A Texas Republican
wanted to impeach Obama to stop his agenda that had not been proposed, therefore, impossible to make public. However, they wanted to impeach him
over his immigration policies, and the attack of the American compound in
Benghazi, Libya.
At a 2014 campaign town hall meeting, Republican candidate Joni Ernst told the crowd she believed President Obama had become a dictator. She said he needed to face the consequences for his actions, which she did not name. Ernst said President Obama should be impeached and removed from office. Again, she cited no reason. But the same Joni Ernst is defending Donald Trump. Maybe her fondness of him runs deep because Trump wanted her to be his VP. Family issues forced her to turn down the offer.
Reasons to impeach President Obama were endless. The rise of the Tea Party quickly took hold, immediately co-opting Republicans, none of whom wanted the wrath of the Tea Party raining down on them. Despite all the complaints and threats to oust the President, not one of the wish-he-was-gone politicians was brave enough to begin the impeachment process. Not even the Tea Party could back Republicans into that corner.
Wandering into valley of impeachment, Democrats and Republicans cannot be willy-nilly. They have to weigh the good vs the bad; the benefits vs alienation of voters who may not agree with their decision. The party that’s in control of the Senate may not be willing to prosecute. But there is another choice: Censure. This is a formal statement of disapproval or public reprimand.
There was no hesitation to impeach President Bill Clinton, December 19, 1998. Ken Starr, a Republican, was appointed special counselor in the Clinton sex scandal. He was thorough in his documentation regarding what he learned about the affair.
Fifty Republicans voted to remove Clinton from office on obstruction of justice; 45 voted to remove him for perjury. No Democrats voted to remove him from office, but 31 of them supported the proposal to investigate him. Republicans voted for the resolution to impeach Clinton. The resolution was presented to Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Harley Hyde of Illinois.
“Barely six weeks after the American people had plainly sent them a message against impeachment, the House passed two of the four articles of impeachment approved by the Hyde Committee. The first, accusing me of lying to the grand jury, passed 228-206, with five Republicans voting against it. The second, alleging that I had obstructed justice by suborning perjury and hiding gifts, passed 221-212, twelve Republicans voting no. The two charges were inconsistent. . . . Five Democrats voted for impeachment. Four of them came from conservative districts. The fifth said he wanted to vote for censure then brought the argument that he was doing the next best thing.
“Peter King, with whom I had worked on Northern Island, withstood weeks of enormous pressure, including threats to destroy him politically if he did not vote for impeachment. In several television interviews, King made a simple argument to his fellow Republicans: ‘I’m against impeachment because if President Clinton were a Republican, you’d be against it, too. The pro-impeachment Republicans who appeared on the programs with him never had a good response to that’”. My Life Bill Clinton.
Andrew Johnson was selected by Abraham Lincoln to be his VP in 1864. He stepped into the presidency after Lincoln’s assassination in 1865. Johnson was impeached in 1868 for dismissing Edwin M. Staton, Secretary of War. Johnson ignored the Tenure of Office Act, passed in 1867, which curtailed his presidential power. He was not authorized to remove Staton on his own. The House voted to impeach Johnson, making him the first U. S. president to be impeached. The vote was 35 for, 19 against. Senator Edmund G. Ross’s no vote kept Johnson in office to complete his term. He dodged a Senate trial.
In 1974 Richard Nixon avoided impeachment by resigning after the Watergate burglary scandal was exposed. On February 6, 1974 the House of Representatives approved H. Res. 803, giving the Judiciary Committee authority to investigate Nixon. Weeks later, July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee voted 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment. A couple of days later two more articles were added: obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress.
A number of Democrats got angry at Speaker Nancy Pelosi because she would not agree to impeach President George Bush and VP Dick Cheney for initiating the war with Iraq. Democrats wanted to charge them with war crimes for the bombing innocent Iraqis. In 2008, Joy Behar of The View, scolded Pelosi on national TV. The talk show host wanted her to launch impeachment against the pair.
Behar said to Pelosi, “You’ve ruled against impeaching George Bush and Dick Cheney. And now Kucinich is trying to pass that. Why do you . . . why do you insist on not impeaching these people, so that the world and America can see the crimes that they’ve committed”?
In 2014 the Tea Party balked at impeaching President Obama because the 2016 presidential election was too close. They hated Obama with a purple passion, but they did not want to help candidate Hillary Clinton realize a victory.
