Impeachment

The Constitution lists treason, bribery, high crimes, and misdemeanors as grounds for impeachment. It defines treason as giving aid and comfort to our enemies. Trump's actions fit those parameters:

  1. Colluding with a foreign adversary to manipulate the 2016 presidential election in his favor

  2. Undermining equal protection under law & providing aid & comfort to racists

  3. Sabotaging national security for the benefit of adversaries like Russia and North Korea

  4. Obstructing justice, sowing dissension, and undermining DoJ, FBI, and Mueller investigation

  5. Dereliction of duty to maintain and protect the integrity of future elections

  6. Violating the Emoluments clause of the Constitution by using his high office for personal gain

In the House: It's time for House Democrats to take impeachment seriously by calling for the kind of public investigations these crimes require. For example, did the NRA launder illegal Russian campaign funding? If Republicans block official inquiries, unofficial ones should be held.

In the Senate: As members of the Judiciary Committee, our Senators can't publicly call for impeachment at this time. They can, however, call for investigations. For example, did the NRA launder illegal Russian campaign funding? Urge them to filibuster against all spending bills that do not fully fund protection of future elections, inquiries into administration malfeasance, and Mueller's investigation.

Pro-Impeachment Background Info

Impeachment in general

  • “Donald Trump's 8 Impeachable Offenses” (Tom Steyer, Need to Impeach, undated)

  • “Grounds for Impeachment” (Impeachment March, undated)

  • “The case for normalizing impeachment” (Ezra Klein, Vox, 12/6/17)

  • Impeaching Trump: A Database of Arguments and Analyses, (Take Care clause, 5/21/18)

  • List of impeachment arguments & accusations against Trump (Newsweek, 11/23/17)

 
1. Collusion with foreign adversary

  • Recent indictments clearly connect the Trump campaign to Russian manipulation of 2016 election in favor of Trump (Jonathan Chalit, New York magazine, 7/13/18)

  • Timeline of documents & statements link Trump and his campaign to Russian election-subversion campaign (John Kruzel, PolitiFact, 7/16/18)

  • “Senate panel backs intelligence agencies on Russia-Trump conclusions,” (Reuters News Agency, 7/3/18)

  • Long list of who believes that Russia tilted election in Trump's favor (Time magazine, 7/16/18)

 
2. Undermining equal protection under law and fostering racism

  • “Trump’s racism the key to evangelical support,” (Afro, 7/16/18)

  • “Donald Trump’s Racism: The Definitive List,” (Leonhardt & Philbrick, NY Times, 1/15/18)

  • “Trump's Actions, Speeches Normalize Racism,” (Max Boot, Hartford Courant, 6/2/18)

  • “Trump and Russia used race to divide America,” (Jason Sattler, USA Today, 7/19/18)

  • Trump & Republican Party normalize racism for political gain, (David Corn, Mother Jones, 1/12/18)

  • “A President Who Fans, Rather Than Douses, the Nation’s Racial Fires,” (Peter Baker, NY Times, 1/12/18)

  • Trump's uses his presidential authority to support racism, (Karine Jean-Pierre, NBC news opinion 1/12/1)

 
3. Sabotaging national security for the benefit of adversaries like Russia & North Korea

  • “The entire Republican Party is becoming a Russian asset” (Paul Waldman, Washington Post, 7/20/18)

  • “The Worst Security Risk in U.S. History,” (David Frum, The Atlantic, 7/19/18)

  • Trump unleashes havoc at NATO (Herszenhorn, & Bayer, Politico, 7/12/18)

  • “North Korea Has Increased Production of Fuel for Nuclear Weapons,” (Report Fortune magazine, 6/30/18)

  • “Trump’s big North Korea deal is already turning out to be a sham,” Brian Klaas, The Atlantic, 7/2/18)

  • Undermining NATO is Trump's gift to Russia & Putin (Gordon & Daalder, The Atlantic, 7/19/18)

  • The effect of Trump's foreign policy is to make America weak again (Amy Zegart, The Atlantic, 7/12/18)

 
4. Obstruction of justice, sowing dissension, and undermining DoJ, FBI, Mueller investigation

  • “Mueller’s Four Findings on Trump’s Obstruction of Justice,” Nancy LeTourneau, Washington Monthly, 4/13/18)

  • “New Evidence Trump Obstructed Justice in the House Intelligence Committee’s Minority Report,” (Ryan Goodman, Slate, 4/28/18)

  • “Trump sides with Russia against FBI at Helsinki summit,” (BBC News, 7/16/18)

  • “The Chilling Effect of Trump’s War on the FBI,” (Natasha Bertrand, The Atlantic, 5/25/18

  • “Trump's attack on the FBI is an attack on the US constitution itself,” (Jill Abramson, The Guardian, 1/27/18)

  • “Trump v. the Department of Justice,” (NY Times editorial board, 5/21/18)

  • “Donald Trump and the erosion of democratic norms in America,” (Tom McCarthy, The Guardian, 6/2/18)

  • “Trump’s All-Out Attack on the Rule of Law,” (Bob Dreyfuss, Nation magazine, 2/1/18)

 
5. Dereliction of duty to maintain re protecting the integrity of future elections

  • Trump has refused to protect American elections from Russian manipulation. (Minority Report, Senate Foreign Relations Committee 1/10/18)

  • “Trump won’t protect our elections,” (Jesse Jackson, Chicago Sun Times, 7/16/18)

  • Trump does nothing to block Russian election interference, (Alex Ward, Vox, 3/1/18)

  • “Republicans block bid to extend election security grants,” (Mathew Daly, PBS Newshour 7/19/18)

  • “NSA Director Testifies Trump Has So Far Refused to Protect American Democracy From Future Russian Interference,” (Adm Michael Rogers, Slate 2/27/18)

  • “Trump's US state department has not spent a cent of $120m allocated to counter Russian meddling” (Judith Vonberg, (Independent, 3/5/18)

 
6. Violating the Emoluments clause of the Constitution by using his high office for personal gain

  • “Trump deal with ZTE a ‘violation of the emoluments clause,” (Rep. Adam Schiff, The Hill, 5/15/18)

  • Trumps massive tale of corruption, (Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, 5/21/18)

  • “Trump’s corruption deserves to be a central issue in the 2018 midterms,” (Matthew Yglesias, Vox, 3/1/18)

  • “Trump's Biggest Potential Conflict Of Interest Is Hiding In Plain Sight,” (Dan Alexander, Forbes magazine, 2/13/18)

  • “Donald Trump is raking in big bucks from emoluments foreign and domestic,” (Robert Schlesinger, Managing Editor, U.S. News & World Report, 3/5/18)

  • “Donald Trump: A list of potential conflicts of interest,” (BBC News, 4/18/17)

  • “Confronting the Cost of Trump’s Corruption to American Families,” Center for American Progress, 6/4/18)

Deep DiveLauren CarpenterTrump, Governance