Tag: impeachable offense

When Is an Offense Impeachable? Look to the Framers for the Answer

The following article by Adam Liptak was posted on the New York Times website August 22, 2018:

U.S. Capitol Building. Credit: Sarah Silbiger, CQ Roll Call file photo

WASHINGTON — There are more serious crimes than violating campaign finance laws. Some offenders face jail time, while others catch a break.

But the campaign finance violation President Trump’s former lawyer accused him of on Tuesday — arranging to pay hush money to influence an election — may nonetheless be precisely the sort of offense that the drafters of the Constitution meant to cover in granting Congress the power to impeach and remove a president.

“At the constitutional convention, the framers repeatedly expressed anxiety about the president seeking to obtain office through corrupt means,” said Joshua Matz, an author of “To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment.”

View the complete article here.

Trump’s Latest Attack on Obamacare Violates Oath to Uphold Constitution, Adding to List of Impeachable Offenses

The following article by Steven Rosenfeld was posted on the AlterNet website October 12, 2017:

Trump is now crossing the lines set by conservatives for removal from office.

President Trump’s executive orders Thursday to sabotage the Affordable Care Act—aka Obamacare—is crossing a new legal threshold that could become part of a growing list of ultimately impeachable actions, much like Richard Nixon faced a deepening list of offenses before he resigned from office in 1974.

That’s because Trump’s willful destruction of Obamacare, a law passed by the Congress—not a regulation promulgated by federal departments—would violate his oath to uphold the Constitution, whose Article Two demands that the president “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”     Continue reading “Trump’s Latest Attack on Obamacare Violates Oath to Uphold Constitution, Adding to List of Impeachable Offenses”