Impeachment Articles are here - Oh Boy!

If I was a cynical person, I'd say the Dems apparent decision to vote on two articles of impeachment of Trump (i.e.,his abuse of power in Ukraine in order to subvert democratic elections in the USA, and Obstruction of Congress) is purely a political gambit to keep media attention focused on the grand spectacle of a trial in the Senate rather than on the Democratic Party's primary. Actually, now that I think about it, I am that cynical.

You can read the draft articles of impeachment at this website. They're pretty clear cut. The first alleges Trump abused his office by withholding military aid to Ukraine until the Ukraine government opened an investigation into the corruption of the Biden's family's involvement regarding corruption by Burisma, an energy company for which Hunter Biden was a director and received millions of dollars. Here's how The Nation reported on Biden's activity that lies at the heart of Trump's alleged abuse of power in demanding Ukraine re-open an investigation into corruption involving Burisma:

In March 2016, then-vice president Biden successfully strong-armed Ukraine to fire prosecutor general Viktor Shokin. Biden, who flew into Kiev dangling the promise of a one billion dollar loan guarantee, told Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko the loan wouldn’t be authorized unless Shokin was ousted.

Here’s how Biden himself recounted it: “I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’ Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.”

At the time, Shokin was allegedly investigating corruption at Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company. Joe Biden’s son Hunter happened to sit on Burisma’s board, a lucrative position which was netting him millions of dollars.

The other proposed article of impeachment alleges that Trump obstructed the congressional impeachment inquiry by refusing to comply with its subpoenas.

I could take a deep dive into the legality of these charges under Article II, Section 4 of the the Constitution, which requires any impeachment of the President to be based upon "Treason, Bribery or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." However, the reality is that as Gerald Ford so succinctly put it:

"[A]n impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history."

I'll leave it to law professors to argue whether this should be the case, but as we saw in the prior impeachments of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, Ford essentially nailed it. The US Supreme Court has never formally defined what constitutes a "high Crime or Misdemeanor" justifying a President's removal from office. And while it's true that articles of impeachment generally try to tie the conduct alleged to be an impeachable offense to violations of specific US laws (see, e.g., the Articles of Impeachment against Bill Clinton), at its core, a vote to impeach a President is a political act, one for which the Supreme Court has never provided a specific interpretation. This is likely based on the "Separation of Powers" doctrine, and the historical debate over the meaning of that phrase during and after the Constitutional Convention, where many founders and later commentators indicated impeachment need not be limited to a specific crime, but to any abuse of power granted to an official under the Constitution.

In any case, the two proposed articles of impeachment against Trump that the House is likely to vote upon, can be boiled down to the following: (1) Trump abused his powers as President when he allegedly withheld $400 million in foreign military aid to Ukraine (aid he ultimately provided) in order to coerce Ukraine to re-investigate the role of Joe and Hunter Biden in obtaining favors for Burisma, thus endangering national security in order to obtain a domestic political benefit and subvert the 2020 election; and (2) Obstruction of Congress by not complying fully with Congressional investigations into said abuse. Neither draft article of impeachment references a specific statute or law Trump allegedly violated other than vague references to the Constitution itself.

It's ironic, in that there are countless other matters that do justify impeachment proceedings, from Trump's violations of the emoluments clause to war crimes to international treaty violations regarding the human rights of refugees at our borders seeking asylum. Congress, or should I say the Democratic leadership, only saw fit to pursue impeachment, however, when Trump allegedly sought to get Ukraine to re-open former investigations into corruption charges against Burisma and Joe Biden's role in squashing those investigations. But that's politics in America. Major crimes committed by the Executive branch and the President go ignored, because few in Congress really object to those crimes, since the same crimes have been committed by past administrations of both parties.

Instead, we'll see another chapter in the ongoing propaganda campaign to deflect and distract the American public from our Government's failures to address significant matters, both foreign and domestic, in order to provide Cable News with non-stop coverage of what is at heart a political reality television show. Everyone in Congress fully knows that if impeachment articles are passed by the House, and a trial is held in the Senate, it will not end with Trump's removal from office. There simply are not enough votes in the Senate to meet the two thirds majority required to do so, just as was the case in 1998 when Clinton was impeached.

What will happen is that all media coverage of politics will be focused on the impeachment and trial of Trump, and any coverage of the contenders in the Democratic primary will be limited, even more than is the case at present, to its purely "horse race" aspects. Little to no attention will focus on the differing policy proposals and political agendas of the competing candidates for the Democratic Party's nomination. And while this may serve the interests of the centrist/neoliberal wing of the Democratic party and their corporate and wealthy donors, it will prove detrimental to the country as a whole. In the end, it's quite likely any trial of Trump will backfire on the Democrats, just as the trial of Clinton in 1998 backfired on the GOP. In other words, impeachment will hurt the ability of any progressive candidate to win the Democratic nomination, and of progressives in general, while also helping to re-elect Trump to a 2nd term.

