I’ve been watching Fox News, and Judge Napolitano has been explaining a lot of things about the impeachment inquiry. In March 2017, President Trump said, on television, Judge Napolitano is a “very talented legal mind,” so I thought he would be a good source of information.
Judge Napolitano said the Democrats are following the rules the Republicans enacted in 2015, when they were investigating President Obama.
He said just the act of asking Ukraine to investigate Biden and delaying the military aid was the quid pro quo and is a federal crime.
A quid pro quo (which means “this for that” in Latin) is not even required, however, under our election laws. Our federal election law (52 USC 30121) says it is unlawful for a person to even ask a foreign national for something of value (not necessarily money) in connection with any election in the United States.
Judge Napolitano said Trump has obstructed justice in failing to comply with lawfully issued subpoenas for testimony and documents. Obstruction of justice was an impeachable offense for Presidents Nixon and Clinton. The Supreme Court voted unanimously that Nixon had to turn over his tape recordings, which were subpoenaed by Congress. He resigned soon thereafter.
Judge Napolitano also said President Trump’s actions not only violate federal law, but Trump has also violated his oath of office, abused the power of his office, and should be impeached by the House & removed from office by the Senate. This “very talented legal mind” says the “evidence supporting impeachment is overwhelming” and he would vote to impeach him.
Our Founding Fathers were extremely concerned about the danger of foreign interference in our elections and the damage such interference would cause to our republic. This was a driving issue at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Alexander Hamilton wrote about this concern in his Federalist paper No. 68. This concern lead our founders to include in our Constitution the requirement that our President must be a natural born citizen of the United States; the Emoluments Clause which prevents any government officer from receiving a gift from a foreign government; and the Impeachment clause.
In George Washington’s farewell address, he warned that foreign interference was one of the most dangerous enemies of our republic.
Trump has said on several occasions, including May of this year, that he is the most transparent president in history. Therefore, even if one believes the discredited conspiracy theories promoted by Trump that he was legitimately pursuing corruption in Ukraine, what is he trying to hide? Why doesn’t he want to allow people to testify and release documents so we can all see the good work he has done to fight corruption in Ukraine?
Susan Miller
Onalaska
