Today's essay by a former Special Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment and trial of the current occupant of the White House reminded this blogger that the aquittal of the current occupant was not a "Get Out Of Jail" card in perpetuity. The two articles of impeachment were based on charges of (1) Abuse of Power in pressuring the Ukrainian government to interfere in the 2020 election and (2) Obstruction of Congress for blocking testimony and withholding documents from the jurisdiction of the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees. To charge the occupant with the same violations of the law and the Constitution going forward would constitute double-jeopardy. However, other charges can and should be brought against the occupant for new high crimes and misdemeanors that are not related to the Articles of Impeachment of 2019. A US citizen accused and tried for a traffic violation could be accused and tried for murder a year later. If this the (fair & balanced) expectation that the US House of Representatives will prosecute a serial violator of US laws and the Constitution in 2020 and beyond, so be it.
[x NY Fishwrap]
Yes, Impeaching Trump Was Absolutely Worth It
By Norman Eisen
TagCrowd Cloud provides a visual summary of the blog post below
The morning after the Senate trial of President Trump was one of the rare occasions over my yearlong tenure as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee when I was able to join my family for breakfast. My duties for the impeachment and its trial had made me particularly scarce. My teenage daughter wasted no time, startling me as I was taking my first sip of coffee. “Dad, do you think the impeachment was worth it?” Instinctively, I immediately replied: “Of course it was, sweetheart!”
In the weeks since, as I packed up our files for transmission to the National Archives, said farewell to my co-counsel and returned full-time to life off Capitol Hill, I have often thought about her question. Had I told her the truth? Had Congress’s work on the impeachment and trial really left the nation, the Constitution and the future better off? How could I be so sure?
Since the Senate verdict, events have given an even sharper edge to my daughter’s question. The president’s misconduct has intensified: Having a decorated war hero and impeachment witness, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, marched out of the White House, together with his equally blameless twin brother; further actual and threatened retaliation against government officials like, most recently, Elaine McCusker, whose nomination to a top Defense Department post was withdrawn (after she questioned the suspension of assistance to Ukraine last year); public presidential interference with the Roger Stone sentencing; a rash of dubious pardons that undermine accountability for the corrupt and politically well-connected; and self-promoting presidential distortions about his handling of the coronavirus that bring to mind his false claim that his call with the president of Ukraine was “perfect.”
But I stand by my answer. Impeaching the president was absolutely worth it: The work of Congress to hold Mr. Trump accountable over the past year has left democracy and our nation stronger. There are five reasons.
First, as a student of presidential impeachment — one of the few given the opportunity to also be a practitioner of the subject — I know the gravity of the word alone: impeachment. It is a permanent mark on Mr. Trump and his shameful presidency that will tarnish his name as long as it is remembered. It should, and I believe will, weigh in as Americans decide whether he should continue as our president. Historical precedent suggests as much: As a lawyer who worked on the 2000 Florida recount, I remember well the negative effects of the Clinton impeachment on Al Gore’s campaign.
Second, the House majority set a shining example of duty in a dark time. Though some scholars will disagree, I’m of the opinion that the House has a constitutional obligation to impeach if the crimes are high. That was a grave responsibility the founders bestowed upon our legislative branch. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, including the committee chairmen Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff, the other House managers and their Democratic colleagues worked through many an obstacle to fulfill this constitutionally mandated oversight function — to stand up to a president who has ignored both his oath and the public trust he was charged with upholding. The vote was a difficult and courageous one for dozens of Democrats who hail from red or purple districts. But it was the right thing to do and an inspiration for the present and the future.
Third, just as the House Democratic majority fulfilled its duty, the impeachment proceedings shone a light on those who have failed to honor their oath of office: not only the president, but also the Republican minority in the House and majority in the Senate. They renounced the responsibility that their oath entails. That pains me. I have always believed — and still do — that most members of government, regardless of party affiliation, are fundamentally good people. My Republican friends from the other side of the aisle remained personally cordial throughout my time on the floor for the impeachment trial, both the ones at the counsel table for the president and among the GOP caucus. Indeed, Senate Republicans conceded publicly or in private conversations with me that the House had proved a quid pro quo. But they were ultimately unwilling to uphold the checks and balances that the framers designed in the case of a lawless president.
Senator Mitt Romney’s vote was the exception that sadly proved the rule. This was a failure of party, not of institutions. Because of the impeachment, the American people know who has done their constitutional duty and who has not — and so whom to hold responsible.
The fourth reason is that though the president is now kicking out against the guardians of rule of law, those custodians of our democracy are kicking back harder than ever. Take the swirl of events surrounding the sentencing of Roger Stone. The four federal prosecutors who withdrew from the case showed swift, admirable fealty to their principles. The judge who presided over the case, Amy Berman Jackson, and the chief judge of the Federal District Court in Washington, Beryl Howell, also exhibited great integrity by condemning Mr. Trump’s implicit orchestration, with the court levying a tough but fair sentence of over three years. Then in an stirring show of solidarity, over 2,600 bipartisan Justice Department alumni signed a letter publicly denouncing the president and attorney general’s “interference in the fair administration of justice.” I like to think impeachment set the tone for the courageous groundswell of defense of our democracy.
Mr. Trump’s enraged post-impeachment reaction, in the Stone case and beyond, is the fifth and final reason it was worthwhile. As a rueful Republican recently said to me, “You cannot bring down Trump. He can only destroy himself.” There is a value in the American people seeing now who they are really dealing with as we move through election season. If impeachment helped tear off his mask even more, further revealing the president’s true nature, isn’t it better to see that before we go to the polls to decide the nation’s fate?
I continue to have faith that when they do, Americans will do the right thing. My gut response to my daughter was, at its core, a reflection of that optimism. Was the impeachment worth it, given everything it revealed about Mr. Trump? That question will soon be presented squarely to the American people. And I do not believe they will let down my daughter — or the country. ###
[Norman Eisen is a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and also served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the recent impeachment of the current occupant of the White House. Previous to that, Eisen served as White House ethics czar and as ambassador to the Czech Republic in the Obama administration. He is the author of The Last Palace: Europe's Turbulent Century in Five Lives and One Legendary House (2018). Eisen received a BA (philosophy) from Brown University (RI) and a JD from the Law School of Harvard University (MA). He was a classmate of President Bararck Obama all through law school.]
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