“But while there are a plethora of reasons to impeach Obama, is the Republican leadership—are the RINOs—really likely to get behind it? Not in a million years. Why? Because it would hugely increase Hillary Clinton’s chances of victory in the 2016 presidential election. While impeaching Obama would undoubtedly be bad for the Republican Party going into 2016, it could be one of the only actions that will save America from collapse in the long term”. The Tea Party
The print media and TV talking heads have gone batshit crazy because Pelosi is refusing to jump headfirst into the impeachment pool before seeing how deep the water is. With the release of the Robert Mueller report on Donald Trump and his connection to Russia, more and more Democrats are now demanding that he be impeached. Pelosi and committee chairs are not nibbling at the bait. They are conducting their own investigations, putting together separate cases. Democratic chairmen are subpoenaing current and former employees of the Trump Administration. Not surprisingly, he warned Congress that he will not allow anyone in his administration to cooperate with them or submit requested documents.
Despite sitting in the hot seat, Trump is acting as if the heat is not bothering him. For three years he has been screaming about a “witch hunt” specifically created to bring down his presidency. He has been telling the world that he is innocent of “collusion and obstruction of justice.” He has refused to show his tax returns, saying he is under audit. He has refused to produce an IRS letter to back his excuse. The Constitution does not require that presidential candidates or presidents show their income tax returns.
Trump refused to participate in a live interview with Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor hired to investigate the firing of James Comey, former FBI director. Trump had previously declared that he would be glad to talk to Mueller when asked by the media. His attorneys were way past too scared to let Trump be questioned by Mueller and his team of investigators. Trump has a problem telling the truth.
Subsequently, Trump filled out a questionnaire sent to him by Mueller. Reponses to the questions were sketchy and incomplete. Despite saying he has the best memory in the world, Trump appeared to have lost all memories. His attorneys answered the questions for him. Robert Mueller’s report, after a two years investigation, concluded that Trump had committed 10 acts of obstruction. Unable to prosecute a sitting president, Mueller left it to Congress to make a decision about Trump.
Using his usual mode of communication, Twitter, Trump attempted to intimidate Michael Cohen, his “fixer” and his attorney for 10 years. When he talked to Mueller, Trump called him a “rat”. He promised a pardon to those who did not/would not cooperate with Mueller. Cohen not only cooperated, but he also offered Mueller audio tapes and documents. Despite cooperating with Mueller, Cohen is going to prison for the three years.
Trump was incensed when Cohen testified in front of Congress, basically retelling his story to the public. Trump hosted a Twitter bitchfest, in which he threw all kinds of shade and accusations at Cohen. He tweeted that Mueller should look into the finances of Cohen’s father. This caused Cohen to fear for the safety of his family and himself. Congress had to assure him that his family would not face any danger if he testified publicly.
Donald Trump said if Congress tries to impeach him, he will go straight to the Supreme Court. Given that he does not believe rules or the Constitution applies to him, Trump intends to push aside steps that may lead to his impeachment. He thinks the majority of conservative judges on the court will save him. He is assuming that the Supreme Court justices will admonish Congress for daring to impeach him.
“Impeachment, in law, is a criminal proceeding instituted against a public official by a legislative body. In the federal government of the U.S. the House of Representatives initiates the impeachment proceedings, and the Senate as judge. The impeachment process has rarely been employed, largely because it is cumbersome. It can occupy Congress for a lengthy period of time, fill thousands of pages of testimony, and involve conflicting and troublesome political pressures. Repeated attempts in the U.S. Congress to amend the procedure, however, have been unsuccessful, partly because impeachment is regarded as an integral part of the system of checks and balances”. Encyclopedia Britannia
The United States Constitution says that a sitting president can be impeached with due cause. That being: 1.) Treason, 2.) Bribery, 3.) High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Impeachment of a president was initially suggested by Benjamin Franklin in 1787 at the Constitution Convention. It was a good idea and common sense to suggest impeachment instead of the alternative, which was assassination. Franklin reasoned that a president could not clear his name if he was shot dead.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell unleashed a stern warning to Democrats after their 2018 blowout mid-term victories. He told them to go light on thoughts of impeaching Donald Trump. “ . . . the business of presidential harassment might not work out for you too well”.
McConnell reminded Democrats that when Republicans impeached Bill Clinton it did not work out well. Clinton’s approval ratings went up; Republicans went down. Speaker Pelosi is now weighing the best route to take regarding Donald Trump. Impeachment is not an emotional strategy. It is pure politics spurred by revenge and power. Republicans are better at the game than Democrats, who endeavor to steer clear of knee jerk reactions.
Some framers of the Constitution opposed the impeachment clause. They did not want to endow a legislative body with the power to stand in judgement against the executive branch. They were of the notion that such a clause might compromise the separation of powers.
