[Erin Burnett] New comment on Alan Dershowitz slammed present-day scholars for c....
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Instead, the House of Representatives accused President Trump of "abuse of power" because "to obtain an improper personal political benefit" he ignored "national security and other vital national interests."
But by this standard, every President, whether Republican or Democrat, is impeachable. Abuse of power is a cliché accusation that politicians routinely toss at each other.
Here, the alleged abuse of power is that President Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate corruption and election meddling as a quid pro quo for timely receiving certain military assistance from the U.S. government. That is why Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asked Prof. Dershowitz, "As a matter of law, does it matter if there was a quid pro quo?"
Of course, it is self-evidently in the public interest for voters to know about corruption and election meddling. But the "personal political benefit" to President Trump under this quid pro quo is that it would reduce voters' support for Democrats if voters saw that Ukraine meddled in the U.S. presidential election to help Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and also if voters saw that Vice President Joe Biden enjoyed a conflict of interest when his son, Hunter Biden, was paid a fortune to sit on the board of a politically-connected Ukrainian energy company while Vice President Biden oversaw Ukraine policy.
Whether there was a quid pro quo or not, elections can remedy or ratify such alleged abuses of power. The decision belongs to voters: not to legislative factions and certainly not to unelected bureaucrats.
To be sure, voters elected both the President and the legislative faction that is trying to remove him.
That is why fidelity to the law matters. The law of high crimes and misdemeanors is the constitutional tiebreaker that resolves this impasse between the duly-elected House of Representatives and the duly-elected President.
And the 2020 election is the tiebreaker that will resolve whether the President and his opponents each remain in office for the following term.
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Posted by Erin Burnett to Erin Burnett at January 30, 2020 at 9:37 AM
Instead, the House of Representatives accused President Trump of "abuse of power" because "to obtain an improper personal political benefit" he ignored "national security and other vital national interests."
But by this standard, every President, whether Republican or Democrat, is impeachable. Abuse of power is a cliché accusation that politicians routinely toss at each other.
Here, the alleged abuse of power is that President Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate corruption and election meddling as a quid pro quo for timely receiving certain military assistance from the U.S. government. That is why Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asked Prof. Dershowitz, "As a matter of law, does it matter if there was a quid pro quo?"
Of course, it is self-evidently in the public interest for voters to know about corruption and election meddling. But the "personal political benefit" to President Trump under this quid pro quo is that it would reduce voters' support for Democrats if voters saw that Ukraine meddled in the U.S. presidential election to help Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and also if voters saw that Vice President Joe Biden enjoyed a conflict of interest when his son, Hunter Biden, was paid a fortune to sit on the board of a politically-connected Ukrainian energy company while Vice President Biden oversaw Ukraine policy.
Whether there was a quid pro quo or not, elections can remedy or ratify such alleged abuses of power. The decision belongs to voters: not to legislative factions and certainly not to unelected bureaucrats.
To be sure, voters elected both the President and the legislative faction that is trying to remove him.
That is why fidelity to the law matters. The law of high crimes and misdemeanors is the constitutional tiebreaker that resolves this impasse between the duly-elected House of Representatives and the duly-elected President.
And the 2020 election is the tiebreaker that will resolve whether the President and his opponents each remain in office for the following term.
Unsubscribe from comment emails for this blog.
Posted by Erin Burnett to Erin Burnett at January 30, 2020 at 9:37 AM
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