Legal experts say Donald Trump committed impeachable offences at judiciary hearing
Three out of four legal experts called to testify before a judiciary committee hearing have claimed Donald Trump committed impeachable offences.
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A trio of legal scholars argued at the first House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing that US President Donald Trump’s unprecedented conduct was evidence of impeachable offences.
Three professors, Harvard University’s Noah Feldman, Stanford University’s Pamela Karlan and North Carolina’s Michael Gerhardt, were all asked “Did President Trump commit the impeachable high crime and misdemeanour of abuse of power?” All said that he did.
Only Professor Jonathan Turley, who was called by Republicans to testify, said while a “case for impeachment can be made” the Democrats were making a mistake by pursuing it.
“I am concerned about lowering impeachment standards to fit a paucity of evidence and an abundance of anger. I believe this impeachment not only fails to satisfy the standard of past impeachments but would create a dangerous precedent for future impeachments,” he said.
However, Prof. Thurley blasted Mr Trump’s call with Ukraine as “anything but perfect”.
“I get it, you’re mad,’ Mr Truley said. “The president’s mad. My Republicans friends are mad. My Democratic friends are mad. My wife is mad. My kids are mad. Even my dog seems mad – and Luna’s a Golden Doodle, and they don’t get mad. So we’re all mad. Will a slip-shot impeachment make us less mad?”
Prof. Pamela Karlan of Stanford Law School said Mr Trump’s encouragement to Ukraine’s president that the Ukrainian leader investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden is an “especially serious abuse of power because it undermines democracy itself.”
Prof. Feldman of Harvard Law School said the Founding Fathers thought it was essential that an American president could be removed from office and not be regarded as above the law.
The House Intelligence Committee released a report yesterday indicating it found that Mr Trump misused the power of his office to solicit Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 elections and also obstructed the impeachment investigation.
TRUMP RESPONDS TO HOUSE COMMITTEE’S REPORT
A “joke.”
That’s how President Donald Trump described the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment report.
He said the process was a “disgrace”
“It is being done by, frankly, losers. You at the people, the cast of characters between Nadler and Schiff, and Pelosi, ‘Nervous Nancy’, it is an absolute disgrace to our country. And I think a lot of Democrats, by the way, are going to vote against it because if they don’t they are going to lose their race.”
The president said impeachment is a “dirty word” that should be reserved for high crimes and misdemeanours.
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Mr Trump said that in this case, there’s been “no crime” – not even a “tiny crime.”
He said the president of Ukraine said he felt “no pressure” and he contended that Ukrainian officials don’t understand what the impeachment inquiry is all about.
Mr Trump complained that House Democrats are holding impeachment hearings while he’s out of the country at the NATO meeting.
Mr Trump also dismissed the significance of repeated contacts between his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and phone numbers linked to the White House and its budget office – contacts that were revealed in the House intelligence committee’s impeachment report.
“So somebody said he made a phone call into the White House. What difference does that make?” Mr Trump commented during his meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in London. “Is that supposed to be a big deal?’” he added. “I don’t think so.”
Originally published as Legal experts say Donald Trump committed impeachable offences at judiciary hearing