Sign at Trump Impeachment March, July 2017
This past Wednesday, Donald Trump gave a televised interview to George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, in which Trump stated that he would once again consider accepting foreign assistance, for example, from Russia or China, to help get re-elected in 2020. This would be yet another impeachable offense to go along with all the impeachable offenses that Trump has already committed.
Likewise, when asked by Stephanopoulos why Donald Trump, Jr. did not inform the FBI when he was approached in June 2016 by an associate who offered what he claimed was damaging information about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government, but instead eagerly said, “I love it” and even met in the Trump Tower with Jared Kushner (Trump, Sr.’s son in law) and a lawyer from Russia on the subject, Trump. Sr. had this to say:
Trump: Let’s put yourself in a position, you’re a Congressman, and somebody comes up and says, ‘hey, I have information on your opponent.’ You call the FBI? I don’t think ….
Stephanopoulos: If it’s coming from Russia you do.
The reason why Stephanopoulos said that Donald Trump, Jr. should have called the FBI when offered election assistance from Russia, and why Donald Trump, Sr. is effectively calling for his own impeachment by saying he would again accept such foreign assistance, is that this assistance is illegal. Specifically, as Democratic strategist and Fox News contributor Donna Brazile laid out in a couple of tweets yesterday:
Here’s the law. It’s 52 USC 30121: “It shall be unlawful for— (1) a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make— (A) a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value…
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) June 13, 2019
Moreover, receiving “dirt” on a political opponent, which is what Stephanopoulos discussed with Trump, is a straw man. In 2016, there was no significant “dirt” on Hillary Clinton that had not already been fully aired. Clinton was one of the most investigated people in history, and was the subject of a 25-year hit job by the Republicans. Trump received far more valuable assistance from the Russian government in 2016, including widespread use of social media for disinformation and to sow division, specific anti-Hillary Clinton operations such as phony protests, targeting black voters and Bernie Sanders supporters to hurt Clinton and help Trump, creating fake websites, and even hacking voter databases in two Florida counties.
Robert Reich, a Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and former U.S. Secretary of Labor, has created a handy video that shows how the impeachment process works, in 10 simple steps:
With impeachment on everyone's mind right now, here is the 10-step process for impeaching the President of the United States. It could come in handy very soon. pic.twitter.com/BxNFIY1bfx
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) April 24, 2019
The first such step is for the House Judiciary Committee (which is controlled by the Democrats given their majority in the House of Representatives) to vote to establish an “inquiry of impeachment.” If this vote succeeds, the second step is for a majority of the full House to vote to authorize such an investigation. Step 3 is for such investigation by the Judiciary Committee to take place. Note that none of these steps requires the House to impeach Trump, i.e., vote for articles of impeachment (step 5 in Reich’s video). The House could decide that there is not enough evidence to impeach. However, given what we know thus far about Donald Trump’s impeachable offenses, and that he now states publicly that he is open to committing more such offenses in the 2020 elections, it is time for the House to take these initial steps and open an impeachment inquiry against Trump.
Photo by Master Steve Rapport, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/0z2seo
