i want you guys to stick around and as we re watching the house consider articles of impeachment, i want to bring in constitutional law professor laurence tribe and he co-wrote a book. professor tribe was invited by the committee this past weekend to advise members as they were considering how to draft the articles of impeachment that are being marked up this evening as opening statements continue there in the committee room. professor, talk to me about this sort of your understanding of the kind of precedent, constitutional import of abuse of power and obstruction of congress as high crimes and misdemeanor? well, those are the classic high crimes and misdemeanors. abuse of power is what the impeachment clause was all about. the idea of using the power of the presidency not to protect the nation but to benefit ones
member doug collins. here s how the chair presented tonight s meeting. taken together the two auricles charge president trump with placing his private, political interests above our national security, above our free and fair elections, and above our ability to hold public officials accountable. this committee now owes it to the american people to give these articles close attention and to describe their factual basis, meaning and importance. i believe that three questions should frame our debate. first, does the evidence show clearly that the president committed these acts? second, do they rise to the level of impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors? third, what are the consequences for our national security, for the integrity of our election and for our country if we fail
details. it s not that they were i think they wrote this for the clarity of the american public to understand that the stakes were sufficiently high for impeachment. because if the issue isn t just did he do wrong or not do wrong. was it sufficiently serious you would go through a process to potentially remove him from office? i thought where you were going with the andrew johnson example is actually a bit of a different direction, which is, you know, the republicans keep making noise about a crime. andrew johnson had no crime in his article of impeachment. let s take a listen to judiciary member david cicilliny. 20 years later a congressman on this committee said and i quote, this business of high crimes and misdemeanors goes to the question of whether or not the person serving as president of the united states, put their personal interests ahead of public service, end quote. the congressman who said that was mike pence, and he was exactly right. impeachable offenses as
basis, meaning and importance. i believe that three questions should frame our debate. first, does the evidence show clearly that the president committed these acts? second, do they rise to the level of impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors? third, what are the consequences for our national security, for the integrity of our elections and for our country if we fail to act? to the first question there can be no serious debate about what president trump did. on july 25th of this year when he spoke to president zelensky of ukraine by telephone, president trump had the upper hand. ukraine had been invaded by russia. zelensky had only recently been elected. he badly needed our help. he needed it in the form of military aid already
constitution. a separation of powers. three coequal branches, each a check and balance on the other. the president has engaged in abuse of power undermining our national security and jeopardizing the integrity of our elections. i am asking our chairman to begin with articles of impeachment. it s something i do not think we have ever seen before. a president who has doubled down on violating his oath to faithfully execute the laws and to protect and defend the constitution. president trump has committed impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors by corruptly abusing the office of the presidency. after reviewing the evidence that s been made public, i cannot help but conclude that this president has attacked each of the constitution s safeguards against establishing a monarchy in this country. if what we re talking about is not impeachable then nothing is.