Not that the Democratic Leadership in the House give a damn about another term in office for Trump, so long as they can maintain control of the apparatus of the Democratic party, and the flow of billions of dollars in legalized bribes that will continue to come their way regardless of whether they capture the Oval Office or not. Impeachment is a sideshow meant to derail any progressive gains within the current configuration of our so-called bipartisan political system. Anyone who thinks otherwise has either been brainwashed by the corporate media, or has a stake in maintaining the status quo.

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snoopydawg's picture

Not any of the other unconventional things Trump has been doing, but interfering with the selected foreign policies that others have decided he's supposed to do.

This never gets old.

How many subpoenas did the Bush administration blow off? How many did Obama's blow off? And didn't the people who democrats subpoenaed ask a court to decide if they had to show up? Why aren't democrats still calling McGann (?) to testify after a court said he has to?

BTW..after Nancy prayed over it she decided to help pass the new NAFTA on the same day she is impeaching Trump if he is that dangerous to the country? Hmm?

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

snoopydawg's picture

Ukraine is not vital to our national security in any way so how could Trump threaten it? And why wasn't Obama impeached for not sending the lethal weapons because he didn't want to raise tensions with Russia? The weapons are still not allowed to be used in certain regions in Ukraine so what's the big deal with them being held up? Biden has not been coronated yet so how is that election interference?

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Roy Blakeley's picture

@snoopydawg and the Democratic Party leadership. It will drive you nuts. Aaron Mate was interviewed on Law and Disorder and pointed out that the Dems are impeaching Trump for briefly delaying weapons that Obama refused to send. He also pointed out that the Dems got very worked up over Trump firing Jeff Sessions. The Dems have either allowed themselves to be twisted into opposing what they formerly supported or they are just revealing their true priorities. And Trump actually asked Zelensky to co-operate with Barr's investigation, not to reopen an investigation. How dare he ask a foreign leader to cooperate with the Attorney General. This is really about Barr investigating the US security apparatus' meddling in the 2016 election and the security apparatus (looking at you Brennan and Clapper) has called in its favors to get the Dem leadership to discredit and distract from the Barr-Durham investigation.

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WaterLily's picture

@snoopydawg And it was clear to me this oft-repeated message was pre-crafted and widely disseminated to all of the majority interrogators beforehand, the "logic" (barf) is this:

By withholding the aid, Trump enabled Russian aggressors to attack and kill our ally's people. They had no way to defend themselves, you see, and the longer he withheld the aid, the more in danger Ukraine became, and the brasher our mortal enemy Russia became. Which of course threatens our national security. Or something.

Hey, Dimwits: You're the psychopaths threatening our national security with your frenzied Russia rhetoric.

I was stuck in the car for quite awhile yesterday and somehow allowed myself to get sucked into the hearing. Only time I've listened. As someone else remarked in a different essay today, I found them fascinating for the very reason that you learn exactly what the psychopaths are up to. Do they not know how we can all see through it?

FML.

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snoopydawg's picture

@WaterLily

By withholding the aid, Trump enabled Russian aggressors to attack and kill our ally's people. They had no way to defend themselves, you see, and the longer he withheld the aid, the more in danger Ukraine became, and the brasher our mortal enemy Russia became. Which of course threatens our national security.

I just had a Twitter spat with someone who thinks Russia has invaded Kiev and that we have to support Ukraine because if we don't Russia will take over Europe. I ended it by saying if he won't look for the truth then enjoy being stupid. I do not suffer fools when the truth is out there."

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

boriscleto's picture

Report: You Live In An Embarrassing Country - The Onion

WASHINGTON—According to a new report published Wednesday by the Pew Research Center, you live in a deeply embarrassing and barely functional country. “Our latest research and statistical analysis shows that you are currently the citizen of an objectively humiliating nation wreathed in a miasma of pettiness, sloth, rank stupidity, and failure,” the report read in part, adding that this—this goddamned disgrace of a culture and system of government, if that’s what you call whatever the hell this is—is where you live, where you are from, and where you will likely die. “Decline and dysfunction are currently the first things people across the world think of when they hear the name of your place of origin, and, by association, these are the first words that would come to mind when they think of you as well.” The report concluded that there isn’t a whole hell of a lot you can do about it either.

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

CB's picture

that was from The Onion?

@boriscleto

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@CB
by peeling onions.
And verse the vices.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@CB

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

when I go traveling all over the world, I apologize, and insist I am An American Who is Not The American They Know.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

It is about time for the Supreme Court to overrule Gerald Ford. The Constitution mentions, treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors. If it is not one of those four things, then the impeachment should be dismissed by the Supreme Court. Otherwise the President has no due process because he has never been put on notice that a particular type of conduct will subject him to removal from office.

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