Government

America's Founding Fathers Would've Been 'Horrified': Law Professors School Trump On Impeachment

The president receives another Con Law 101 lesson on impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors.

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(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

[T]he record compiled thus far shows that the president has committed several impeachable offenses, including bribery, abuse of power in soliciting a personal favor from a foreign leader to benefit his political campaign, obstructing Congress and obstructing justice.

I cannot help but conclude that this president has attacked each of the Constitution’s safeguards against establishing a monarchy in this country. Both the context and gravity of the president’s misconduct are clear.

If what we are talking about is not impeachable, nothing is impeachable.

— Professor Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina School of Law, in testimony given today before the House Judiciary Committee in the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, explaining some of the ways Trump has committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” and other impeachable actions.

Professor Pamela Karlan of Stanford Law School, testified that America’s founding fathers would have been “horrified” by “[t]he very idea that a president might seek the aid of a foreign government in his reelection campaign.”

Professor Noah Feldman of Harvard Law School noted in his opening statement that “[o]n the basis of the testimony and evidence before the House, President Trump has committed impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors by corruptly abusing the office of the presidency.”

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Even Professor Jonathan Turley of the George Washington University School of Law, who testified that “this impeachment would stand out among modern impeachments as the shortest proceeding, with the thinnest evidentiary record, and the narrowest grounds ever used to impeach a president,” later noted that “a quid pro quo to force the investigation of a political rival in exchange for military aid can be impeachable, if proven.”

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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