Defeat, Don’t Impeach.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi may be right – he’s just not worth it.
There are so many reasons that Donald J. Trump should be Impeached and driven from the White House. The report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller gives very clear evidence that there are valid Obstruction of Justice charges that should be further investigated by the Congress so that the American people can get the credible information we all need to make our own judgements about the integrity of Mr. Trump. Mr. Mueller was appointed to investigate allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and related matters. As a result of this investigation, numerous individuals were indicted or pled guilty regarding various crimes, and an additional line of inquiry opened as a result of the actions of Mr. Trump because of his firing of FBI Director, James Comey. The firing of Mr. Comey raised the serious specter of Mr. Trump seeking to interfere in the actual investigation of his presidential campaign and election related events, which on its face seems to be obstruction of a lawful investigation. So, the two main issues, although there are many, would appear to be the Russia investigation of interference in an American election, and that the President of the United States of America actively sought to obstruct justice being served by his own direct actions.
We have had this experience with a previous President 45+ years ago, involving Richard M. Nixon and Watergate. There were allegations of the Nixon campaign interfering in the proper conduct of an American election by trying to steal information from the Democratic National Committee, and then lying about it as part of a larger conspiracy with the highest level aides in his Administration. In February, 1973, the Senate created the Select Committee to Investigate Watergate. In May, 1973, a Special Counsel was appointed to investigate the Watergate burglary and efforts to cover up the actions of Nixon and others. Special Counsel Archibald Cox issued a subpoena for the “Nixon tapes” which would probably prove the cover-up and the lies of Richard Nixon and others involved in Watergate. White House Counsel John Dean, subsequent to his firing by Nixon, actually testified before the Senate Watergate Committee, which added further evidence of the Nixon obstruction of justice as the Watergate hearings were broadcast live by the then three major networks daily on a rotating basis. Americans could see and hear for themselves live testimony in the people’s chamber of the U.S. Senate what was happening to democracy in this country.
The point here is that we know how to get information, conduct investigations, seek the truth and then make rational judgements about what is acceptable public servant behavior. The Congress at that time did not start with hearings about Impeachment, they started with an investigation of allegations, details and facts to make the case for the American public as to what actions should next be taken under our Constitution if any wrongdoing was found. The beginning of the end of the Nixon Presidency was the chain of events that he started with the “Saturday Night Massacre”, his own attempt at obstruction by seeking to have the Special Counsel fired for issuing the subpoenas for the Nixon tapes. Public opinion shifted dramatically negative as a result, leading to further evidence that Nixon was probably guilty of Obstruction of Justice. The U. S. Supreme Court later unanimously agreed that Nixon had to turn over the full unredacted tapes which ultimately revealed, along with another “smoking gun tape”, that Richard M. Nixon fully knew about the Watergate burglary and cover-up. In February, 1974, a full year after the establishment of the Senate Watergate Committee and its televised hearing and investigations, the House of Representatives approved a Resolution giving the House Judiciary Committee authority to investigate impeachment of the President.
Again, it is important to note that in one of the worst corruption and obstruction scandals in modern American history, there was a full year of televised hearings for the American public to decide for themselves what they wanted their elected representatives in Congress to do to protect our democracy. The Congress in 1973/1974 by their public hearings and hard work of revealing ALL of the evidence, made the case to the American public in a bipartisan manner that Richard M. Nixon SHOULD be Impeached by the preponderance of the evidence in the public realm. All of these lessons of history are instructive to the current circumstances of the Russian probe and the allegations of obstruction of justice involving Mr. Trump.
There are at least six Congressional Committees with either jurisdiction or active efforts to investigate the many issues raised by the Mueller investigation. Maybe a Select Committee on Russian Interference and Presidential Obstruction should be created, similar to the Senate Watergate Committee in the 1970’s. Such a Committee should be headed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, who is doing an excellent job in managing the complexities of the current Judiciary Committee work. Mr. Mueller has detailed 10 specific instances of possible obstruction by Mr. Trump that should be further examined. The full Mueller report has not been released for the American public to better understand what really happened and what did Mr. Mueller really find in his investigation.
During the Senate Watergate Committee hearings, Nixon aides H.R. Haldeman (Chief of Staff), John Ehrlichman (Former White House Counsel/Domestic Affairs Advisor) and John Mitchell (Former Attorney General) ALL testified at those hearings in 1973, a year before Impeachment proceedings began. The Trump White House is stonewalling and seeking to prohibit current and former high-ranking appointees (William Barr, Don McGahn and Hope Hicks) from testifying in legitimate Congressional hearings, possibly further obstructing justice themselves. All of these individuals must be compelled by subpoena to testify in Congress in public. All of these legal issues can and should be resolved in the Courts, as we are a nation of laws, and the fundamental right of Congress to conduct investigations must be affirmed and reaffirmed by the Courts on behalf of the American people. Congress should and must aggressively pursue its rights in the Courts AND in the halls of Congress in their hearing rooms, requiring witnesses to testify or be held in Contempt of Congress, for which an offender can be jailed and fined. This is the most appropriate path for the Congress to pursue as in any other legal proceeding – you have to make the case in the court of public opinion, as well as in any other venue.
America is not yet ready for Impeachment proceedings because the case for Impeachment has not yet been publicly made, all of the Congressional evidence for an Impeachment is not yet publicly available, we have not heard publicly from the necessary witnesses who have critical information needed to make the case for Impeachment – all of which will potentially lead the public to believe that the Impeachment proceeding are political and not proper. I believe that is the worst scenario to occur during the upcoming Presidential election, during which Donald J. Trump will be handed a ready-made campaign theme that he is the victim of POLITICS, rather than the perpetrator of actual CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR.
The Constitution provides one other option to Impeachment, even if many of us believe that the President is as guilty as sin of various crimes – electoral defeat. As Democrats, we should conduct two simultaneous levels of activity: Congress, investigate; the People, organize and vote. There is a finality to elections and the results speak volumes. We can do both at the same time and accomplish all of our goals – evidence from the hearings will better inform the public with information that will help Americans make their own electoral decisions and energize the public to vote. In addition, all of the evidence from the hearings can also be used by the Law Enforcement community regarding any further criminal investigations that any U.S Attorney may pursue as a result of still open investigations resulting from the Mueller Report. The Statute of Limitations for many of the allegations against Mr. Trump will not have expired in January, 2021.
Think about it, the Congressional investigatory process provides further evidence of obstruction and other potential crimes better suited for Law Enforcement actions; the public learns the full story of what really happened in our last Presidential election and whether the President sought to obstruct that investigation; the public votes overwhelmingly to reject the Trump Presidency and he is driven from office after one term in January, 2021; and lastly, given the clear evidence from the Mueller Report and Congressional investigations, Donald J. Trump as a private citizen may be charged with Obstruction of Justice, Campaign Finance violations or other potential crimes. These are ALL possible scenarios if we proceed as Speaker Pelosi has articulated consistently - deliberately, diligently, and directly by following the rules, history and precedent. We have been down this road before. Defeat, Don’t Impeach. Donald J. Trump is NOT worth politically tearing the country apart with Impeachment proceedings, but he should be defeated at the ballot box – by the people.
Michael A. Nutter
Former Mayor of Philadelphia
DNC At-Large Member