Trump’s Impeachable Conduct

FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | DECEMBER 5, 2019

“President Trump must be held accountable through impeachment for his indefensible, irresponsible conduct. History will establish why this had to be done.”

Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony from three constitutional scholars who did an excellent job of explaining the history and meaning of the Constitution’s Impeachment Clause and why this made clear that President Trump had committed impeachable offenses. A fourth constitutional scholar testified that there was insufficient evidence to impeach the President.

This hearing followed a 300-page report issued on Tuesday by the House Intelligence Committee that documented and established beyond a reasonable doubt that the President violated his oath of office and abused his powers by attempting to extort Ukraine into aiding him in the 2020 presidential election. (See the Executive Summary of the report for a concise version of the report’s findings.)

While the Articles of Impeachment remain to be drafted, Speaker Pelosi unified the House Democrats on this path to impeachment and has taken the position, with good cause, that the impeachment effort should focus on Trump’s Ukraine abuses.

It does not appear that any House Republicans will support the Articles or that Senate Republicans will vote to remove Trump from office. That is their problem.

President Trump must be held accountable through impeachment for his indefensible, irresponsible conduct. History will establish why this had to be done.

Meanwhile, tomorrow the House is expected to consider and pass H.R. 4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act. This is essential legislation to repair the serious damage done to the landmark Voting Rights Act in 2013 by the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder.

The right to vote is at the core of our constitutional system of government. H.R. 4 repairs the destructive impact of the Shelby decision by modernizing the Voting Rights Act and restoring essential protections against racial voter discrimination and voter suppression.

All in all, quite a week in Washington.

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Fred Wertheimer is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen our democracy and ensure the integrity and fairness of government decisions and elections. See previous Notes from Fred here.