Newsweek: Support for Trump’s Impeachment Higher Than His Approval Rating

Newsweek reports that, in a recent poll, the percentage of Americans who support impeaching Donald Trump is currently higher than the president’s approval rating.

Forty-two percent of those polled responded that they believe Trump “should be impeached,” while his approval rating was thirty-nine percent.

Not only that, but Trump is now only one percentage point away from former President Richard Nixon when it comes to the number of Americans who want him impeached. Nixon is the only president to have resigned from office, which he did in anticipation of his imminent impeachment.

The poll also showed that the majority of Americans oppose Trump’s recent claim that he has the power to pardon himself. Seventy percent of those polled reported that they would disapprove of Trump issuing himself a pardon.

Read the full article Newsweek here.


New York Magazine: Giuliani Admits ‘Spygate’ Is PR in Anticipation of Impeachment

During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani confirmed that Trump and his allies are using a “very specific, very political strategy to undermine [the Mueller] investigation” as part of a public relations campaign to stave off impeachment.

Giuliani’s comments demonstrate that Trump and his legal team are working to undermine the Mueller investigation in the eyes of the public due to their belief that impeachment proceedings could be an inevitability:

“Of course we have to [be aggressive in these attacks] to defend the president. We’re defending … um — to a large extent remember, Dana, we’re defending here … It is for public opinion. Because eventually the decision here is going to be impeach or not impeach. Members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, are going to be informed a lot by their constituents. And so our jury is — as it should be — is the American people. And the American people, yes, are … Republicans, largely, independents, pretty substantially, and even some Democrats now question the legitimacy of [the Mueller investigation].”

Read more about Giuliani’s comments and the interview here in New York Magazine.


The Hill: Presidential historian says Impeachment will be the ‘season finale’ of Trump

In an article from the The Hill, Presidential historian Jon Meacham stated that he believes impeachment will be the “season finale” to Trump’s time in office.

Meacham compared Trump’s behavior, including his vow to ask the Justice Department to investigate whether the FBI spied on his campaign, to that of President Nixon’s behavior before his resignation from office. Meacham went on to say that Trump’s presidency will likely end the same way as Nixon’s.

“I would bet a good bit of money this is going to end up in the House with some kind of impeachment proceeding, and the makeup of that body and ultimately the reaction of the United States Senate, which is supposed to be the great deliberative check and the great final hammer on these things,” he said. “I think … that’s going to be the season finale of this.”

Read the article in The Hill here.


Esquire: The President Is Tap Dancing on the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution

An article in Esquire reminds us that Trump continues to violate the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution through his failure to divest from his businesses receiving benefits from negotiations with foreign governments.

Trump has been in violation of the Constitution since the day he took office, and his defiance of the Emoluments Clause constitutes an impeachable offense.

As the article describes:

Over the weekend, you may recall, the president* leaped onto the electric Twitter machine to announce that the United States would be helping Chinese communications giant ZTE find relief from his own trade policies. Casual observers noted that the Trump Organization is involved in a huge project in Indonesia—golf courses, resorts, etc.—that is backed with $500 million from China. This came up at the Monday briefing, as did the obvious fact that the project pretty much does yet another tap-dance on the emoluments clause of the Constitution.

 When questioned about the project, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah was unable to provide any information, stating “I’ll have to refer you to the Trump Organization.”

Read the full article here in Esquire.


Trump Continues Abuse of Power with Pardon of Dinesh D’Souza

Trump announced today that he would offer a full pardon to Dinesh D’Souza, author and filmmaker. D’Souza was indicted in 2012 on charges that he violated campaign finance laws through the illegal use of straw donors, who contributed $20,000 to a candidate for New York Senate, which D’Souza then reimbursed. D’Souza pled guilty to the money laundering scheme and was sentenced to five years of probation and received a $30,000 fine for his violation of federal candidate contribution limits.

Much like Trump’s pardon of former Sherriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted for criminal contempt, this pardon is an impeachable offense and a blatant abuse of power. Trump continues to undermine the foundation of our democracy by providing immunity in exchange for personal loyalty.

Click here to read more in the Washington Post.