Impeachment II: Procedure and the Constitution

   In the United States, no man is above the law, and this is secured at the top by the constitutional provisions for the impeachment of the president. The procedure is drawn from 3 or 4 places in the Constitution. The president can be impeached and removed for “Treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors”(II.4). The House of Representatives holds the “sole power of impeachment (I.2),” and by a majority vote, introduces articles of impeachment. These have in the recent past been drawn up by the judicial committee, but the committee system is not from the constitution, but tradition. Impeachment here refers to the accusation, which is then sent to the higher body, the Senate, for trial (I.3). The Chief Justice of the Supreme court presides over the trial, replacing the Vice President, who usually presides over the Senate (I.3). Two thirds, or here 67 Senators voting for conviction are required for removal. This may seem a high bar, but in the perjury charge against President Clinton, impeachment failed by a narrow margin, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson failed by only one vote. President Nixon resigned, as Mr. Trump might, facing nearly certain conviction. Nixon was impeached for using the office of the presidency to obstruct the investigation into the plumbers break in at the Democratic Party headquarters. The second article was that he had abused his use of the FBI, CIA and IRS, violating the constitutional rights of citizens, and by establishing the plumbers as a secret investigative agency in the White House. He was also charged, in the third article, with defying the committee of Congress by refusing to produced the subpoenaed tapes, where, famously, he claimed executive privilege to withhold the tapes, but the Supreme Court decided that executive privilege did not cover hiding ones own guilt, but only national security or other crucial interests that are a legitimate part of the executive office.

   We would recommend the following articles be considered from among the vast store, and we focus on the comprehensive issues and the truth about what is occurring, rather than the smaller matters, which may indeed be a part of the impeachment, but taken by themselves may not succeed.

I Election fraud has been committed by rewarding the spread of false news and intimidating the press surrounding the U.S. elections of November 9, 2016, a high crime. A foreign government may also have been invited to interfere and may have been rewarded for interfering in the U.S. election. The internet was used in a comprehensive manner to interfere with the voters themselves, especially in the swing states. The Electoral College was then prevented from considering, as is their job according to the Constitution as explained in Federalist 68. 26 reasons for charging Mr. Trump with election fraud are presented in a previous blog.

II. The press has been intimidated with threats as just occurred this past weekend, when Mr. Spicer told the press there would be “consequences,” and the press was called the most dishonest group of persons ever (neglecting tyrants). This is a violation of the free speech clause of our constitution and of the oath of office taken just days before, a high crime.

III. Bribery is committed already, as the emoluments clause forbids receiving payments or loans from foreign governments.

IV. Constitutional procedures have been interfered with, as the attempt to bring the election fraud before the Supreme court in order to postpone the inauguration.

   Treason is narrowly defined (III,iii), and requires confession in open court or the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act- a bit more than a wink and a nod. But if Russian interference in the election was invited or encouraged, this may be treason.

   Detailed reasoning has been presented on the issue of election fraud in previous blogs on this website. The newness of the internet and Russian control of the internet has allowed this to occur, as these are simply not the results of a legitimate election or election process.

   To repeat, the delivery of our presidency through illegitimate election to one incapable of the office is a blessing to our enemies that may well have been intended. The immediate result for our nation will be the expansion of the war against ISIS to parties with whom we are not at at war, and the intended destruction of many of our sons and daughters. Domestic tyranny is also likely to result, as this president has praised the methods of the tyrant Duterte in the Philippines and the tyrant Putin in Russia, under the excuse of an unprecedented war on crime. Civil unrest is a certainty, and civil war a definite possibility. The security of our nation therefore, and not only considerations of Justice, requires the immediate impeachment of Donald Trump.

   One impeached may be subject to indictment, but is by impeachment itself subject only to removal from office ((II.4). In this case, that may be blessing for Mr. Trump, to be removed from an office for which he is unprepared, by peaceful and constitutional procedure. The illusion that by this we violate an election or fail to “give him a chance,” as would be required in an election that was without fraud and foreign interference, simply are not true in the present instance, a national crisis.