Thread by @ReginaldOhLaw

Nancy Pelosi's declaration that she opposes impeachment disappointed those who want Trump "brought to justice."

However, the passion for impeachment may stem from an erroneous belief that if impeachment is successful, that means Trump goes to prison.

That is incorrect.

Thread

The confusion stems partly from the language of impeachment. The Constitution states that a president can be impeached by the House of Representatives for "high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

It also talks about the requirement that the President be "convicted."

However, the constitutional impeachment process is concerned with only one thing: whether a president should be removed from office. Period, end of story.

Impeachment, on other words, is only about whether a president should be fired from his job.

Art I, Section 3, Clause 7 states clearly:

"Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States...."

So, even if Trump is impeached by the House and ultimately convicted of committing high crimes by the Senate, he then has to pack up the Oval Office and leave the White House.

But, he gets to go to Mar-a-Lago, not a federal penitentiary.

If Trump is to go to prison for criminal misconduct, an entirely separate criminal process must be initiated by federal or state prosecutors. This is *not* impeachment.

Under the criminal process, a person is charged of crimes via criminal information or indictment.

If the case goes to trial, the defendant must be found guilty of committing crimes in a court of law. If convicted, the judge then sentences the defendant.

This is the process that Paul Manafort has just gone through. This is not impeachment.

So, if you want Trump to serve prison time, technically, impeachment is not what you want. What you want is Trump to be criminally prosecuted by say, someone like Robert Mueller.

So, what is Mueller waiting for? There's a catch. It's not clear as a constitutional matter whether a sitting president can be criminally indicted. And the DOJ's policy is that a sitting president cannot or should not be indicted.

So, if Pelosi won't institute impeachment proceedings against Trump, and Trump cannot be indicted while in office, does that mean Trump is above the law?

What it means is that the people must "remove" Trump through the democratic process and elect him out of office in 2020.

Once he's no longer president, then he can be subject to criminal indictment. See Art I, Section 3, Cl. 7.

Impeachment is an extraordinary process. It should be a measure of last resort especially because it's so difficult to successfully impeach/remove a president.

You need 67 Senators to convict, which means having to get at least 20 GOP senators on board. That's not going to happen.

So, why waste time & energy with a process that will likely fail, and that, even if successful, won't get you the ultimate result that you want?

So, Pelosi is doing everyone a favor by telling us to stop thinking about impeachment. Instead, focus on supporting your Dem Congress and historic legislation like HR 1, or start focusing on the Nov 2020 elections.

Focus on democracy.

-Finis