'Bribery' is right there in the Constitution
By Ari Melber
Oct. 19, 2019 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) has described President Trump’s public call for a foreign government to investigate former vice president Joe Biden’s family as an “abuse of power.” Ditto former congressman and 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas). Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has characterized Trump’s recent conduct — including his July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s president — as “brazen efforts to pressure foreign powers to intervene in the 2020 elections,” adding that “continued efforts to hide the truth of the President’s abuse of power from the American people will be regarded as further evidence of obstruction.”
For congressional Democrats considering impeachment, there is a case to be made that the Constitution’s reference to “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” applies to Trump’s alleged Ukraine plot, charges of a coverup or possible obstruction of justice. And there would be nothing unusual about Congress considering several articles of impeachment: The House voted on four articles against President Bill Clinton — obstruction passed, abuse of power failed — and 11 against President Andrew Johnson. The Senate ultimately voted on two articles against Clinton and three against Johnson.
Amid a series of House investigations, however, and several public, potentially incriminating admissions by Trump, Democrats haven’t settled on a core legal rationale for impeachment, which is striking, considering the Constitution’s answer is staring them in the face. Trump’s statements and actions with regard to Ukraine appear to fit one of the few offenses the Constitution specifically lists as impeachable ...
The legal case would be that Trump offered a bribe. He encouraged Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky “to do us a favor” and look into, among other things, the Biden family. Trump would later acknowledge that goal, telling reporters on Oct. 3 that he wanted Zelensky to “start a major investigation into the Bidens.” Evidence and testimony from inside the Trump administration, meanwhile, suggests that the sought after benefit — an investigation of Trump’s rival — was conditioned on U.S. government action: Administration officials have referenced apparent conditions on both a coveted White House meeting between the two leaders, and on disbursement of millions in military aid, pending Ukraine’s government announcing an investigation of the Bidens ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/10/19/bribery-is-right-there-constitution-trump-could-be-impeached-that/
