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Impeachable Offenses?

~ Examining the Case for Removal of the 45th President of the United States

Impeachable Offenses?

Category Archives: Articles

House Democrats are Taking Things Slow

18 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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Frank Bowman, Impeachment, impeachment debates, investigation, nancy pelosi, oversight committee, Robert Mueller, saudi arabia, speaker of the house, Special Counsel, The House of Representatives, turkey, united arab emirates

Politco reports that Nancy Pelosi, incoming Speaker of the House, is reining in impeachment efforts in order to give Special Counsel Robert Muller more time with his investigation. She is joined in this effort even by progressive Democrats who voted to start impeachment efforts last year, such as Rep. Pramila Jayapal. Though representatives, such as California Rep. Eric Swalwell, recognize that the campaign finance law violations, established by Michael Cohen when he confessed to paying hush money to models Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, do constitute impeachable offenses, they feel they do not alone justify impeachment. It has been suggested that this may be in part because they are reluctant to risk the blow-back that Republicans faced after the impeachment of President Clinton for the mild offenses brought incident to the Lewinsky scandal. They are however planning to start oversight hearings in January.

House Democrats are wise to wait. With new reports that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey may have had their hands in President Trump’s election, it is apparent that whatever conspiracy exists, it has many more as of yet not-established parts. Additionally, as Professor Bowman has written, the impeach-ability of Trump rests on the slue of missteps he has committed since before and during his presidency. It will take the whole of his crimes, well established by Mueller’s investigation, to justify impeachment efforts.

download (3).jpgChip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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The Moscow Project Looms

29 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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charge, cohen, Collusion, conspiracy to defraud, false statements, felix sater, fixer, guilty, house of representative, House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Impeachment, individual 1, individual 2, Lawyer, Michael, Moscow Project, Mueller, president, russia, Senate, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Special Counsel, trump, Trump Tower

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, pleaded guilty earlier today to a charge of “false statements,” for lying to Congress about the extent of his and President Trump’s involvement in plan to build a “Trump Tower” in Moscow, Russia. Cohen falsely represented, in a letter sent to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, that 1) “The ‘Moscow Project’ ended in January 2016 and was not discussed extensively with others in the Company;” 2) “Cohen never agreed to travel to Russia in connection with the Moscow Project and ‘never considered’ asking [President Trump] to travel for the project;” and 3) “Cohen did not recall any Russian government response or contact about the Moscow Project.” In fact Cohen communicated with Felix Sater, a real estate developer with Russian ties, about the project; told Sater he would travel to Russia; addressed Trump about the possibility of Trump traveling to Russia; and communicated directly with Russian officials about the project.

Obviously this looks bad for Trump. The evidence of these ongoing communications with Russian agents strengthen the case for collusion/conspiracy to defraud in that it helps to establish, at least, that Trump’s confidant and fixer had strong ties to Russia while Trump was campaigning for office, and goes a long way towards establishing that Trump had such ties as well. While that doesn’t get us all the way to conspiracy to defraud, it certainly helps to bring us closer. One email written by Sater in November 2015 about the project may be damning. It read in part: “our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it.”

e201bbe0-4806-4aef-a7f0-0a873d9738b7-AP_Trump_Lawyer_Party_Switch.jpgMary Altaffer, AP

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Manafort Flips Again

27 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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campaign chairman, Collusion, Conspiracy, impeachable offense, Impeachment, indictment, lying, pardon, paul manafort, plea agreement, president, Robert Mueller, russia, russians, Special Counsel, trump, wikileaks

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has submitted court filings indicating that his team will not be recommending that Paul Manafort’s, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, sentence be reduced as previously considered, because Manafort has not been cooperative with his investigation. Manafort plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy pursuant to a deal he made with prosecutors; however, contrary to that agreement, Manafort has been lying to authorities (about some unspecified things). David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor, believes Manafort’s lack of cooperation may be due to a belief that he will ultimately receive a pardon for his crimes. The consequences of such a pardon and similar pardons have previously been considered on this blog.

manafort.jpg

 

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Will the Investigative Torch Pass to the House?

13 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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acting attorney general, Adam Schiff, attorney general, Collusion, Committees, donald trump, House appropriations committee, house intelligence committee, House of Representatives, investigation, Jeff Sessions, matt whitaker, midterms, Mueller, nancy pelosi, nita lowey, president, russia, zoe lofgren

With Jeff Sessions gone as Attorney General and Matt Whitaker positioned as acting AG, one has to wonder how much longer Mueller will be able to carry on his investigation unhindered. It may be the Special Counsel will have to pass his baton over to the House. But will  House Democrats vigorously investigate?

This article from Vox, written by Ezra Klien, correctly points out that because Democrats took the House but not the Senate, they will have trouble passing legislation into law. Much of what power is left to them is in the  investigation of President Trump. With their new found majority, Democrats are taking over vital investigative committees in the House. New York Democrat Nita Lowey, will chair the Appropriations Committee, and has “a laundry list of potential areas for inquiry. . . . [including the] family separation policy and hurricane relief in Puerto Rico.” California Rep. Adam Schiff will lead the House Intelligence Committee, which has already been engaged in the Trump investigation.

