Laurence Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard University, told CNN Sunday that impeaching President Donald Trump could worsen political dysfunction and polarize the nation.
"If we were to use the impeachment power simply as a substitute for buyer's remorse, saying, 'We thought this guy was terrible, but he's even worse,' if we were going to use it against ambient badness, rather than clear abuse of power — we would really use the impeachment power to undermine, rather than save, our democracy," Tribe told CNN's Fareed Zakaria.
Trump could be impeached for “conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors” per the U.S. constitution. The process has to be started by the House of Representatives, but Democrats would need to gain 23 seats to win back the majority in order to do so – a number well within reach in the 2018 midterm elections. The Senate would follow with a trial.
Trump could be facing obstruction charges for firing former FBI Director James Comey, likely an impeachable offense, but the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation could have a major impact on those efforts.
Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, said an indictment would be better than an impeachment.
“Of course, Trump doesn’t want to be indicted, at all,” Turley wrote Friday in the Washington Post. “But if that happened first, it would offer him a broader measure of legal protection while offering maximum political cover to those opposing an impeachment bill."
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