Not until Trump was elected president did the three branches of the U. S. government get fused into one. A crew of old White Congressmen and Senators have been feigning ignorance for almost three years, blindly allowing Trump to run over the Constitution. They have allowed him to think that all government employees are his personal hires; their salaries paid by taxpayers.
Massachusetts’s Elbridge Gerry, who served in the House of Representatives, and was VP under James Madison, said: “A good magistrate will not fear [impeachment]. A bad one ought to be kept in fear of them”. History.com
“Individual members of the House can introduce impeachment resolutions like ordinary bills, or the House could initiate proceedings by passing a resolution authorizing an inquiry. The committee on the judiciary ordinarily has jurisdiction over impeachments, but special committees investigated charges before the Judicial Committee was created in 1813.
"The committee then chooses whether to pursue articles of impeachment against the accused official and report them to the full House. If the articles are adopted (by simple majority vote), the House appoints members of resolution to manage the ensuing Senate trial on its behalf. These managers act as prosecutors in the Senate and are usually members of the Judiciary Committee. The number of managers has varied across impeachment trials . . . The partisan composition of managers have also varied depending on the nature of the impeachment. The managers, by definition, always support the House’s impeachment action”. History, Art and Archives
House members act as the managers during the course of the trial. Just as any case where guilt or innocence must be proven, the president has the right to have an attorney or attorneys to litigate his defense. In the event the Senate concurs with impeachment, the Supreme Court Justice presides over the trial in the Senate chamber. At its conclusion of Senators deliberates in private. After a decision is render a copy of the judgement is filed with the Secretary of State. If guilty, the impeached president is removed from office, and barred from holding office in the future. Bill Clinton was disbarred.
Fifteen Republicans were designated managers during Clinton's impeachment. One of them is a Trump spokesman: Lindsey Graham. He has changed his stance on impeachment now that a Republican president might get impeached. In a January 23, 1999 video, then Congressman Graham said a president can be removed “if this body [Congress] determines that your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role . . . because impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office”.
Speaker of the House designate Bob Livingston, asked President Clinton to resign. Some of the more vociferous complainers against Clinton were later run out of Congress for making the same mistake as Clinton: committing adultery. Livingston, Newt Gingrich, Helen Chenoweth, Henry Hyde. Gingrich is perhaps the worst of all the adulterers.
Charles Ruff, White House counsel Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial, said, “Impeachment is not a remedy for private wrongs. It’s a method of removing someone whose continued presence in office would cause grave danger to the nation”.
At a 2014 campaign town hall meeting, Republican candidate Joni Ernst told the crowd she believed President Obama had become a dictator. She said he needed to face the consequences for his actions, which she did not name. Ernst said President Obama should be impeached and removed from office. Again, she cited no reason. But the same Joni Ernst is defending Donald Trump. Maybe her fondness of him runs deep because Trump wanted her to be his VP. Family issues forced her to turn down the offer.
Reasons to impeach President Obama were endless. The rise of the Tea Party quickly took hold, immediately co-opting Republicans, none of whom wanted the wrath of the Tea Party raining down on them. Despite all the complaints and threats to oust the President, not one of the wish-he-was-gone politicians was brave enough to begin the impeachment process. Not even the Tea Party could back Republicans into that corner.
Wandering into valley of impeachment, Democrats and Republicans cannot be willy-nilly. They have to weigh the good vs the bad; the benefits vs alienation of voters who may not agree with their decision. The party that’s in control of the Senate may not be willing to prosecute. But there is another choice: Censure. This is a formal statement of disapproval or public reprimand.
There was no hesitation to impeach President Bill Clinton, December 19, 1998. Ken Starr, a Republican, was appointed special counselor in the Clinton sex scandal. He was thorough in his documentation regarding what he learned about the affair.
Fifty Republicans voted to remove Clinton from office on obstruction of justice; 45 voted to remove him for perjury. No Democrats voted to remove him from office, but 31 of them supported the proposal to investigate him. Republicans voted for the resolution to impeach Clinton. The resolution was presented to Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Harley Hyde of Illinois.
“Barely six weeks after the American people had plainly sent them a message against impeachment, the House passed two of the four articles of impeachment approved by the Hyde Committee. The first, accusing me of lying to the grand jury, passed 228-206, with five Republicans voting against it. The second, alleging that I had obstructed justice by suborning perjury and hiding gifts, passed 221-212, twelve Republicans voting no. The two charges were inconsistent. . . . Five Democrats voted for impeachment. Four of them came from conservative districts. The fifth said he wanted to vote for censure then brought the argument that he was doing the next best thing.
