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Impeachable Offenses?

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

Impeachable Offenses?

Tag Archives: Meeting

12 Agents, Butina, and Helsinki

17 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

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12, 2016, agents, channels, clinton, Collusion, Conspiracy, defraud, democratic national convention, denial, DNC, Election, hacked, hacking, helsinki, hillary, Impeachment, mariia butina, Meeting, nra, Putin, russia, russian meddling, secret, tweet, unfitness

Good news! The Russian scandal now officially can be sung to the tune of the Twelve Days of Christmas: 12 Russian agents, Butina’s russian channel, election interference, PUTIN “STRONG AND POWERFUL!”  Which is good, because everything else is not sounding quite so festive.

The indictments of 12 Russian agents, for the hacking of the Democratic National Convention and the Clinton Presidential Campaign, and the filing of charges against Mariia Butina, a Russian woman who allegedly tried to broker secret meetings between President Putin and President Trump, further confirm  what the intelligence community already knew: that Russia interfered with the 2016 federal elections. As if that wasn’t frightening enough, our President doesn’t seem to mind. After meeting with Putin in Helsinki and asking him about the Russian meddling, Trump could only comment about the strength of Putin’s denial. Needless to say, Americans are feeling a bit miffed. But where does this leave us in the impeachment debate?

There are two arguments to be made here. The first and, most obvious, is that all this adds to potential charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. The more certain we are that Russia interfered with the election, the stronger the case for collusion becomes. Of course to establish collusion, it would have to be shown that there was some agreement between Trump and Russia. To that point it helps that there are ties between the indicted Russians and members of Trump’s campaign. In addition, though Trump’s ongoing support of Putin is not direct evidence of conspiracy, it does have a suggestive quality and could indicate a more nefarious relationship between the two.

One may also consider Trump’s reaction as an example of his unfitness. It can be argued that a failure to reprimand the leader of a country which has taken action to defraud the United States is a failure of one of the most basic duties of the President: that of the Chief Diplomat. This can be added to the list of the President’s other shortcomings; however it is unclear how long a list is required to lead to removal.

download.jpgYURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images

 

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The G-7 plus 1?

09 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

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annual, canada, Collusion, economic policy, france, G-7, G-8, germany, impeach, Impeachment, italy, japan, Meeting, president, Putin, russia, summit, the united kingdom, trump, united states

President Trump, at the annual summit meeting, suggested that Russia be readmitted into the G-7, the group of 7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) which meet to discuss world-economic policy. Russia was ousted from the then G-8 in 2014 for seizing parts of the Ukraine. Trump defended his suggestion, stating as follows:

“You know, whether you like it or not — and it may not be politically correct — but we have a world to run. And in the G-7, which used to be the G-8, they threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in. Because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.”

President Trump acted antagonistically at the summit meeting, rendering himself an outsider, and causing some to refer to it as “G-6 plus 1.”  For some this is a cause of concern: Trump treating allies as enemies and enemies as allies. And it could further bolster the theory that there was and is collusion going on between Russia and Trump; however, it is unclear that that rejoining the G-8 is actually on Putin’s agenda. In response to the news, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said that “we are putting emphasis on different formats,” insinuating that Russia is not particularly interested in rejoining the G-7. Russian officials made similar comments in 2014 when they were removed: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia was “not attached to this format and we don’t see a great misfortune if it will not gather.” So if Trump is acting on behalf of Russia, it is the result of some very coy maneuvering. Regardless of the reason for his stance, however, it betrays more of the same peculiar friendless we have seen since the beginning of Trump’s presidency. We will find out exactly what it means in due time.

g7-summit-trump-may-merkel-macron-809690.jpgexpress.co.uk

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Trump Jr. and Russian Collusion

12 Wednesday Jul 2017

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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Donald Trump Jr., Emails, Lawyer, Meeting, Russian

Click here to read the background of Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer, and then click here and here to read how it might influence President Trump’s likelihood of impeachment.

jr.jpgAP Photo

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Trump Forgives and Empowers Russia

10 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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Collusion, Election, G-20, Group 20, Meeting, Putin

Click here to read about President Trump’s meeting with Putin, held at the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit meeting, and its potential impact on the election controversy.

trump and putin.jpg

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Frank O. Bowman, III


Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law
University of Missouri School of Law

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