king president corrupted by foreign influence. in the constitutional convention james madison, the architect of the constitution, warned that a president might betray his trust to foreign powers that might prove fatal to the republic. another founder feared that a president may be bribed by a greater interest to betray his trust. he emphasized that this magistrate is not the king. the people are the king. they therefore created a constitutional remedy to protect against a dangerous or corrupt leader. impeachment. unless the constitution contained an impeachment provision, one founder warned a president might spare know effort or means whatsoever to get himself reelected. similarly george mason insisted
americans have fought and died to protect our right to vote. but the framers of our constitution realize that elections alone could not guarantee that the united states would remain republic. one of the key reasons for including the impeachment power was a risk that unskrup lus officials might try to rig the election process. you ve already heard two people give william davie his props. you know, hamilton got a whole musical and william davie will get this committee hearing. he warned unless the constitution contained an impeachment provision, the president may spare no means to get himself reelected and george mason insisted a president who pro cured his appointment in the first instance through improper and corrupt acts should not escape punishment by repeating his guilt and mason was the person responsible for adding high crimes and misdemeanors to the list of impooem peachab
since then, countless other americans have fought and died to protect our right to vote. but the framers of our constitution realized that elections alone could not guarantee that the united states would remain a republic. one of the key reasons for including the impeachment power was a risk that unscrupulous officials might try to rig the election process. you ve already heard two people give william davie his problems. hamilton got a whole musical and davey will just get this committee hearing. he warned that unless the constitution contained an impeachment provision, ament might spare no efforts or means whatsoever to get himself re-elected. george mason insisted that a prpt who procured his appointment in the first instance through improper and corrupt acts should not escape punishment by repeating his guilt. mason was the person responsible for adding high crimes and misdemeanors to the list of
specific item mentioned in the impeachment provision in article ii, section 5, i think. it lays out treason, then bribery, then impeachable offenses. bribery was number two. and the reason treason and bribery were so high on the list was the concern mentioned by one of your prior guests in the founding of the republic. people in official office, particularly the president, used that position as a way to self enrichment. and so bribery is a huge red flag. yeah. teamt seems to me that the report lays that out. we have 30 seconds left that you see the outline of three articles of impeachment, abuse of power in ukraine, soliciting the bribe or exto. ting it from ukraine and obstruction.
the back up evidence that has been gathered other the past few weeks if had terms of the hearings? i think we have to read the article. it s not clear what they will be. but as to the ukraine question and the issue of obstruction, unless the president offers a defense far better than what he s offered or somehow they can explain this, i don t know what that explanation would be, rev, but unless they offer a defense that s more compelling that what we ve offered so far, i don t see that we have a choice. the idea we have an impeachment provision in the constitution and it would somehow not oapply to a case where the president was willing to trade our national security for his own political benefit which had the effect of strengthening putin s hand in ukraine, the idea this would not be a suitable use of the impeachment tool begs the question as to whether it should have ever been included in the constitution at all. i think this clearly justifies