“Peter King, with whom I had worked on Northern Island, withstood weeks of enormous pressure, including threats to destroy him politically if he did not vote for impeachment. In several television interviews, King made a simple argument to his fellow Republicans: ‘I’m against impeachment because if President Clinton were a Republican, you’d be against it, too. The pro-impeachment Republicans who appeared on the programs with him never had a good response to that’”. My Life Bill Clinton.
Andrew Johnson was selected by Abraham Lincoln to be his VP in 1864. He stepped into the presidency after Lincoln’s assassination in 1865. Johnson was impeached in 1868 for dismissing Edwin M. Staton, Secretary of War. Johnson ignored the Tenure of Office Act, passed in 1867, which curtailed his presidential power. He was not authorized to remove Staton on his own. The House voted to impeach Johnson, making him the first U. S. president to be impeached. The vote was 35 for, 19 against. Senator Edmund G. Ross’s no vote kept Johnson in office to complete his term. He dodged a Senate trial.
In 1974 Richard Nixon avoided impeachment by resigning after the Watergate burglary scandal was exposed. On February 6, 1974 the House of Representatives approved H. Res. 803, giving the Judiciary Committee authority to investigate Nixon. Weeks later, July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee voted 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment. A couple of days later two more articles were added: obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress.
A number of Democrats got angry at Speaker Nancy Pelosi because she would not agree to impeach President George Bush and VP Dick Cheney for initiating the war with Iraq. Democrats wanted to charge them with war crimes for the bombing innocent Iraqis. In 2008, Joy Behar of The View, scolded Pelosi on national TV. The talk show host wanted her to launch impeachment against the pair.
Behar said to Pelosi, “You’ve ruled against impeaching George Bush and Dick Cheney. And now Kucinich is trying to pass that. Why do you . . . why do you insist on not impeaching these people, so that the world and America can see the crimes that they’ve committed”?
In 2014 the Tea Party balked at impeaching President Obama because the 2016 presidential election was too close. They hated Obama with a purple passion, but they did not want to help candidate Hillary Clinton realize a victory.
“But while there are a plethora of reasons to impeach Obama, is the Republican leadership—are the RINOs—really likely to get behind it? Not in a million years. Why? Because it would hugely increase Hillary Clinton’s chances of victory in the 2016 presidential election. While impeaching Obama would undoubtedly be bad for the Republican Party going into 2016, it could be one of the only actions that will save America from collapse in the long term”. The Tea Party
The print media and TV talking heads have gone batshit crazy because Pelosi is refusing to jump headfirst into the impeachment pool before seeing how deep the water is. With the release of the Robert Mueller report on Donald Trump and his connection to Russia, more and more Democrats are now demanding that he be impeached. Pelosi and committee chairs are not nibbling at the bait. They are conducting their own investigations, putting together separate cases. Democratic chairmen are subpoenaing current and former employees of the Trump Administration. Not surprisingly, he warned Congress that he will not allow anyone in his administration to cooperate with them or submit requested documents.
Despite sitting in the hot seat, Trump is acting as if the heat is not bothering him. For three years he has been screaming about a “witch hunt” specifically created to bring down his presidency. He has been telling the world that he is innocent of “collusion and obstruction of justice.” He has refused to show his tax returns, saying he is under audit. He has refused to produce an IRS letter to back his excuse. The Constitution does not require that presidential candidates or presidents show their income tax returns.
Trump refused to participate in a live interview with Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor hired to investigate the firing of James Comey, former FBI director. Trump had previously declared that he would be glad to talk to Mueller when asked by the media. His attorneys were way past too scared to let Trump be questioned by Mueller and his team of investigators. Trump has a problem telling the truth.
Subsequently, Trump filled out a questionnaire sent to him by Mueller. Reponses to the questions were sketchy and incomplete. Despite saying he has the best memory in the world, Trump appeared to have lost all memories. His attorneys answered the questions for him. Robert Mueller’s report, after a two years investigation, concluded that Trump had committed 10 acts of obstruction. Unable to prosecute a sitting president, Mueller left it to Congress to make a decision about Trump.
Using his usual mode of communication, Twitter, Trump attempted to intimidate Michael Cohen, his “fixer” and his attorney for 10 years. When he talked to Mueller, Trump called him a “rat”. He promised a pardon to those who did not/would not cooperate with Mueller. Cohen not only cooperated, but he also offered Mueller audio tapes and documents. Despite cooperating with Mueller, Cohen is going to prison for the three years.
Trump was incensed when Cohen testified in front of Congress, basically retelling his story to the public. Trump hosted a Twitter bitchfest, in which he threw all kinds of shade and accusations at Cohen. He tweeted that Mueller should look into the finances of Cohen’s father. This caused Cohen to fear for the safety of his family and himself. Congress had to assure him that his family would not face any danger if he testified publicly.
