The Constitution of the United States of America allows the House of Representatives the authority to impeach an official, including the president, and the Senate becomes the impeachment court. When President Donald Trump was elected, he took an oath that was comprised of several profound responsibilities. According to the Constitution, the abuse of power or failure to uphold responsibilities cannot be accepted by the House of Representatives, and a Donald Trump impeachment trial could be a potential outcome.
The Constitution also states that Donald Trump can be impeached , convicted, and removed from office if he commits “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” The Constitution, however, does not define what the latter two consist of. It is up to the House of Representatives and the Senate to decide what it means. This process protects the republic by maintaining checks and balances and preserving the rule of law. A sitting president of the United States has, in our history, never been involuntarily removed from office. Due to the recent actions of Michael Flynn, it is possible that this could soon change, although it is not likely.
Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser, resigned after holding discussions with a Russian ambassador prior to the election of Donald Trump. In these conversations, Michael Flynn allegedly discussed sanctions that were placed by the Obama administration. The resignation of Flynn is prompting senators to call for an investigation into Trump’s potential ties to Russia. Democrats in Congress also want to know what Trump knew about the conversations and when. As previously reported by the Inquisitr , the actions of Flynn, with proper investigation, could reveal evidence that Donald Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia to tamper with the election under the direction of Trump himself.
This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton’s losing campaign.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
House Speaker Sean Spicer spoke of Flynn’s resignation, stating, “The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable incidents is what led the president to ask General Flynn for his resignation.”
He continued, “There’s nothing that the general did that was a violation of any sort. What this came down to was a matter of trust.”
Regardless of what Spicer has to say, following an investigation into the matter, the House of Representatives may see this as an impeachable offense.
The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by “intelligence” like candy. Very un-American!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
The Nation reported that Mark Pocan, a Democratic Congressmen, has spoken to members of the Congress in regards to the possibility of a Donald Trump impeachment trial. Pocan stated that members of Congress should keep “every option open to try to get this administration to function like any other administration in the past. One of those remedies is the power of impeachment.”
Illustrating his point to the House of Representatives with a map of the Middle East, Pocan pointed to the seven Muslim countries that Donald Trump targeted in his executive order that restricted travel. He then noted that “according to the Bloomberg News , the Trump Organization does not have business or pursued business deals in any of them.” He further explained that President Trump holds business dealings in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt. Although these countries are home to several 9/11 terrorists, they were not included in Trump’s travel ban.
In essence, Pocan was warning that “it’s time for the president to stop defending his diverse and unconstitutional executive order and start being transparent about his business interests.” He went on to say that if the president fails to address conflicts of interest, other actions will need to be taken, including the possible impeachment of Donald Trump. Pocan directly addressed President Trump as well.
“Mr. President, it’s time for you to fix this. One, divest your business holding immediately to remove any suggestion of conflicts in your decision making. Two, show us your tax returns so financial interests are transparent to the American people. And three, get rid of your unconstitutional executive order, which will make us less safe and only serve to embolden our enemies.”
As specified by an internet petition that is asking for an immediate Donald Trump impeachment, there are more than 840,000 Americans who agree. A new national poll released last week shows that the number of people who support a Donald Trump impeachment is equal to the number who oppose it. A report on a new public policy poll had the following to say.
“Support for impeaching Trump has crept up from 35 percent two weeks ago, to 40 percent last week, to its 46 percent standing this week. While Clinton voters initially only supported Trump’s impeachment 65/14, after seeing him in office over the last few weeks that’s gone up already to 83/6.”
According to the Nation , Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro stated that if President Trump “orders federal agencies to ignore judicial rulings, there should be a resolution of censure. If he does it again, there should be articles of impeachment.” Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters agrees with Castro. She stated that she has “not called for impeachment yet. He’s doing it himself.” Constitutional lawyer John Bonifaz argued that “there must be an impeachment investigation initiated in the United States Congress,” due to the type of Presidential corruption that is now being witnessed.
Alexander Hamilton wrote a description of impeachment in The Federalist Papers that is exceedingly relevant for the circumstances surrounding us today.
He wrote, “The subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated political, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself.”
Impeachment is an extreme power held by the House of Representatives and Congress alike, however, Donald Trump has a predilection for confrontation and tends to surround himself with controversy. There is also a clear risk of corruption where his business interests intersect with his presidential position.
The GOP is at odds with many of his policy initiatives. Hamilton warned that “there will always be the greatest danger that the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength of the parties, than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.” Although it may not be a likely outcome, it is not entirely implausible that the Republicans in Congress will call for a Donald Trump Impeachment trial if the “misconduct of public men” that Hamilton spoke of becomes something that they can no longer support.
[Featured Image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]