Impeach
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Whistleblowing is designed: Charlie Savage, “How the Law Protects Intelligence Whistle-Blowers, and Leaves Them at Risk,” New York Times, October 3, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/03/us/politics/whistleblower-complaint.html/.
In fact, the director of national intelligence: Noel King and Greg Myre, “Acting DNI Defends His Role In Handling Of Whistleblower Complaint,” NPR, September 26, 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/09/26/764645909/acting-dni-defends-his-role-in-handling-of-whistleblower-complaint.
This whistleblower, in particular: Natasha Bertrand, “Trump’s Attacks Fuel Alarm That Whistleblower Protections Fall Short—POLITICO,” Politico, October 9, 2019, https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/09/trump-ukraine-whistleblower-attacks-043567; Pettypiece, “Trump Says Those Who Gave Info to the Whistleblower Are like Spies, Reports Say.”
In fact, the Department: United States Department of Justice. A Sitting President’s Amenability to Indictment and Criminal Protection (2000). https://www.justice.gov/file/19351/download.
Trump seems to be: Dara Lind: “Michael Cohen: ‘Individual #1 is Donald J. Trump,’” Vox, February 27, 2019, https://www.vox.com/2019/2/27/18243038/individual-1-cohen-trump-mueller.
At first, Gouverneur Morris: “Madison Debates.”
But Morris’s point: Ibid.
To quote the minutes: Ibid.
As Tribe and Matz write: Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz, To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment.
Take, for example: Article I, Nixon Articles of Impeachment.
The first came: “Read Trump’s phone conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky,” CNN Politics.
The second quid pro quo: Savage, et al., “Read the Text Messages Between U.S. and Ukrainian Officials.”
On the call itself: “Read Trump’s phone conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky,” CNN Politics.
But don’t just take it from me: Savage, et al., “Read the Text Messages Between U.S. and Ukrainian Officials.”
And acting White House chief of staff: Blake, “Analysis | Trump’s Acting Chief of Staff Admits It: There Was a Ukraine Quid pro Quo.”
Taylor wasn’t the only one: Greg Miller and Greg Jaffe, “At Least Four National Security Officials Raised Alarms about Ukraine Policy before and after Trump Call with Ukrainian President,” Washington Post, October 10, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/at-least-four-national-security-officials-raised-alarms-about-ukraine-policy-before-and-after-trump-call-with-ukrainian-president/2019/10/10/ffe0c88a-eb6d-11e9-9c6d-436a0df4f31d_story.html/; Whistleblower Complaint.
Lindsey Graham, in a tweet: Lindsey Graham on Twitter: “In America You Can’t Even Get a Parking Ticket Based on Hearsay Testimony. But You Can Impeach a President? I Certainly Hope Not.”
By all appearances: Daryna Krasnolutska, Kateryna Choursina, and Stephanie Baker. “Ukraine Prosecutor Says No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Bidens.” Bloomberg News, May 16, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-16/ukraine-prosecutor-says-no-evidence-of-wrongdoing-by-bidens.
As to the accusation: John Haltiwanger. “A Ukraine Gas Company Tied to Joe Biden’s Son Is at the Center of the Trump-Whistleblower Scandal.” Business Insider, October 4, 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-gas-company-burisma-holdings-joe-bidens-son-hunter-explained-2019-9.
“When the only American citizen”: “Mitt Romney on Twitter: ‘When the Only American Citizen President Trump Singles out for China’s Investigation Is His Political Opponent in the Midst of the Democratic Nomination Process, It Strains Credulity to Suggest That It Is Anything Other than Politically Motivated.’ / Twitter,” Twitter, October 4, 2019, https://twitter.com/mittromney/status/1180151212030779392.
When Trump was asked: Aaron Rupar, “Trump Insists He Just Wants Foreign Countries to Tackle ‘Corruption.’ Here’s Why That’s Absurd.,” Vox, October 4, 2019, https://www.vox.com/2019/10/4/20899087/trump-corruption-investigation-ukraine-china-scandal.
