Each weekday afternoon, I write a newsletter analyzing the biggest news in politics, and it’s geared exclusively to impeachment right now. Readers ask me smart questions that I regularly answer, like these:
Could the Republican members of Congress who stormed into the secure room with their cellphones be censured for their conduct?
Yes, but that would be a pretty extreme reaction on their colleagues’ part, especially when Democrats have bigger fish to fry. There was some talk of referring these lawmakers to the House Ethics Committee, which could conduct an investigation and give them a public slap on the wrist.
Is it possible to censure President Trump?
Yes. It would be a vote in the House, as impeachment is. But censure is a statement expressing Congress’s displeasure with what the president did, rather than a statement that he is unfit for office. It doesn’t trigger a trial in the Senate, either. House Democrats are going for the big one, so no one’s talking much about censure anymore in the House. (Of Trump, at least. Democrats did just shut down a Republican attempt to censure the Democratic face of the impeachment inquiry, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff.)
I am confused about not being able to indict a president while in office. I had thought that is what impeachment is?
You are right and wrong. A sitting president can’t be indicted, per a decades-old Justice Department guideline, so impeachment is the only way the nation can hold a sitting president accountable outside of an election. So it’s like an indictment for a president, without criminal charges. “The Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing,” said special counsel Robert S. Mueller III in May.
I know it’s illegal, but doesn’t the idea of soliciting campaign assistance from other countries seem somewhat benign compared to so many other possible crimes, especially in the court of public opinion?
Well, as evidence emerges that Trump did ask Ukraine for political help, the court of public opinion seems to think he deserves to be investigated for potential impeachment, with polls showing 50 to 55 percent of the nation supporting the House inquiry. Also remember that even Republicans in Congress have said Russian interference in a U.S. election is wrong. Lawmakers fear foreign interference damages the very definition of democracy: that the United States can conduct its own free and fair elections without question of the result. That’s a privilege not every country affords its citizens.
Why isn’t the media reporting on the actual laws Trump might be breaking and their penalties?
Because he’s not on a trial for violating the criminal code. He’s not even on trial right now. The House is investigating whether there is enough evidence to write up articles of impeachment against Trump. Even if he’s impeached by the House and the Senate removes him from office, he won’t go to jail unless there’s an actual criminal case prosecuted against him.
What is the process of writing articles of impeachment?
After House investigators finish their investigation, they’ll probably write a report, which the House Judiciary Committee will use to consider what articles of impeachment could be prepared. That’s totally up to the committee’s discretion. There’s been some reporting indicating lawmakers could focus on a simple one: that he abused his power.
Will the next phase of the inquiry include a deposition of the president himself?
I wouldn’t bet on it, because Trump refused to privately sit with the special counsel, who was arguably a more neutral investigator than Democrats in Congress.
What is going on with Ukraine now? Is it investigating Trump’s political rivals? Has it received aid?
Great questions. The Trump administration released the military aid in September, before all of this was public, for reasons that are still unclear. The Ukrainian government did not agree to investigate Democrats.
Is it true that the Ukraine needs to know about military aid being held up for it to be quid pro quo?
Ukraine needed to understand there were conditions to receiving the military aid (something Congress attached no conditions to). The broader context matters. The impeachment inquiry is still piecing together what the Ukrainian government knew when and heard testimony this week that Ukraine was told about the quid pro quo. But Trump could be impeached for even considering holding up taxpayer money to get what he wanted.
Can Trump still be indicted on a charge of federal crimes once he leaves office?
Yup. There is a long-standing guideline (not a law) that a sitting president can’t be indicted. But he’s fair game out of office, and impeachment is a separate process from the criminal one. It’s possible that what Trump asked Ukraine to do could run up against campaign finance laws, some legal experts have said. But would the next president really authorize a criminal investigation into a former president? You can make a strong case that it would be a slippery slope.
How is it that so many people connected to Trump and the Ukraine investigation choose not to comply with a subpoena?
Not complying with a subpoena is technically illegal, but who’s going to enforce it? Congress doesn’t have a jail. The Trump-impeachment process has unveiled Congress’s Achilles’ heel: an executive branch that doesn’t care about the norms of checks and balances. But more and more people are starting to comply despite a White House ban on participating with the impeachment inquiry. That may be because some of Trump’s defenders have stopped defending one another and seem to be looking out for themselves.
If a person is impeached, can they run and hold public office again?
Yes, unless two things happen: 1) The Senate convicts this person and removes them from office and 2) They vote not to allow this person to run for office ever again. There’s an impeached judge, Alcee L. Hastings, who is now a member of Congress.
I saw there were six committees investigating. What are they each investigating?
When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced her support for the impeachment inquiry in September, she authorized six committees to continue their variety of investigations into Trump on campaign finance violations, tax violations, ties to Russia, the emoluments clause and more. But the inquiry has since narrowed to focus on Ukraine, and three committees are leading it: Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs.
Are Republican members of the impeachment committees attending the closed-door impeachment inquiry meetings?
For the most part, yes. They include some of Trump’s most loyal defenders, such as Rep. Mark Meadows (N.C.).
Why are Democrats reluctant to call Trump’s bluff and hold public hearings?
That could be coming soon. Schiff has said public hearings are the next phase of this process. They started things behind closed doors to avoid witnesses knowing about other testimony, lawmakers say.
Why don’t they release the transcripts of the closed-door testimony?
That could be coming soon, as well, CNN reports.
Why hasn’t Pelosi asked for a vote for a formal impeachment inquiry?
She just doesn’t see the need, as there is no rule that there has to be a vote. She’d rather not put her vulnerable members on the spot — six still don’t support an impeachment inquiry — and risk confusing voters about whether their lawmaker supports an inquiry or an impeachment.
Can the president be impeached more than once, on different charges?
I don’t see why not, but I have a hard time seeing Congress going through this again. Though this brings up a really interesting scenario: Some pundits have raised the possibility that Trump gets impeached, then runs in 2020 and wins, and Congress doesn’t have any effective tools left to punish him again.
How many people associated with Trump have been convicted of a crime since he started his campaign?
By my count, five, including his former campaign chair, deputy campaign chair, national security adviser and lawyer. Another longtime friend, Roger Stone, is under indictment. Broadening the circle a bit, two Trump donors who are business associates of Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani just got indicted. And then his two earliest supporters in Congress, former congressmen Duncan D. Hunter and Chris Collins, have been indicted or pleaded guilty to crimes, neither related to Trump.
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