More than 500 legal scholars — including professors from Harvard, Yale, Columbia and other universities — signed an open letter asserting that Mr. Trump had committed “impeachable conduct,” and that lawmakers would be within their rights to remove him from office, according to The Washington Post.
The signers includes law professors and other academics from universities across the US, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Michigan and many others.
The open letter was published online on Friday in the US by the non-profit advocacy group Protect Democracy.
"Legal scholars have published a letter arguing that President Trump committed impeachable conduct in his dealings with the Ukrainian government earlier this year. "
"The evidence shows that the President attempted to corrupt the 2020 election by using his official power to withhold critical military aid in order to pressure the Ukrainian president into announcing investigations that would benefit Trump “for his personal and political benefit.
” This behavior, the scholars reason, is an “attempt to subvert the Constitution”—language that Founding Father George Mason used to describe what would constitute an impeachable offense. They write:
The Founders did not make impeachment available for disagreements over policy, even if they are profound, or for extreme distaste for the manner in which the President executes his office. Only “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors” warrant impeachment. The President’s conduct with respect to Ukraine clears that bar.
"There is overwhelming evidence that President Trump betrayed his oath of office by seeking to use presidential power to pressure a foreign government to help him distort an American election, for his personal and political benefit, at the direct expense of national security interests as determined by Congress," the group of professors wrote.
"His conduct is precisely the type of threat to our democracy that the Founders feared when they included the remedy of impeachment in the Constitution."
"Ultimately, whether to impeach the President and remove him from office depends on judgments that the Constitution leaves to Congress. But if the House of Representatives impeached the President for the conduct described here and the Senate voted to remove him, they would be acting well within their constitutional powers. "
"Whether President Trump’s conduct is classified as bribery, as a high crime or misdemeanor, or as both, it is clearly impeachable under our Constitution."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Thursday that she was directing committee chairmen to draft articles of impeachment against Trump, a day after the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony from four constitutional scholars on the matter.
Three law professors who were called for that hearing by Democrats argued that Trump's behaviour was impeachable, while one invited by Republicans argued that the process was moving too quickly.
Those who signed on to the Protect Democracy letter said they "take no position on whether the President committed a crime."
Earlier this year, Protect Democracy gathered signatures for a similar letter, in which hundreds of former federal prosecutors signed on to a statement asserting that special counsel Robert Mueller's findings would have produced obstruction charges against Trump - if he were not a sitting president.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Thursday that she was directing committee chairmen to draft articles of impeachment against Trump, a day after the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony from four constitutional scholars on the matter.
Three law professors who were called for that hearing by Democrats argued that Trump's behaviour was impeachable, while one invited by Republicans argued that the process was moving too quickly.
Those who signed on to the Protect Democracy letter said they "take no position on whether the President committed a crime."
Earlier this year, Protect Democracy gathered signatures for a similar letter, in which hundreds of former federal prosecutors signed on to a statement asserting that special counsel Robert Mueller's findings would have produced obstruction charges against Trump - if he were not a sitting president.
Wait!!!!!
Don't you think that Trump Impeachment hearing looks like bitter party politics aimed at ensure that Mr President or the Republican is removed from power by any means possible?
What do you think?
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