President Trump’s own administration: John Rood, “Pentagon Letter on Ukraine Aid,” NPR News, May, 2019, https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=6430088-Pentagon-Letter-On-Ukraine-Aid.
President Trump cut: Samantha Vinograd, “This Is What a Legitimate Anti-Corruption Effort in Ukraine Would Look Like—POLITICO Magazine,” Politico, October 9, 2019, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/10/09/donald-trump-impeachment-ukraine-corruption-rudy-giuliani-joe-biden-229828.
If President Trump really wanted: Stefan Becket, Arden Farhi, Kathryn Watson, “Top diplomat tells lawmakers Ukraine aid was directly tied to investigations,” CBS News, October 23, 2019, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-taylor-opening-statement-read-the-full-text-of-the-top-us-diplomats-statement-to-congress/.
Charles Black writes: Charles L. Black and Philip Bobbitt, Impeachment: A Handbook, p. 12.
She even went across the country: Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz, To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment.
In fact, as I mentioned in Chapter 2: Baker. “We Absolutely Could Not Do That.”
“most deadly adversaries”: Alexander Hamilton. The Federalist Papers: No. 68, 1788. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed68.asp.
That’s why our Constitution: US. Constitution, Article II, Section 1, and Article I, Section 9.
As one of our founders: Trickey, “Inside the Founding Fathers’ Debate over what Constituted an Impeachable Offense.”
On October 21, 2019: Abbey Marshall, “Trump Claims He’s the Victim of ‘Phony Emoluments Clause,’” Politico, October 21, 2019, https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/21/trump-emoluments-clause-053289.
Lawrence Hogan, the first: Amelia Thomson-Deveaux, “It Took a Long Time for Republicans to Abandon Nixon,” FiveThirtyEight, October 9, 2019, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/it-took-a-long-time-for-republicans-to-abandon-nixon/.
Until its final hours: Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz, To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment, p. 143.
While public support: Ibid.
Now the governor of Maryland: Abbey Marshall, “Larry Hogan comes out in support of Trump impeachment inquiry,” Politico, October 11, 2019, https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/11/larry-hogan-trump-impeachment-044378.
5. Out of Many, One
“Try to impeach him. Just try it”: Roger Stone Says Impeach Trump, Get Ready for Civil War | TMZ, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hFRLbFaJEw.
Roger Stone, President Trump’s: Cristiano Lima, “Roger Stone Predicts Violent ‘insurrection’ If Trump Is Impeached,” Politico, August 24, 2017, https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/24/roger-stone-predicts-insurrection-trump-impeachment-242010.
On September 29, 2019: “Donald J. Trump on Twitter: “. . . If the Democrats Are Successful in Removing the President from Office (Which They Will Never Be), It Will Cause a Civil War like Fracture in This Nation from Which Our Country Will Never Heal.” Pastor Robert Jeffress, @FoxNews”,” Twitter, September 29, 2019, https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1178477539653771264.
Trump’s supporters, however: Mary B. McCord. “Armed Militias Are Taking Trump’s Civil War Tweets Seriously,” Lawfare, October 2, 2019, https://www.lawfareblog.com/armed-militias-are-taking-trumps-civil-war-tweets-seriously.
This wasn’t necessarily: “Oath Keepers,” Oath Keepers (blog), December 13, 2018, https://oathkeepers.org/.
As Jelani Cobb wrote: Jelani Cobb, “Why Trump, Facing Impeachment, Warns of Civil War,” The New Yorker, October 5, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-trump-facing-impeachment-warns-of-civil-war.
