Thread by @justinamash

Many of the allegations against @POTUS are serious and should be taken seriously, especially by members of Congress.

We should allow Robert Mueller to complete his investigation and issue his report before taking any action potentially affecting the president’s tenure.

Based on the deliberations of the Framers of the Constitution and Federalist No. 69, I believe that a sitting president should not be criminally prosecuted. Before facing ordinary criminal liability, he first would have to be impeached, tried, convicted, and removed from office.

We don’t impeach simply because we dislike a person or disagree with his policies. If you’re unhappy about @POTUS, then don’t vote for him in 2020. The electoral process should determine who holds the executive power.

Impeachment proceedings are a quasi-legal, quasi-political process reserved for situations that present substantial evidence of egregious wrongdoing by the officeholder.

Impeachment is equivalent to a grand jury indictment. If the House votes to impeach someone, that is not the same as a finding of guilt; it is merely a finding of probable cause that the accused has committed an impeachable offense.

Upon impeachment by the House, the Senate conducts a trial. Only here does the vote represent a finding of guilt. While there is reasonable disagreement about the proper burden of proof, I believe that a very high standard must be met to overturn the results of an election.

I hope that we don’t get to this point, but I think it’s important, given recent news, that members of Congress share their thoughts on this matter with the people they represent.