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The Atlantic mag calls for Trump's impeachment now based on his unfitness for the office.

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/425786-the-atlantic-calls-for-trump-impeachment

 

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Atlantic senior editor Yoni Appelbaum pens the cover story, in which he argues that Congress can “rein in a president who is undermining American ideals” by starting the impeachment process, taking control of the fitness-for-office debate. 

Congressional Democrats have so far largely quashed calls for impeachment, saying the move would be premature and viewed as partisan overreach. 

“If there's to be grounds for impeachment of President Trump — and I'm not seeking those grounds — that would have to be so clearly bipartisan in terms of acceptance of it before I think we should go down any impeachment path,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said earlier this month.In The Atlantic piece, which is printed with the headline “The Case for Impeachment,” Appelbaum writes that Trump has “repeatedly trampled” on the Constitution, with his policies, approaches to the
investigations that surround his administration and attacks on political opponents. 

“These actions are, in sum, an attack on the very foundations of America’s constitutional democracy,” he writes.

Appelbaum says that beginning the impeachment process is a way for Congress to take control of the allegations that Trump has committed offenses that may rise to the level of grounds for removal from office.

“With a newly seated Democratic majority, the House of Representatives can no longer dodge its constitutional duty,” Appelbaum writes. “It must immediately open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump, and bring the debate out of the court of public opinion and into Congress, where it belongs.”

 

 

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I almost wish they'd stop dropping this stuff individually. I feel like it dulls the senses, and the Republicans can see their base doesn't give a rat's a$$.

 

I wonder how likely it is that we either start a war before the Cohen stuff or there's another migrant caravan we need to be super scared about, this time hauling nuclear weapons.

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29 minutes ago, Clifford Franklin said:

Oof. This is the type of headline that makes you drop your Big Mac mid-bite, if you're a certain truth-challenged Oval Office resident.

 

That's obstruction, right? No doubt about it?

 

Edit: Brutal. His own company.

 

 

 

 

 

Same guy retweeted this. It's on the bottom of the first page of Barr's letter to Rosenstein. I think Barr is a conundrum. I was reading today that Trump is worried now because he didn't know how close Barr and Mueller were. He might be better than whoever Trump would pick if it's not Barr. He did write this letter without the full knowledge of the case, and by the 2nd quote likely didn't have any inside info about this new stuff.

 

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"If a President...suborns perjury, or induces a witness to change testimony, or commits any act deliberately impairing the integrity of available evidence, then he, like anyone else, commits the crime of obstruction." — William Barr

 

He later states:
 

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The president, as far as I know, is not being accused of engaging in any wrongful act of evidence impairment.

 

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The Dems smell blood in the water (can sharks smell blood :dunno) and rightly so.   Resigned or be impeached.   

There was a period when the Nixon probably knew when he was toast - when the WH tapes were 'discovered' via John Dean's testimony and more so when it was discovered that there was the gap in the tape.  Nixon was dead man walking but he was able to walk for many months until it finally came to a point where he had to resign.  I think the Trump dominoes will fall quicker. Nixon, up to watergate, could have been considered a decent president and he had won a 49 state landslide reelection.  So he had some loyalty within the party and the public to hold things together for a period of time.  While the congressional repubs have shown stupidity by tying their boats to Trump, I think that when the evidence comes out, they won't be able to withstand the tidal wave that will come against Trump and hopefully will remember that their loyalty belongs to the Constitution and the people first.    VP Pence should start getting his SOTUS ready - he may be presenting one mid summer or earlier

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/425973-intel-dem-trump-must-resign-or-be-impeached-if-report-about-directing-cohen-to

 

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Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) called for President Trump to resign or be impeached if a report about him directing his former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress is true.

Castro, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, was referring to a report published by Buzzfeed News on Thursday night regarding Cohen’s misstatements to Congress.  

 

 

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I think Trump is Toast.  All 9 lawyers agree in this survey that if true,  Trump is guilty of  subornation of perjury and obstruction.

 

https://www.vox.com/2019/1/18/18188125/trump-buzzfeed-mueller-cohen-obstruction

 

A sampling of the responses from 4 of the 9

 

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Bob Bauer, law professor, New York University

The relevant law includes obstruction (18 USC § 1505), conspiracy to make false statements (18 USC §§ 1001 and 371), and aiding and abetting an offense against the United States (18 USC §2(a)). The only issue is the evidence, and we can be sure to hear from Donald Trump’s quarters that Cohen is lying and that he never directed Cohen to make the false statements.We do not know all the specifics of Cohen’s account to the prosecutors, but what we do know — the White House’s involvement in the preparation of the testimony and the relationship between Cohen and the president in which Cohen did what he was told — does not bode well for Trump.

It is striking that former White counsel Don McGahn has said through his lawyers that his office knew nothing about the testimony; this points in the direction of a closed process in which the president personally directed the review, if not the preparation, of statements that he knew not to be true.

Then there is the email traffic cited in the BuzzFeed story that supports the Cohen narrative about the hotel negotiations and, along with law enforcement interviews, apparently corroborates Cohen’s testimony that the president directed him to lie. (Those emails suggest that Don Jr. faces serious problems with the account he gave to the Senate of his knowledge of the election-year hotel negotiations.)

Finally, while the immediate focus is on the president’s legal problems, this could also be the inescapable launching point for the impeachment process.

Miriam Baer, law professor, Brooklyn Law School

To prove subornation of perjury, a prosecutor has to prove a defendant procured someone else’s false testimony on a material matter. Subornation charges apply only in successful cases — where the perjury is “actually committed.” That might sound narrow, but in fact, federal law effectively punishes “attempted subornation” under several additional statutes.

First, if two or more persons conspired to suborn perjury, they could be charged under the conspiracy statute. Second, federal courts have held that subornation of perjury can serve as the basis of an obstruction charge. Obstruction broadly covers attempts to obstruct justice — and not just successful obstructions of justice.

Accordingly, if President Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie in congressional testimony — and, if as reported, there exists evidence that corroborates Michael Cohen’s contentions —President Trump’s vulnerability to impeachment and possibly criminal charges has become more heightened than it was even a few months ago.

Samuel Gross, law professor, University of Michigan

Is it obstruction of justice to direct a witness to lie to Congress under oath? Of course. Equally clear (if possible, more so) it’s suborning perjury, also a felony.

Renato Mariotti, former federal prosecutor, 2007 to 2016

Yes. If someone knowingly directs another person to lie to Congress, they are also guilty of lying to Congress. That is an easy question.

 

 

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