However, Democrats may be reluctant to shift their focus to investigation. Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader, has said that any investigations will be “strategic” aimed at “seek[ing] the truth.” And Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California, expressed a similar sentiment, stating: “if Mueller sends us an exploding bomb, we may have an obligation to deal with that. But absent that, I don’t think the country will be on board with impeachment, and nor should we.” She feels that focusing on the investigation will distract from what “really matters to people.” It may be Democrats are unwilling to focus their energy of uncovering a truth that, even if it leads to impeachment in the House, will fail to cause removal by the Senate.

pelosi.jpgJ. Scott Applewhite

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Stone and WikiLeaks

30 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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conspiracy to defraud, donald trump, election fraud, Impeachment, investigation, Mueller, president, Robert Mueller, roger stone, russia, russian collusion, Special Counsel, trump, wikileaks

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators are looking into comments Roger Stone, an adviser to President Trump and self-proclaimed “ultimate political insider,” made to those who called on his political insight. Stone said he knew of WikiLeak’s plans to release information which would affect the 2016 election, apparently referring to the Democratic National Convention emails which were hacked by Russian Intelligence Officials. Roger Stone also claimed to have a relationship with the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. The natural conclusion to be drawn here, is that a connection between Stone and WikiLeaks is a connection between Stone and Russia, which is ultimately a connection between Trump and Russia. Though Stone has yet to be indicted, he did admit in August that such a thing is possible. The possibility now is greater than it was then, and with Stone’s indictment may come a plea deal and cooperation.

roger_stone_ap_file.jpgANDREW HARNIK/ASSOCIATED PRESS/FILE

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The Social More-ing of the Executive and Legislative Branches

27 Saturday Oct 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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after the trump era, Congress, constitutional standard, DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, donald trump, georgetown journal, hyperpartisan, immoral, impeach, neil s. siegel, president, shutdown, trump

Is there a constitutional defense against members of the Executive and Legislative branches that act not illegally, but immorally? Constitutional scholars have recognized this possibility for judges, but would leave it to the political process to take care of the rest of the branches. Neil S. Siegel, in his article After the Trump Era: A Constitutional Role Morality for Presidents and Members of Congress,  published in the Georgetown Law Journal in its October, 2018 Edition, argues that the moral constitutional standard applied to judges should be extended to presidents and congressmen as well. Here is an excerpt from his article:

Meanwhile, the federal government itself is becoming even more dysfunctional as elected officials increasingly disregard norms that previously constrained partisan competition; more often than not, elected officials are unable to cooperate across party lines to execute the basic responsibilities of the federal government. Examples abound. The confirmation process for Supreme Court Justices has become a hyperpartisan, destructive race to the normative bottom. A Republican Senate approved highly consequential tax legislation without any Democratic input or even a single hearing, let alone the traditional process of “multiple congressional hearings, proposed statutory language and detailed reports from the tax-writing committees, all prepared well in advance of any vote” and “with the assistance of [Joint Committee on Taxation] staff and with the input of Treasury Department experts.” In addition, Republican President Donald J. Trump routinely flouts norms and conventions of proper governmental behavior that previously constrained presidents of both parties. The Democrats, for their part, held up urgent funding legislation in order to extract a deal that would offer a path to citizenship to beneficiaries of the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA); a shutdown of the federal government ensued. Three characteristics of the problems discussed above stand out. First, they mostly implicate the convictions and conduct of the public and the political branches, not the courts. Second, they concern mindsets and behavior that, although troubling, are not potentially unconstitutional or otherwise illegal. Third, that behavior, even where not potentially unconstitutional or otherwise illegal, raises concerns that are properly denominated constitutional in the broad sense that they appear to call into question the long-term health of the American constitutional system.

000_HZ8ZT-e1478828415397.jpgAFP/Nicholas Kamm

 

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Mueller’s Questions Exclude Obstruction

14 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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donald, Elie Honig, impeach, investigation, Jonathan Turley, Mueller, Obstruction of Justice, president, questions, robert, russian collusion, Special Counsel, trump, written answers

Special Counsel Robert Mueller sent President Trump and his lawyers questions this week regarding collusion between the Trump Campaign and Russian officials. This represents a breakthrough in negotiations between the parties as to the scope of questioning of the President; however it is limited. The President’s answers will only be written. Given Trump’s history of contradictions this may be a safeguard against perjury. Commentators have noted that the series of questions leave out obstruction of justice.

