After four top legal scholars testified at the House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing, 500 plus legal scholars stepped forward, too. They backed up the original four in a most unusual letter. This is what they said.
House Intelligence Committee Chair Representative Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) tweet highlighted these scholars and pointed toward the letter they sent. They wrote about Donald Trump’s crime:
‘Over 500 legal scholars agree President Trump committed impeachable conduct: “President Trump betrayed his oath of office by seeking foreign interference in our elections for his personal, political benefit at the expense of national security interests.”‘
Those scholars signed their heavily-weighted letter that came out on Friday. In it, they wrote that Trump had “engaged in impeachable conduct,” according to CNN:
‘There is overwhelming evidence that President Trump betrayed his oath of office by seeking to use presidential power to pressure a foreign government to help him distort an American election, for his personal and political benefit, at the direct expense of national security interests as determined by Congress. His conduct is precisely the type of threat to our democracy that the Founders feared when they included the remedy of impeachment in the Constitution.’
Those top academics came from every educational temple from Yale to Rutgers:
‘But conduct need not be criminal to be impeachable. The standard here is constitutional; it does not depend on what Congress has chosen to criminalize.’
They wrote that “treason and bribery” were the two potential charges that lead to impeachment:
‘[B]ecause they include conduct undertaken not in the ‘faithful execution’ of public office that the Constitution requires, but instead for personal gain (bribery) or to benefit a foreign enemy (treason).’
The scholars continued that when a president “cheats in his effort at re-election,” then “that is what impeachment is for:”
‘Corrupting elections subverts the process by which the Constitution makes the president democratically accountable. Put simply, if a President cheats in his effort at re-election, trusting the democratic process to serve as a check through that election is no remedy at all. That is what impeachment is for.’
Twitter world lit up. Take a look at these favorites below, and see what you think:
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
