Journalist John Nichols explains how “the president blatantly tried to block a federal investigation. That’s obstruction of justice.” His latest piece in The Nation indicates that there’s already a good case for obstruction of justice — and our campaign is a leading the way in holding President Trump accountable. As Nichols reports,

“After the president fired FBI director James Comey—in what Trump essentially admitted in a nationally televised interview was a blatant attempt to thwart the bureau’s investigation into the charges of Russian involvement with his campaign—Pocan said the “impeachment clock” had moved “an hour closer to midnight.” When it was revealed that Trump had confided to Russian officials after the Comey firing that “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off,” the impeachment clock’s alarm sounded.”

Now the grounds for impeachment are growing and the stakes are rising. It’s up for ‘we the people’ to put the constitution before party lines and political strategy — it’s time to make the case for impeaching Trump!

 “Impeachment is not a “constitutional crisis”; it is rather the cure for one. A failure to apply that cure, for reasons of caution or partisan calculation, is a form of political malpractice that ill serves the republic that not just presidents but members of Congress swear to defend.”

We’re ready to save our democracy! Read the article on The Nation.

Today, a new poll released by POLITICO/Morning Consult shows “an increasing percentage of voters want Congress to impeach President Donald Trump — even if they don’t think Trump has committed the “high crimes and misdemeanors” the Constitution requires.”

According to the poll, forty-three percent of voters want Congress to begin impeachment proceedings,  up from 38 percent last week.

To read on POLITICO, click here.

These local resolutions are just the start of a national wave.  Your city could be next!

 

By Ben Clements & Ron Fein

*So far. This post will be updated as needed as events unfold.

Obstruction of justice is grounds for impeachment. Under Article II of the Constitution, the president is subject to impeachment for “high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

“[P]revent[ing], obstruct[ing], and imped[ing] the administration of justice” is an impeachable high crime or misdemeanor that can be effected by “interfering or endeavouring to interfere with the conduct of investigations by the Department of Justice of the United States [and] the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” (Those quotations are from the first article of impeachment against Richard Nixon.)

Notably, the category of “high Crimes and Misdemeanors’ is broader than the specifics of federal criminal statutes. Consequently, the question of whether a president should be impeached for obstruction of justice is distinct from the question of whether there is sufficient evidence, admissible in federal court, to persuade a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump violated a specific federal obstruction of justice statute. For this reason, for purposes of the obstruction of justice analysis, we don’t need to wait for the special counsel to complete a criminal investigation, and we don’t even need to know the full details of the FBI investigation(s) that he obstructed. In fact, for obstruction of justice purposes, it is irrelevant whether or not the underlying investigation ultimately leads to the special counsel prosecuting anyone. The question is simply whether the president endeavored to interfere with or impede that investigation.

Obstruction of justice can be established from the course of conduct below. Even if any one item standing alone is not conclusive, together they form a clear pattern. Furthermore, the House’s impeachment investigation will not require advanced investigative techniques, such as forensic science or signals intelligence. Much of the evidence comes from President Trump’s own mouth on camera or his Twitter feed. The House Judiciary Committee can investigate the rest through documents and examination of witnesses (including, if he desires, President Trump himself).

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Last night,  Brookline’s Town Meeting voted to pass a resolution to call on Congress to launch an investigation into whether President Trump’s business dealings violate the Constitution.

“We believe it’s important to pursue these violations of the emoluments clause as a matter of precedent, to make it clear that no president may violate the Constitution with impunity,” Alexandra Borns-Weil told Town Meeting members Thursday night, reports The Boston Globe.

Borns-Weil joined fellow Brookline resident Lisa Kolarik, to bring the resolution to a Town Meeting vote after gathering more than 400 signatures from fellow Brookline residents.

Watch this video from a supporter who attended the Brookline town meeting.

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