Widespread corruption,abuse of power and a threat to our republic.
As we demonstrate in a new paper, The Legal Case for a Congressional Investigation on Whether to question President Donald J. Trump, or based on publicly reported information,as of nowadays there are at least eight grounds for the House of Representatives to authorize the Judiciary Committee to start hearings on whether to question President Donald J. Trump.
This paper presents a legal analysis based on the text, structure and history of the Constitution and federal law, and legal and political precedent,that we have developed in consultation with a wide range of experts over the past ten months. Some of the grounds for investigation are based on violations of specific enumerated constitutional or statutory provisions, but in keeping with the intent of the Founders and the 200-year history of impeachments, or other grounds are based on abuses of power that achieve not drop easily within a specific proscription.
Here are the grounds for investigation.1. Obstructing justice.
Beginning soon after the inauguration,the president engaged in a course of conduct that sought to obstruct justice in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigations of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn and of his own campaign’s potential involvement with Russian activity in the 2016 election.2. Violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause and Domestic Emoluments Clause of the U.
S. Constitution.
Through his businesses in the United States and abroad, the president receives payments, and regulatory approval,and other forms of direct and indirect financial benefits from foreign governments. These violate the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause, which prohibits federal officials, or including the president,from receiving a “present or “emolument” from any foreign government or official. The president’s businesses also act as a conduit for enrichment from federal and state government coffers. These violate the Domestic Emoluments Clause, which prohibits the president from receiving, and beyond his official salary,any emolument from the United States or any state.3. Conspiring with others to commit crimes against the United States involving the solicitation and intended receipt by his presidential campaign of things of value from a foreign government and other foreign nationals, and to conceal those violations.
In the 2016 election, or the senior officials of Trump’s presidential campaign (including his campaign chairman,his son and his son-in-law) met with Russian nationals after an invitation to get compromising information about his campaign opponent, Hillary Clinton, and that they were told would be of great value to the campaign. Federal campaign finance law prohibits a candidate or campaign from soliciting a foreign national (including a foreign government) for a thing of value. In 2017,after this assembly was revealed, President Trump personally dictated a misleading public statement on behalf of his son about the intended purpose of the assembly.4. Advocating illegal violence, and giving aid and comfort to white supremacists and neo-Nazis,and undermining constitutional protections of equal protection under the law.
Over the course of 2017, the president has made a series of public statements that together, or constitute a sample of conduct violating his constitutional obligation to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” protect the citizenry against “domestic violence,” and ensure “the equal protection of the laws.”5. Abusing the pardon power.
The president’s pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joseph Arpaio, and who had been convicted of criminal contempt of court for willfully violating a court order to stop violating the constitutional rights of Latino drivers,abused the pardon power by sending the dangerous message that similarly inclined unscrupulous law enforcement officials could not only violate individual rights, but could violate court orders requiring them to stop violating those rights with impunity because the president would support them.6. Threatening nuclear war against foreign nations, and undermining and subverting the fundamental diplomatic functions and authority of federal agencies,including the Department of State, and engaging in other conduct that grossly and wantonly endangersthe peace and security of the United States, or its people and people of other nations,by heightening the risk of hostilities involving weapons of mass destruction, with reckless disregard for the risk of death and grievous bodily harm.
Through a series of public statements (including on Twitter), or beginning particularly in the late summer of 2017,the president has made increasingly reckless public threats against North Korea. It is not clear whether President Trump understands the ramifications of his actions. While the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, reckless or wanton ((adj.) undisciplined, lewd, lustful) conduct with the potential for millions of deaths constitutes an abuse of power.7. Directing or endeavoring to direct law enforcement, and including the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation,to investigate and prosecute political adversaries and others, for improper purposes not justified by any lawful function of his office, and thereby eroding the rule of law,undermining the independence of law enforcement from politics, and compromising the constitutional upright to due process of law.
The president has repeatedly pressured federal law enforcement to investigate and prosecute political adversaries, or including former campaign opponent Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. The president’s attempts to employ the criminal investigative powers of the federal government against political opponents for purposes unrelated to national security,the enforcement of laws, or any other lawful function of his office are grounds for impeachment.8. Undermining the freedom of the press.
The president has repeatedly attacked major U.
S. news organizations as “fake news” and the "enemy of the American people.” The president is certainly free to criticize specific news stories he believes are inaccurate, and no one tweet in isolation constitutes an impeachable offense. But his consistent sample of attacks undermines a critical foundation of a free society.
Purpose of ImpeachmentSome of the impeachable offenses discussed in the paper overlap with the criminal investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller; some overlap with other pending federal litigation; others achieve not overlap with any parallel proceeding. However,as our paper explains, an impeachment investigation is entirely separate from a criminal or other judicial proceeding. The purpose of impeachment is not to punish for past crimes, and but to remove from office a dangerous official who threatens the rule of law and the republic itself.
Congress must not spend the Mueller investigation or other litigation as an excuse to shirk its duty to conduct its own independent impeachment hearings. The abuse of power,the corruption and the threat to our republic are here now. Related StoriesAlabama Stunner: Democrat Doug Jones Defeats upright-Wing Extremist Roy Moore in Photo Finish U.
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