in Washington.
The visit from the younger Mr. Trump and Ms. Guilfoyle, and the furor surrounding Mr. Murphy, have led to a sour split on campus.
Jarrod Rodriguez, a junior and the treasurer for the University of Florida College Republicans, said the impeachment move was a mirror image of the partisan politics at the national level.
He said he had attended the talk and never viewed it as a campaign event. The drive to oust Mr. Murphy, he said, showed that the opposition party would look for anything to remove the elected president.
I think that they have no cigar in both cases, he said.
Theresa Chapman, a senior who was handing out fliers and pins for Planned Parenthood on campus, saw things differently. She said the funds Mr. Murphy had spent to bring the presidents son to town could have been better spent on something more beneficial and less divisive.
Clearly hes just not fit, Ms. Chapman said of Mr. Murphy, adding that the same applied to President Trump. Hes not here to support the entire student body. Only a portion of it.
The visit by the presidents son filled a campus auditorium on Oct. 10, but he was frequently interrupted and many protested outside, The Alligator reported. Before Mr. Trumps speech with Ms. Guilfoyle, whom he is dating, some students had called for Mr. Murphy and several other student leaders to resign.
But the correspondence between Mr. Murphy and Caroline Wren, a Republican operative who is now a fund-raising consultant with a re-election committee for the president, was the last straw for the student representatives who filed the impeachment bill. They said the emails, which were obtained through a public records request by Mariana Castro, an alumna, and shared with the student newspaper, were proof that the speech was a campaign event.
Impeachment became the only option, said Ben Lima, a senior and one of the student representatives who sponsored the bill.
Ms. Wren said in a statement that she was not representing the Trump campaign when she emailed Mr. Murphy about inviting Mr. Trump to campus and that she had forgotten to remove her Trump Victory signature.
After an initial call to discuss a potential visit, University of Florida representatives were connected to Donald Trump Jr.s office, she said.
Mr. Murphy did not respond to multiple requests for comment. But he told the campus newspaper that he had also tried to bring Senator Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate, to campus, but that Mr. Sanderss staff had turned the request down.
Beth Rotman, the director of money in politics and ethics for the good-government group Common Cause, said the payment appeared to cross the line, and warranted a thorough investigation.
Were talking about significant dollars, and public dollars, for a representative of a national political campaign to talk to adults on campus, Ms. Rotman said, adding that she was glad young people were paying as close attention to their local representatives as federal watchdogs are for the president.
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reported from New York and Hannah Phillips from Gainesville, Fla.
See original here:
He Invited Donald Trump Jr. to Campus. Now Hes Facing Impeachment. - The New York Times
- Donald Trump Returns to Capitol Hill for First Time Since Jan. 6 Riot - The Wall Street Journal - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Opinion: Donald Trump's advice on drinking and drugs is 'Don't start.' So what's wrong with that? - Yahoo! Voices - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Jeffrey Katzenberg Is Bidens Secret Weapon Against Trump - The New York Times - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Behind Closed Doors, Trump Disparages Milwaukee, Host of His Party's Convention - The New York Times - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Trump's Campaign Was Just a Scammy Money Grab All Along - The New Republic - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Opinion | The American flag isnt another Trump property. Time to reclaim it. - The Washington Post - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Republicans host 'pep rally' with Trump in his first visit to Capitol Hill since Jan. 6 attack - NBC News - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Trump met with GOP lawmakers in Washington to rally support, push for unity - NPR - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- A second Trump term: from unthinkable to probable - The Economist - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Donald Trump on Capitol Hill for first time since Jan 6 riot - BBC.com - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Elections 2024 live updates: Trump touts 'tremendous unity' after GOP meetings on Hill - The Washington Post - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Who Is Favored To Win The 2024 Presidential Election? - FiveThirtyEight - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Trump slams Justice Department in meeting with congressional Republicans - The Washington Post - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Bitcoin miners at Donald Trump's closed-door event say he thinks bitcoin can help win AI arms race - CNBC - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- The problem with Donald Trump's advice on drugs and alcohol - Los Angeles Times - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Trump Returns to Washington With Renewed Grip on the G.O.P. - The New York Times - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Opinion | J.D. Vance on Where Hed Take the Republican Party - The New York Times - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- How Donald Trump's criminal conviction boosted his campaign fundraising machine - CNBC - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Donald Trump's Message to Milwaukee - The Atlantic - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Reportedly Questions Taylor Swifts Support for Joe Biden in Meeting With House Republicans: Why Would She Endorse This Dope? - Variety - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- How One Move Illustrates Trump's Tactics - The New York Times - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Pulls Off Shock Lead in State GOP Has Not Won in 36 Years - Newsweek - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Donald Trump's 'Unhinged' Email Has Critics Asking: 'Is He Out Of Control?' - Yahoo! Voices - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- JB Pritzker, the Democrat Who Isnt Afraid to Call Trump a Felon - The New York Times - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Opinion | In calling out Trump, Harris finds her mission - The Washington Post - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- A Brief History of the Phrase 'No One Is Above the Law' - The New York Times - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Jr. moves to be MAGA's new kingmaker - Axios - June 13th, 2024 [June 13th, 2024]
