There are now just two positions: those actively seeking the impeachment of Donald Trump, and those who are not only complacent in watching America fall, but complicit in its destruction.
On Sunday, Donald Trump admitted that he used a phone call to the president of Ukraine to press a foreign leader into opening an investigation into a political opponent. And really, that’s everything required. If there were not over a hundred contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russia, if Trump were not openly violating the law in refusing to turn over his taxes, had he not repeatedly attempted to thwart any investigation into his campaign violations, had he not registered eight companies in Saudi Arabia during the campaign, Trump’s actions in regard to Ukraine would still be utterly sufficient to demand his immediate removal from office.
As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted over the weekend, “At this point, the bigger national scandal isn’t the president’s lawbreaking behavior—it is the Democratic Party’s refusal to impeach him for it.” Following the latest revelations, there is no political calculation of its effect on the upcoming election that can justify failing to open an impeachment inquiry before the full House. No “but the Senate” can reconcile the difference between seeing an executive engage in flagrant abuse of power and failing to take action. And perhaps that second scandal, the scandal of inaction, is about to end. On Sunday, Nancy Pelosi wrote a letter to the members of the House.
On Thursday, Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire will appear before the House Intelligence Committee in an open hearing. At that time, we expect him to obey the law and turn over the whistleblower’s full complaint to the Committee. …
If the Administration persists in blocking this whistleblower from disclosing to Congress a serious possible breach of constitutional duties by the President, they will be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness which will take us into a whole new stage of investigation.
Even talking about Donald Trump’s actions in legal terms as “extortion” or “attempted bribery” diminishes their real nature. What Trump did, in this case and perhaps in others, was an absolute abuse of power. It was a crime that would not have been possible were it not for the power of the office, and exactly the sort of behavior for which impeachment was created. These are not ordinary criminal activities; they are high crimes. Rudy Giuliani and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are guilty of conspiracy to commit extortion and attempted bribery of a foreign official. But Trump’s crime is a violation of the public trust, an action that threatens both Ukraine and the United States.
What should be made clear to Trump at this point is that the question isn’t of whether he will be impeached. The question is whether he will do himself a favor and resign, as did Richard Nixon, and perhaps avoid facing criminal charges over this issue once he has cleared his tacky collection of gold-plated curios from the White House. Or whether he must be dragged out with hammer and tongs, in which case he should expect to still be wearing orange long after roommate Paul Manafort has gone home.