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Impeachable Offenses?

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

Impeachable Offenses?

Tag Archives: trump

The Black Pardon

16 Thursday May 2019

Posted by crosbysamuel in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

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Arpaio, canada, Conrad Black, Constitutional, conviction, D'Souza, donald trump, fraud, impeach, Impeachment, Mikaela Colby, Obstruction of Justice, pardon, pardon power, Paul F. Eckstein, president, trump

President Trump has pardoned Conrad Black of convictions for fraud and obstruction of justice from 2007. Black is a friend of Trump’s and a vocal supporter; he published a book entitled ‘Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other’ last year. Black spent 3 years in prison as a result of his conviction and was banned from the United States for 30 years. This is the latest in a series of politically questionable pardons; readers will recall the Arpaio and D’Souza pardons. But the questions remains: when does a non-kosher pardon become an abuse of pardon power?

Paul F. Eckstein and Mikaela Colby tackle this question in their article entitled ‘Presidential Pardon Power: Are There Limits and, if Not, Should There Be?‘ published in the Arizona Law Journal. In that article the authors examine the history of the pardon power, its constitutional limits, and what remedies may exist for its abuse. They ultimately conclude that new limitations need to be introduced.

black.jpgDarren Calabrese / THE CANADIAN PRESS

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Is Mueller Almost Finished?

21 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

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28 CFR 600, attorney general, Bill Barr, Collusion, confidential, Congress, discretion, donald trump, impeach, impeachable, Impeachment, investigation, Obstruction of Justice, president, privelege, report, Robert Mueller, russia, Special Counsel, subpoena, trump, William Barr

CNN Reported today that Special Counsel Robert Mueller may conclude his investigation as early as next week. Their information apparently came from sources familiar with Attorney General Bill Barr’s plan to announce the completion. But! Don’t get too excited. Though Mueller’s report may be finished soon, that doesn’t mean the public or Congress will get to see it.

The regulations which govern Special Counsels are contained in part 600 of title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations. 28 CFR 600.8 says that when Mueller gets done, he needs to send his final product off to the Attorney General, Bill Barr. 28 CFR 600.9 says that Barr only has to tell Congress 1) that Mueller is done; and 2) if he disagreed with any of Mueller’s suggested actions because they were “inappropriate and unwarranted,” and an explanation of that conclusion. So what we’ll find out is, for the most part, at Barr’s discretion. However, Barr told Congress during his confirmation hearing that he intends to release his own summary of the report, and will be as transparent as possible within the confines of the law (for a thorough analysis of Barr’s statements, click here). If Barr releases less than what Congress would like, their remedy is a subpoena.

william-barr-nomination-hearing.jpgKevin Lamarque/Reuters

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The House is Coming Down

08 Friday Feb 2019

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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Adam Schiff, bill pascrell, business interests, Collusion, donald trump, fraud, High Crimes and Misdemeanors, House of Representatives, Impeachment, investigation, nancy pelosi, president, Representative, russia, saudi arabia, speaker, tax evasion, tax returns, trump

The Democrat controlled House is beginning to pursue investigation of President Trump independent of Robert Mueller. Adam Schiff, House Intelligence Chairman, plans to expand the scope of his inquiry to determine whether Trump’s business interests are influencing his foreign policy decision in nations other than Russia. Additionally, the Ways and Means Committee, for whom Rep. Bill Pascrell has been speaking, has announced its intention to collect and examine President Trump’s tax returns. Notably, other House Democrats, such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have urged patience on that front.

ap_19038604315746_wide-33f85eab3122accc557ea08aa6be66a38793af9d-s1600-c85.jpgJ. Scott Applewhite/AP

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Rosenstein Assures Trump he is Not a Target of the Mueller Investigation — The News Cycle Repeats Itself

01 Friday Feb 2019

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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bowman, deputy attorney general, donald trump, impeach, impeachable, Impeachment, investigation, Mueller, new york times, president, professor frank bowman, Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, Special Counsel, subject, target, target v. subject, trump, united states

Trump said yesterday, during an interview with the New York Times, that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein informed him that he is not a target of the Mueller investigation. Trump also added that he is not a “subject” of the investigation, but it is unclear whether that is a word Rosenstein used or a descriptor Trump added. He seemed to use the words interchangeably saying first “he told the attorneys that I’m not a subject, I’m not a target,” and then added  “[t]he lawyers ask him. They say, ‘He’s not a target of the investigation.’”

Readers will recall that Trump already received the news that he is not a target of the Mueller investigation from Mueller himself in April of 2018. As Professor Bowman wrote then, what that could mean, according to the definition of “target” in the United States Attorneys Manual, is that DOJ policy prevents Trump from becoming an indicted defendant and therefore a target. However, if that is not what Rosenstein meant and Trump could be a target, then it is significant that he has not, in the past 10 or so months, become one. What is more significant is if Trump is indeed not a subject of Mueller’s investigation. That could mean that there is not enough evidence to continue investigating Trump or enough evidence to have exonerated Trump.  That, however, seems unlikely.

rosen.jpegAndrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

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Mueller Denies BuzzFeed Report

19 Saturday Jan 2019

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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buzzfeed, Collusion, Congress, deny, dishonest, donald, Frank Bowman, impeachable, Impeachment, lie, lying, Michael Cohen, moscow, president, report, Robert Mueller, russia, Russian, slate, trump, Trump Tower

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office has issued a rare statement denying the veracity of the BuzzFeed article published yesterday. The article in question stated that Mueller’s office had a cache of documents which established that President Trump encouraged his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to lie about the extent of the Moscow Trump Tower negotiations. If that were true, the legal consequences would have been severe; Professor Frank Bowman provided an analysis which was published on Slate.com.