Jonathan Turley, in an opinion piece written for The Hill, has theorized that the absence may indicate Mueller is not pursuing an obstruction charge. His supports his opinion by pointing out that obstruction of justice is a bad fit for the President’s alleged crimes, since the charge is normally applied to the obstruction of some kind of judicial proceeding. Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor from New York, disagrees with Turley. He theorizes that if Mueller is presenting questions about collusion that must be because he is focused on specific conduct and doesn’t see “wiggle room” for the President in his answers. In his mind, the fact that Mueller isn’t giving questions about obstruction does not mean that he has given up on the charge, but rather that he is preparing for a legal battle that could go to the Supreme Court.

Regardless of Mueller’s motivation, readers would do well to remember that the crimes of obstruction and collusion are intimately involved. If it could be established that President Trump was involved in the Russian election interference, that would go a long way in establishing the mens rea required to convict the President of obstruction of justice — his corrupt influence, if you will.

trumpfirst_opi2jd.jpgKevin Lamarque/Reuters

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Rosenstein Spared

09 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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Department of Justice, deputy attorney general, firing, florida, Impeachment, investigation, midterm, Obstruction of Justice, police chief, president, rosenstein, trump

It has been reported that President Donald Trump has no intention of firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. There was some speculation that a firing or resignation would occur after it was reported by the New York Times that Rosenstein had discussed removing the President via the 25th amendment and recorded him secretly, though Rosenstein denied both allegations. Now, after a nice flight the two shared to Florida, Trump announces that he doesn’t intend to make any changes to the Justice Department.

This is surprising, considering the menagerie of firings Trump has collected throughout his campaign and administration.  However, there was some speculation that firing Rosenstein could amount to obstruction of justice, and with midterms looming, it may be that Trump is looking to avoid another scandal. This issue very well may resurface after November.

SUM7NGGLJUI6RI7GITNKHU263Y.jpgMandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

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Was Mueller’s Appointment Constitutional?

01 Monday Oct 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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Andrew Milller, donald trump, Impeachment, investigation, marine medvin, Mueller, Obstruction of Justice, paul kamenar, president, robert muelller, roger stone, russian collusion, Special Counsel, Washington D.C.

Marina Medvin, a contributor to Forbes.com, wrote today about a constitutional challenge which has been brought against the authority of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The challenge was brought by counsel for Andrew Miller, an aide to Roger Stone, who was subpoenaed by Mueller. It comes in three parts: 1) that according to the Constitution, short of a presidential appointment, Congress must create a law empowering the Attorney General to appoint a special counsel and no such law exists; 2) even if such a law does exist, Attorney General Sessions’ recusal is not sufficient to empower Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein to make such an appointment; and 3) the powers which Mueller has utilized are far beyond those appropriate for a Special Counsel and are equivalent to those of a “super U.S. attorney.”

Miller’s argument lost in the district court and he has taken it up on appeal. Mueller filed a brief in response (interested readers can find it here). It is unclear what would happen to Mueller’s investigative findings should his powers be invalidated. The searches and subpoenas he has executed so far, if not backed by constitutional authority, are sure to equate to violations of the 4th amendment rights of his subjects. That being said, the invalidation of his power seems an unlikely result. As Mueller pointed out himself, there is strong precedent for his power, dating back to 1870.

download (1).jpg AP Photo

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Trump Balks at “Chinese Propaganda”

27 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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Abraham Denmark, bots, china, China Daily, chinese, Collusion, Conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the united states, des moines, donald, Impeachment, interference, iowa, president, register, Russian, the des moines register, trump

President Trump charged China with “placing propaganda ads in the Des Moines Register and other papers,” in response to a 4-page advertorial purchased by a Chinese State-run paper. The advertorial was fashioned as a series of articles entitled “China Watch” (PDFs found here). Trump’s response is particularly striking in light of his relative silence in response to the established interference of Russian robots. Abraham Denmark, “a former senior Pentagon and U.S. intelligence official [and current] director of the Wilson Center’s Asia Program,” told the New Yorker that this was an old practice and much less extreme than recent Russian actions: ” . . . there’s a distinction between influence and interference. What China did was the former, what Russia did was the latter.”

Denmark brings up an interesting point for an impeachment discussion. President Trump is being investigated for conspiracy to defraud the United States for his possible collaboration with Russians with the intention of interfering with the Presidential election. Some scholars believe that could constitute fraud. Though Trump could not be charged with colluding with the Chinese, it is an interesting question whether the actions of the Chinese government could similarly constitute fraud. That seems unlikely. In addition to what Denmark has already suggested (that there is a distinction between influence and interference) we are also missing the element of deceit (as described by Professor Bowman in the link posted immediately above). The Chinese were very candid in their attempts to influence voters — there was a banner at the top of each page of their advert which read “section sponsored by China Daily.” This is far from the equivalent of the massive campaign of Russians who adopted American personalities online. Therefore there was no probably no fraud involved; making Trump’s reaction contrast even more starkly his silence in the face of Russian interference. That being said, that’s an answer to a question nobody was asking. More soon.

397c0ded-a693-4cc2-bf77-10f6043cadb3-IMG_5088.jpgThe Des Moines Register

 

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