Wow, where to start.
The major part of the Steele “dossier” (that’s a misnomer; it’s a series of memos that could have formed the raw material for a report worthy of the term if anyone had paid for that job) that has not checked out is the most salacious. Of course, checking out that last bit of the story would probably require a breathtaking amount of bribery. If the hookers in the Moscow hotel details are true, it will come out eventually when it’s no longer of political import.
The quid was not an investigation. It’s probable that Mr. Trump would rather there not be an investigation until after the election. The quid was an announcement of an investigation. This is not an insignificant detail. Real law enforcement does not involve advance notice by press release.
Hunter Biden did something really dumb because it will never pass the smell test. He tried to mitigate his poor judgment and cover his dad’s butt by putting in writing for Burisma the kinds of decisions that would require his recusal. His memo took him out of anything in which he would have special expertise, but his function on the board had nothing to do with expertise. He, the honcho of Poland, and several others were all put on the board for show, to send the message that Burisma’s sordid history was over with the appointment of this gang with ties to the west who would plainly not allow themselves to be dragged into sleaze. We consider that silly…thank goodness.
There were ample grounds for impeachment before the Ukraine shakedown came to public notice. And any fair-minded person would agree that all the facts shown about Ukraine could be lined up in a manner that could be innocent if massaged with lots of remarkable coincidences and attributed to a degree of incompetence that would have been unthinkable if the POTUS were George W. Bush or Barack Obama.
Bob Mueller’s report offers chapter and verse on the links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. That would be the import of all the indictments pending without the capias being served as well as the entire top echelon of the Trump campaign not within the Trump family vacationing in the Club Fed. All of the gaps in the Mueller Report are under the control of Trump.
And this brings up a major point of the Ukraine affair. Any gaps in the narrative — gaps that must be filled with innocent explanations to avoid conviction — are under the control of Trump.
In a civil case, it is legitimate to argue that a party failing to produce evidence under his or her or its control is not doing so because the evidence would not have helped the party’s case.
Yes, I understand impeachment is not a civil case, but it’s not exactly a criminal case, either. Nobody’s freedom is at stake. Whether the argument to purposely missing evidence will be allowed will be up to Chief Justice Roberts. If I were Roberts, I would have a clerk briefing the issue right now, because it’s too important to address cold.
Even if the argument is not permitted, the ignoring of valid subpoenas while claiming legal cover that does not clear the laugh test is, alone, an impeachable offense. Whether it would support removal would depend, I suggest, on context.
Mr. Trump’s late interference with the Navy chain of command in a case not yet concluded is another impeachable offense where context is everything. He is apparently unfamiliar with the concept of “command influence.” And I somehow doubt he has ever thought through the effects of interfering in war crimes prosecutions. Apparently, he is going to put convicted but pardoned war criminals on the campaign trail for him.
Much of this is just bumbling, not evil. But that raises another question about what kind of proceeding impeachment is intended to be. What is the role of mens rea? We don’t know and the limited history of impeachment does not tell us.
How much bumbling makes out a prima facie case for evil?
Chief Justice Roberts, unlike the POTUS, has an acute understanding of where he stands before the judgments of history. And he cares.
Adopting your position would leave us endorsing a lack of comity between the executive and legislative branches that is as impractical as it is extralegal. Much that is worthwhile for our government could come from an impeachment that does not result in conviction.
I would be first to admit that an impeachment that does not result in conviction contains short term political peril for both the Democrats who vote for the impeachment and the Republicans who vote against the conviction. Maybe I’m taking my independent status too far, but I’m reluctant to adopt the position that anybody’s political peril should drive resolution of these issues.
