President Trump

Subscribe to President Trump via RSS

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.
Continue Reading Some Not So Good Arguments about Impeachment

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.
Continue Reading Obstruction of Justice and the Mueller Report

Two weeks ago, President Trump broke with long-standing U.S. policy when he recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. In January, he recognized Juan Guaidó as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, rejecting President Nicolas Máduro’s hold on power.

Where in the Constitution does it give Presidents the authority to determine American policy on territorial or leadership disputes involving other countries? Nowhere. The Constitution makes our country’s foreign and domestic policies a shared enterprise between Congress and the President.

Congress passes laws, and the President implements them. The President negotiates treaties, and the Senate ratifies them. The Framers required a sharing of power because they recognized that if elected officials can act alone, without any checks or balance, the risk is too high that the officials will abuse their power.
Continue Reading Unilateral Foreign Policy Decisions by the President