This morning Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) did a good job defending the Democratic House position on impeachment in an NPR interview with Nicole King. However, he did not provide as clear and convincing response to the question as to why Democrats were sticking to their timetable on impeachment as he perhaps could have. King had replayed Jonathan Turley’s statements in the Wednesday hearing about Dems rushing the process and asked Raskin why shouldn’t the Democrats go to court first to overcome Trump’s denial of access by the House to more documents and witnesses relevant to impeachment.
I think there is a clear, quick and potentially convincing answer to why Democrats cannot delay impeachment into next year—into or even past the general election. That is because Trump’s crime is one of seeking foreign interference in the election and, thus, undermining our democracy. The other legal scholars on Wednesday explained well why this is a preeminently serious and impeachable offense. Trump has, by his actions, disqualified himself to be President. He needs to be removed now, before the candidates are selected for the general election, in order to prevent him from undermining the 2020 election any further.
So, Democrats, when asked why they are impeaching Trump now, should say simply, “It is essential to impeach Trump now to prevent him from continuing to interfere with the election before it is too late. The American people have a constitutional right to a free and fair election in 2020, and that right cannot be guaranteed unless Trump is removed as soon as possible.” And, for good measure, they could add, “Those who want to delay are only helping election interference to continue and are risking damage to our election next year that cannot be repaired.”
Slogging through the courts, as Turley advised, to try to overcome Trump’s self-serving obstruction of justice will only give Trump more time to harm the 2020 election.
Making the case in these terms also makes it clear that Republicans who want to delay impeachment are perhaps hoping to benefit from Trump’s continued election interference.