99% of the people you will discuss the impeachment with have no idea what law they think Trump broke. I am going to walk you through a process that I went through when I attended the Federal Maritime Boarding Officer's Academy. First you take the law:
§30121. Contributions and donations by foreign nationals
(a) Prohibition
It shall be unlawful for-
(1) a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make-
(A) a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local election;
(B) a contribution or donation to a committee of a political party; or
(C) an expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication (within the meaning of section 30104(f)(3) of this title); or
(2) a person to solicit, accept, or receive a contribution or donation described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) from a foreign national.
At this point you strip the law down to the applicable elements: (The below is what I believe they are angling for since nobody has come right out and said it.)
It shall be unlawful for-a person to solicit a thing of value from a foreign national in connection with a Federal, State, or local election;
Then you apply the elements to the actions:
1. Did Trump solicit an investigation? Yes
2. Does an investigation (the results of which are unknown) have value to Trump? How could it? The results could just have likely painted his opponent in a favorable light. I have never dealt in this legal realm, but I can't help but think this would be a pesky legal hurdle that would come into play. See the link below for a long list of things of value. If you meet this test then you go to the third one.
3. Was the solicitation for the thing of value (investigation) done in connection with an election? This is particularly problematic to establish. Unless Trump came right out and told someone he wanted to bring Biden down with it, you are never going to clear this hurdle. The fact that we have a treaty with Ukraine that binds us to weed out corruption, further confounds any attempt to clear the hurdle.
Back in my day I would have never tried to make this case.
Oh, it's important to note that quid pro quo is not illegal as it relates to this statute. It's the way we conduct foreign affairs. If it were illegal, that one would be problematic to establish as well
https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/2019-10-ELW-the-law-of-a-thing-of-value.pdf
