According to a federal district court, the subpoena power of Congress gives it access to President Trump’s personal financial records. While this is an important decision, it’s only a prelude to a decision on appeal. As we’ve seen before, the President sometimes prevails in the end after losing initially. And there are good arguments that the President’s lawyers can make to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court, to try to limit the scope of the subpoena.
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Impeachment
Some Not So Good Arguments about Impeachment
The release of the Mueller Report has spurred much discussion about impeaching President Trump. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton have called on the House to launch the impeachment process; U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi support further investigation but think impeachment talk is premature.
As the discussion continues, it is important that further action or inaction be based on sound arguments. Otherwise, perceptions of partisanship may unfairly discredit efforts to hold Trump accountable for his conduct. Here are some not so good arguments that are being made:
Impeaching Trump might be the right thing to do, but it would be politically unwise for Democrats to pursue.
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Obstruction of Justice and the Mueller Report
Did President Trump obstruct justice? While not all of the conduct that Special Counsel Robert Mueller considered would justify obstruction charges, some easily could. Trump did many things to try to impede investigations by the FBI and Mueller into his activities and those of his campaign. It is not surprising that Mueller declined to exonerate the president. But the more important question is how to hold Trump accountable.
Attorney General William Barr was right to reject obstruction charges, even if not all of his reasons for doing so were persuasive. According to long-standing Department of Justice guidelines, it would be unconstitutional to indict or criminally prosecute a sitting president, and there are strong arguments for that position. The remedies for misconduct by presidents include impeachment, denying them reelection, and prosecution after they leave office.
In other words, as long as Trump is president, the remedies are not legal but political–impeachment or voting him out of office next year.
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