OK, nobody asked for my opinion so here it is.
As
I understand it, president Trump is being impeached on 2 articles.
First, that he abused power, seconds that he "obstructed congress."
On the first charge, the claim is tampering with the 2020 election:
He did so through a scheme or course of conduct that included soliciting the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 United States Presidential election to his advantage.
Let's take a closer look at that. The transcript of the call
was made public because the Democrats demanded it.I see nothing in the
transcript where he asks that the investigation be made public, only
that the investigation continue. So, isn't it the Democrats who made it
public, and are therefore culpable of the transgression? Or maybe I am
misconstruing something... but let's grant that the claims are correct
for a second.
It
is not a crime for the president to ask a foreign government to
investigate crimes; President Trump's "crime" according to the article
of impeachment, is that the investigation would embarrass a candidate in
the 2020 election... but isn't that exactly what the Democrats are
doing? Making a very public investigation into a candidate in the 202
election to benefit their candidate, harm the election prospects of
their political opponent, and influence the 2020 United States
Presidential election to their advantage? I mean if investigating a
political rival in a way which can humiliate them and influence the next
election makes one unfit for office, then every Democrat who called for
Trump's investigation and impeachment is equally unfit for office using
the same criteria.
obstruction of judicial proceedings (18 U.S.C. 1503), witness tampering (18 U.S.C. 1512), witness retaliation (18 U.S.C. 1513), obstruction of congressional or administrative proceedings (18 U.S.C. 1505), conspiracy to defraud the United States (18 U.S.C. 371), and contempt (a creature of statute, rule and common law).On the face of it, it looks bad. President Trump is accused of ignoring lawful congressional subpoenas. But is that what happened? No. President Trump claimed that the subpoenas were not valid, and that he would comply if a court ordered him to. Rather than appealing to a judicial process, congress ignored his request and accused him of ignoring their request.
IANAL, but I know that there are limits to what one can subpoena, and particularly when a branch of government is involved. According to this article, SCOTUS is ruling (likely in Trump's favor) on a very similar issue of subpoenas.
Ultimately
this is a matter for the impeachment court to decide, which is the
senate. The fact that the Democrats won't release the charges to the
senate so that the president can be tried is a clear indication that the
impeachment proceedings are intended to humiliate the president, rather
than to actually redress a crime. Of course, that brings me back to the
first article of impeachment.
It
is unlikely that 2/3 of the senate will vote to remove the president,
considering that not even all the Democrats in the house voted for
impeachment. I don't know if any of these things are objectively
impeachable, but if they are, there's clear evidence that the house
Democrats are as guilty as the president, if not more so.
On
the other hand, the Democrats have "won" this round. The government is
in shambles and the country is divided under the Trump administration
due to their actions. And maybe the Republicans won something too. I
don't personally like president Trump, but this circus is so far out of
the bounds of decency it makes me almost want to vote for him, just to
not appear to support this kind of contempt for Constitutional
procedings.
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