Donald Trump said if Congress tries to impeach him, he will go straight to the Supreme Court. Given that he does not believe rules or the Constitution applies to him, Trump intends to push aside steps that may lead to his impeachment. He thinks the majority of conservative judges on the court will save him. He is assuming that the Supreme Court justices will admonish Congress for daring to impeach him.
“Impeachment, in law, is a criminal proceeding instituted against a public official by a legislative body. In the federal government of the U.S. the House of Representatives initiates the impeachment proceedings, and the Senate as judge. The impeachment process has rarely been employed, largely because it is cumbersome. It can occupy Congress for a lengthy period of time, fill thousands of pages of testimony, and involve conflicting and troublesome political pressures. Repeated attempts in the U.S. Congress to amend the procedure, however, have been unsuccessful, partly because impeachment is regarded as an integral part of the system of checks and balances”. Encyclopedia Britannia
The United States Constitution says that a sitting president can be impeached with due cause. That being: 1.) Treason, 2.) Bribery, 3.) High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Impeachment of a president was initially suggested by Benjamin Franklin in 1787 at the Constitution Convention. It was a good idea and common sense to suggest impeachment instead of the alternative, which was assassination. Franklin reasoned that a president could not clear his name if he was shot dead.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell unleashed a stern warning to Democrats after their 2018 blowout mid-term victories. He told them to go light on thoughts of impeaching Donald Trump. “ . . . the business of presidential harassment might not work out for you too well”.
McConnell reminded Democrats that when Republicans impeached Bill Clinton it did not work out well. Clinton’s approval ratings went up; Republicans went down. Speaker Pelosi is now weighing the best route to take regarding Donald Trump. Impeachment is not an emotional strategy. It is pure politics spurred by revenge and power. Republicans are better at the game than Democrats, who endeavor to steer clear of knee jerk reactions.
Some framers of the Constitution opposed the impeachment clause. They did not want to endow a legislative body with the power to stand in judgement against the executive branch. They were of the notion that such a clause might compromise the separation of powers.
Not until Trump was elected president did the three branches of the U. S. government get fused into one. A crew of old White Congressmen and Senators have been feigning ignorance for almost three years, blindly allowing Trump to run over the Constitution. They have allowed him to think that all government employees are his personal hires; their salaries paid by taxpayers.
Massachusetts’s Elbridge Gerry, who served in the House of Representatives, and was VP under James Madison, said: “A good magistrate will not fear [impeachment]. A bad one ought to be kept in fear of them”. History.com
“Individual members of the House can introduce impeachment resolutions like ordinary bills, or the House could initiate proceedings by passing a resolution authorizing an inquiry. The committee on the judiciary ordinarily has jurisdiction over impeachments, but special committees investigated charges before the Judicial Committee was created in 1813.
"The committee then chooses whether to pursue articles of impeachment against the accused official and report them to the full House. If the articles are adopted (by simple majority vote), the House appoints members of resolution to manage the ensuing Senate trial on its behalf. These managers act as prosecutors in the Senate and are usually members of the Judiciary Committee. The number of managers has varied across impeachment trials . . . The partisan composition of managers have also varied depending on the nature of the impeachment. The managers, by definition, always support the House’s impeachment action”. History, Art and Archives
House members act as the managers during the course of the trial. Just as any case where guilt or innocence must be proven, the president has the right to have an attorney or attorneys to litigate his defense. In the event the Senate concurs with impeachment, the Supreme Court Justice presides over the trial in the Senate chamber. At its conclusion of Senators deliberates in private. After a decision is render a copy of the judgement is filed with the Secretary of State. If guilty, the impeached president is removed from office, and barred from holding office in the future. Bill Clinton was disbarred.
Fifteen Republicans were designated managers during Clinton's impeachment. One of them is a Trump spokesman: Lindsey Graham. He has changed his stance on impeachment now that a Republican president might get impeached. In a January 23, 1999 video, then Congressman Graham said a president can be removed “if this body [Congress] determines that your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role . . . because impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office”.
Speaker of the House designate Bob Livingston, asked President Clinton to resign. Some of the more vociferous complainers against Clinton were later run out of Congress for making the same mistake as Clinton: committing adultery. Livingston, Newt Gingrich, Helen Chenoweth, Henry Hyde. Gingrich is perhaps the worst of all the adulterers.
Charles Ruff, White House counsel Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial, said, “Impeachment is not a remedy for private wrongs. It’s a method of removing someone whose continued presence in office would cause grave danger to the nation”.
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