- Opinion | Media should stop calling Donald Trump a 'felon' - The Washington Post - The Washington Post - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Donald Trump tries to court pivotal 2024 voters after guilty verdict - USA TODAY - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Opinion | Trump has been convicted, but maybe hold the champagne - The Washington Post - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Democratic, GOP strategists on problems Biden and Trump face with undecided voters - PBS NewsHour - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Trump's New York gun permit to be revoked following conviction: Sources - ABC News - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Trump asks to have gag order lifted in New York criminal trial - CBS News - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Is Plotting His Next Crime - Democracy Docket - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Trump Gets a Fund-Raiser in Silicon Valley - The New York Times - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Donald Trump: Unless there is a death penalty for drug dealers, you will never solve the problem - Fox News - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- DNC to unveil new billboard calling Trump a "convicted felon" - CBS News - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Trump's Vows to Prosecute Rivals Put Rule of Law on the Ballot - The New York Times - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Will the Supreme Court nullify Trump's conviction? - Vox.com - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- What's next for Donald Trump after hush money conviction - The Associated Press - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Is Donald Trump Really a Male Icon? I Hope to God Not. - The Nation - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Opinion | Trump Is Blocking Out the Sun: Three Writers on the Politics of the Guilty Verdict - The New York Times - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Looming over Trump's conviction: reversal by the '13th juror' - POLITICO - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Both Sides of a Breakup: He Didn't Think Trump Was So Bad - The Cut - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Trump asks judge to lift gag order in hush money case after guilty verdict - Axios - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Court Delays Trump's Georgia Case, and U.N. Warns of 'Climate Hell' - The New York Times - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Republican Election Clerk Takes on Trump and His Supporters - The New York Times - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Trump surrogate Byron Donalds hearkens back to Jim Crow era when 'the Black family was together' - NBC News - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Donald Trump to speak at private CEOs meeting, weeks after conviction - CNBC - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Trump's conviction prompts election-year debate among Democrats: How much to focus on the verdict? - The Associated Press - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Georgia appeals court temporarily halts Trump's 2020 election case in Fulton County - CBS News - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- Suddenly Trump's got nothing to say about Hunter Biden - POLITICO - June 6th, 2024 [June 6th, 2024]
- 'Donald Trump Did This': How to Beat MAGA on Border Security - The Bulwark - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Potential Trump running mate JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr. have become so close that they text or talk on a 'nearly ... - Business Insider - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Trump Second Term: How the World and U.S. Allies Can Prepare for the Election - Foreign Policy - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Poll: Biden and Trump supporters sharply divided by the media they consume - NBC News - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Master Calendar of Trump Court Dates: Criminal and Civil Cases - Just Security - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Donald Trump's Sleepy, Sleazy Criminal Trial - The New Yorker - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Trump, GOP seize on campus protests to depict chaos under Biden - The Washington Post - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- UK briefing: How Donald Trump plans to survive hush money trial with his campaign intact newsletter - The Guardian - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Opinion | We Are Talking About the Manhattan Case Against Trump All Wrong - The New York Times - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Election 2024: Biden jokes, Trump still leads and updates from the Sunday shows. - The New York Times - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Pans White House Correspondents' Dinner: 'Colin Jost BOMBED' - The Daily Beast - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Trump's Trial Could Bring a Rarity: Consequences for His Words - The New York Times - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Bemoans Really Bad WHCD, Biden & Colin Jost After All Mock Much Indicted Ex-POTUS - Deadline - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- The Supreme Court's epic failure in dealing with Trump's cases - The Hill - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Donald Trump: In America's most important swing state, a key Biden group wants to hand the presidency to Trump. - Slate - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Is Being Ritually Humiliated in Court - The New Yorker - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Joe Biden trails Donald Trump in new national poll on 2024 election - USA TODAY - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Amid Cases on Abortion and Trump, Roberts Reflects on Supreme Court's Work - The New York Times - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Is Used to the Finer Things in Life. At the Courthouse, 'He's Miserable.' - The Wall Street Journal - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- How Trumps Rhetoric at Rallies Has Escalated - The New York Times - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- The Supreme Court Appears Poised to Protect the Presidencyand Donald Trump - The New Yorker - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- The Supreme Court seems divided over Donald Trump's immunity - The Economist - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- John Dean Says 1 Thing 'Keeping Me On The Edge Of My Seat' In Trump Trial - Yahoo! Voices - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Five Moments That Have Defined Donald Trump's Trial So Far - The New York Times - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- How Trumps trial is playing, politically - The Washington Post - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Opinion | The Ukraine aid vote helps, but U.S. allies complacency would be unwise - The Washington Post - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Hey, SCOTUS your hypocrisy is showing - The Hill - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Bill Barr Is Happy to Debase Himself for Donald Trump Again Mother Jones - Mother Jones - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]