As Martin Luther King, Jr., said in Memphis, Tennessee: “Here Is the Speech Martin Luther King Jr. Gave the Night before He Died,” CNN, April 4, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/04/us/martin-luther-king-jr-mountaintop-speech-trnd/index.html/.
because under existing law: Zoe Tillman, “The Justice Department Said Trump’s Ukraine Call Lacked A Thing ‘Of Value.’ Prosecutors Have Charged People Over Intangibles Before.,” BuzzFeed News, October 3, 2019, https://w
ww.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/justice-department-trump-call-ukraine-thing-value.
As its chairman, Ellen Weintraub: Weintraub, Ellen, Twitter, September 26, 2019, https://twitter.com/ellenlweintraub/status/1177335224662921226?lang=en.
Elaborating on this point: Rupar, “America’s top election official explains why Trump may be committing crimes,” Vox, October 4, 2019, https://www.vox.com/2019/10/4/20898491/trump-foreign-solicitation-ukraine-china-fec-ellen-weintraub.
The president’s lawyer Jay Sekulow: “The Beat w/Ari Melber on Twitter: ‘.@JaySekulow on Trump’s Ukraine Plot: “There’s Nothing There That Rises to a Level of an Impeachable Offense.” Https://T.Co/XQ0qxctgrJ’ / Twitter,” Twitter, accessed October 25, 2019, https://twitter.com/thebeatwithari/status/1181340451741278209.
Turns out, Mueller said the opposite: Mueller report, p. 187.
As Walter Dellinger: Walter Dellinger, “Should we be able to indict a sitting president? Consider Spiro Agnew,” Washington Post, December 16, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/should-we-be-able-to-indict-a-sitting-president-consider-spiro-agnew/2018/12/16/6f88b6ce-ffcf-11e8-862a-b6a6f3ce8199_story.html/.
I’m heartened by the fact that: “Can a President Be Indicted?,” CBS News, May 29, 2018, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-a-president-be-indicted/.
When Attorney General Jeff Sessions: Mueller Report.
Since being appointed: Julia Ainsley. “Attorney General William Barr Will Not Recuse Himself from Overseeing Mueller Probe.” NBC News, March 5, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/attorney-general-william-barr-will-not-recuse-himself-overseeing-mueller-n979396.
This is a clear case: Statement of New York City Bar, Oct. 23, 2019, available at https://www.nycbar.org/media-listing/media/detail/attorney-general-barr-should-recuse-himself-from-department-of-justice-review-of-ukraine-matter.
And we know: Kevin Liptak, Daniella Diaz, and Sophie Tatum, “Trump Pardons Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio—CNNPolitics,” CNN Politics, August 27, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/25/politics/sheriff-joe-arpaio-donald-trump-pardon/index.html; Daniel Victor, “A Look at Dinesh D’Souza, Pardoned by Trump—The New York Times,” New York Times, May 31, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/us/politics/dinesh-dsouza-facts-history.html.
Our founders understood: Madison, Federalist No. 48, February 1, 1788, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed48.asp.
About the Authors
© Matt Sayles
Neal Katyal is the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of Law at Georgetown University and a partner at a law firm where he leads one of the largest US Supreme Court practices in the nation. He previously served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States (the government’s top courtroom lawyer). He has argued more Supreme Court cases in US history than any other minority attorney (39 in total), recently breaking the record held by Thurgood Marshall. American Lawyer magazine recently named him the very top litigator of the year nationwide, and the Justice Department awarded him the Edmund Randolph Award, the highest award the department can give a civilian. A frequent contributor to MSNBC and the New York Times, he has been named one of GQ’s Men of the Year and has appeared on virtually every major American news program, as well as on House of Cards, where he played himself.
© Derin Celik
Sam Koppelman is a senior speechwriter at Fenway Strategies, where he has written for public officials, philanthropists, business leaders, and organizations working to make the world a better place. He has also been a speechwriter to former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and has written under his own name for publications including the Boston Globe and Harper’s Magazine. Koppelman holds a BA in government from Harvard College, where he was named a John Harvard Scholar and worked as op-eds editor for the Harvard Crimson.
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