Couple things here.
(1) By design, the Founders intended that impeachable offenses not be coextensive with criminal law.
(2) Whitaker pretending not to know the contours of the accusation of abuse of power here is precious.
(1) By design, the Founders intended that impeachable offenses not be coextensive with criminal law.
(2) Whitaker pretending not to know the contours of the accusation of abuse of power here is precious.
The "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" contemplated by the Constitution were not meant to denote crimes and things not amounting to felonies.
They are intended to describe abuses of power—per Hamilton in the Federalist Papers, political crimes against the public and the office.
They are intended to describe abuses of power—per Hamilton in the Federalist Papers, political crimes against the public and the office.
Republicans are working awful hard to pretend that it is not an abuse of office to ask foreign governments to investigate political rivals for the purpose of influencing an election.
This is a "misdemeanor" in the "high Crimes and misdemeanors" sense of the word.
This is a "misdemeanor" in the "high Crimes and misdemeanors" sense of the word.
Because you're mistaken.
Trump specifically asked about two things: (1) the CrowdStrike conspiracy theory that a wealthy Ukrainian ran CrowdStrike (nope) and that a server was in Ukraine (nope); and (2) the Bidens.
Trump specifically asked about two things: (1) the CrowdStrike conspiracy theory that a wealthy Ukrainian ran CrowdStrike (nope) and that a server was in Ukraine (nope); and (2) the Bidens.
The claim that Trump was just trying to "clear the record on Russiagate" is not supported by the call memo.
He made specific requests. This wasn't just "oh, Trump sometimes isn't precise." He was very precise about what was on his mind this time.
He made specific requests. This wasn't just "oh, Trump sometimes isn't precise." He was very precise about what was on his mind this time.