However, though BuzzFeed has dug in its heels, the rarity of such public statements from Mueller’s office and its direct nature seem to indicate that there is no truth to the story. That is to say, Mueller’s office does not have hard evidence of such directions exchanged between Trump and Cohen. There is some concern that this revelation will give the President new ammunition against the media; however, it should not be forgotten that the truth finder of most significance in this case is Robert Mueller. It should be heartening that he is staying the course.

UT5EXCA3QYI6TCATZOO6Y5Q6OM.jpgRichard Drew/AP

 

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Pulling out of Syria — Trump further Demonstrates his Incompetence

21 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

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abuse of military power, Collusion, defense secretary, Foreign policy, Impeachment, iran, mattis, president, russia, syria, troops, trump, withdraw

President Trump announced yesterday that he planned to withdraw American troops from Syria, a decision that has been widely criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike, and which lead to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ resignation. Though Mattis’ decision to resign was based upon the whole of Trump’s foreign policy, the withdrawal from Syria is seen as the straw that broke the general’s back; Mattis repeatedly refused to publicly endorse the withdrawal after Trump’s requests. Trump’s decision is viewed as premature, because, though it is at its tail-end, the conflict with the Islamic State is on-going in Syria. It seems the only person in favor of the withdrawal is Russian President Vladimir Putin who said “Donald’s right, and I agree with him.” With the United States absent Russian and Iranian influence over Syria will increase.

I wrote a few weeks ago about how the abuse of military power could be considered an impeachable offense, based on precedent set by British impeachments (written about by Professor Bowman here, pt. VIII). The withdrawal from Syria could be considered another impeachable military blunder in two ways: 1) unfitness, based on the general lack of wisdom that the withdrawal represents; and 2) that the action may have been taken at the urging of a foreign power, specifically Russia. Though Trump has offered justifications for his action, such as not wanting to be the “policemen” of the Middle East, if it turns out that this action was taken for no other reason than to appease Putin, then it is may be an abuse of military power warranting impeachment.

21dc-mattis-promo-jumbo-v3.jpgPablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press

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The Moscow Project Looms

29 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

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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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Abuse of Military Power — the Newest Impeachable Offense?

21 Wednesday Nov 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

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5800, abuse, abuse of military power, Britian, caravan, Central America, Frank Bowman, immigrants, immigration, Impeachment, military, president, troops, trump

This opinion piece, published in the New York Times, describes President Trump’s order sending the military to meet the caravan of immigrants at the U.S.-Mexican border as an unprecedented abuse of military power. The caravan referred to is that of the thousands of immigrants moving north towards the United States from Central America. President Trump has used the caravan to boost his anti-immigration rhetoric over the past few weeks. Trump recently ordered that 5800 military troops march to meet the immigrants, an action which the opinion piece above theorizes was taken solely to curry political favor. If that is that case, it would be an unprecedented abuse of military power.

Though what Trump did was technically legal,  the opinion claims that it amounts to an abuse of military power.  To use and move troops for no other reason than to gain political advantage is a first for American presidents. The piece points out that though other presidents have referred to military actions in speeches to increase their popularity, there are no examples of presidents that have taken military action within the United States for no other reason than to curry political favor. It argues politics must be the sole reason for the order because in the past similar border threats have been dealt with by fewer troops and the national guard alone. By treating the situation as a more serious threat, Trump has turned a group of tired immigrants into a national security threat. As such, Trump’s manner of dealing with the caravan amounts to an unprecedented abuse of military power.

Abuse of military power has historically been considered an impeachable offense. Professor Frank Bowman wrote an article about the history of British impeachments (found here), entitled “British Impeachmnets (1376 – 1787) & the Present American Constitutional Crisis.” In it he explores historical British impeachment procedure and specific examples of British impeachments. He cites to several examples of British officers that were impeached for military blunders. For instance, Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, was impeached for failure to adequately utilize funds for maritime defense and bungling a military expedition to relieve Ghent. In 1626 parliamentary outrage over George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham’s, military incompetence also led to articles of impeachment.

The phrase “high crimes and misdemeanors” is the vague descriptor of what qualifies an act as impeachable. It can be difficult to tell what the founding fathers intended to fall into that scope. However, the drafters of the Constitution would have known of these British impeachments. An impeachment of a president for abuse of military power does not seem out of the realm of possibility, because of the historical precedent already in place for such a thing, and because the enormous power that is placed with the President as the Commander in Chief. Without a way to rectify abuse of said power there would be little balance between the branches of government. Therefore, it is arguable that in moving 5800 troops to the border Trump has committed another act worthy of impeachment.

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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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Frank O. Bowman, III


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

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