Should Trump be Impeached?
On the premise of President Trump’s words and actions he is not impeachable. The crimes for which a president can be impeached are stated in Article II of the Constitution of the United States, “The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” (Yale Law, 1). Most call for the impeachment of Trump, under the claim that he had colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election with Hillary Clinton, in which Trump had unexpected success and won with 306 electoral votes to Clinton’s 232. Many others look to multiple woman coming out and saying that Donald Trump had sexually assaulted them.
So far, there has been zero evidence presented that President Trump himself, colluded and met with Russian officials to swing the election in his favor or influence it in any way. As well as having no solid evidence connects him in any way with any Russians. With no evidence being found in two years of investigation into the so called “collusion” Trump has began to call it, “the greatest political witch hunt in history.” (Trump). I would argue understandably, because of the time period in which nothing has been found. Although, four members of Trump’s team have been indicted, this is still not evidence for a Trump impeachment because of him having no contact with these officials. But even with some of his administration meeting with Russian officials, it is not abnormal to see this during a presidential campaign. For example, Bill Clinton and the Clinton foundation itself had receiver millions of dollars from foreign countries for aid in the election. Surprisingly enough, these countries were “criticized for their records on sex discrimination and other human-rights issues. The countries include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Brunei and Algeria.” (Bennett, 1). Looking further, On top of that, top American investigative journalist, Bob Woodward, when asked if he saw collusion with Trump and Russia said, “I did not, and of course, I looked for it, looked for it hard. And so you know, there we are." (Woodward). If the top investigators and FBI officials cannot find concrete evidence in two years that Trump had influenced the 2016 election, there is no way something new will come out. Also, the Clinton’s emails that were leaked during the 2016 presidential election weren’t leaked by the Trump administration. There is no evidence that the Trump team and the Russians colluded in order to get these emails to the public via Wikileaks. (Runkle, 1). Using the emails to the Trump team’s advantage is not a crime, as they did not leak the emails. In the Russia meddling case as well, Trump used his constitutional right to fire FBI Director James Comey. (Runkle,1 ). This is not to be considered obstruction of justice because it is in the power vested by the president to do this. A Harvard Law professor also stated that it is not illegal for a president to, “to direct their attorneys general to investigate some things, but not others.” (Kasperowicz,1). He then again lays out the point that it cannot be considered obstruction of justice because of his constitutional rights to do so.
The only two presidents to ever be impeached were Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson. Andrew Johnson, the 17th President, was brought to trial on the charge of violating the Tenure of Office Act. (Murse, 1). Bill Clinton on the other hand, was found lying under oath about his relations with Monica Lewinsky and influencing others to lie about these allegations as well. He was charged with obstruction of justice. (Murse, 1). On this basis President Trump has not been found breaking any laws, lying in the court, misleading juries, having inappropriate relations with woman in the oval office, or violating the Tenure of Office Acts, and in short he hasn’t been charged in any crimes thus far. Although there are many accusations of Trump not paying taxes and him paying off woman there has yet to be a charge made on President Trump. In America we always oresume under the law that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and never the other way around.
President Trump will also not be impeached because of his upper hand in the House of Representatives and the Senate. To begin the impeachment process, the House of Representatives has to vote on the matter of impeachment for the president. (Savage, 1). If one these matters get the majority the President will then be indicted and it will move on to the Senate where a two thirds majority will be needed to remove him from office and put the vice president in power. With the advantage in both the house and senate, I believe there is no way that Republicans will vote on the matter, but even if they do, a large majority of Republicans in the senate would then have to vote to finish the process as well.
There are also 13 woman who have come forward to say that Mr. Trump touched them inappropriately constituting the charge of sexual assault. None of which could provide any evidence that Trump even committed these crimes. But, many again presume he is guilty even though he was never charged. A lot we also hear of Trump’s access Hollywood tape, in which he states, “grabbed her by the p****.” (Access Hollywood). Although, this is certainly not presidential in any manner, it is not a crime to say words as protected by the first amendment to the Constitution, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (Cornell, 1). Stormy Daniels, an adult entertainer, came forward and talked of her and Trump’s “alleged” affair. Trump at first denied these claims made by Daniels but it later came out that they did in fact pay her off. All though, these actions are shady, there is no physical evidence and these payments again do not fit the standards of impeachment spelled out in the constitution. He also did this far before he ran for president.
President Trump also fired Cohen. Cohen was his personal attorney. Cohen is under investigation in New York by the FBI. Trump said, “No, he’s not my lawyer anymore, but I always liked Michael. And he’s a good person.” (Trump). The FBI in April raided Cohen’s residence and hotel. (Shelbourne, 1). Cohen went public in saying that he was guilty in a few crimes. The stunning detail comes as Cohen mentioned that Trump had him pay two women to stay silent whom he had a sexual affair or relationship with. (Higgins, 1) President Trump also claimed that Cohen violated his lawyer-client dues. Trump believed that he violated these dues by conflicting his best interest, and not withholding information from investigators. Trump also said that Cohen was just saying these things to receive a lesser sentence via a ‘plea deal’. Cohen on the other hand said that paying of these two women was meant to turn the tides of the 2016 election in Trump’s favor. However, Cohen claiming these actions doesn’t mean that trump actually committed them at all. It all comes down to evidence being presented and so far there is no physical evidence showing that President Trump was ‘knowingly and willingly’ breaking the law here. (Gerstein,1)
On the premise of President Trump’s words and actions he is not impeachable. President Trump has yet to be charged with any crimes regarding sexual assault, or tax evasion, or fraud, there has yet to be any concrete evidence of his collusion with Russia, and he has the upper hand in the Senate as well as the House making the impeachment process much for difficult. Getting over the fact that Mr Trump at times, does not act very “presidential” he has yet to commit and be charged of a crime impeachable by the U.S. government.