Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, along with 19 other Republican attorneys general, sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Wednesday asking them to dismiss the impeachment attempt of President Donald Trump.
This is not the first time Slatery and Yost have worked with each other. Previously, Ohio and Tennessee joined together in a legal action against the EPA and the FDA.
“This impeachment proceeding threatens all future elections and establishes a dangerous historical precedent,” the letter says. “That new precedent will erode the separation of powers shared by the executive and legislative branches by subjugating future Presidents to the whims of a majority opposition party in the House of Representatives.”
Furthermore, the Republican attorneys generals said the two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — lack “evidentiary basis” and are fundamentally “flawed as a matter of constitutional law.”
The A.G.’s say that impeachment should not be a “partisan response” after a party loses a presidential election because it would effectively annul “the votes of millions of citizens.”
The correspondence specifically identified the Democrat-controlled House passing of two articles of impeachment as a “partisan process that undermines the democratic process.”
When talking about the first article of impeachment — abuse of power— the attorneys generals declare it is “legally flawed and factually insufficient.”
The letter argues that it is normal for presidents to ask other countries to coordinate on a plethora of topics including trade, denuclearization, and energy. As evidence, the A.G.’s list specific examples Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Barack Obama did in their official capacity as president that could have had politically benefited them.
“Under House Democrats’ corrupt motives theory, however, a President who negotiates a nuclear deal with Iran or a trade deal with China can be impeached for abuse of power if the House majority believes the deal was “motivated” by a desire to enhance the President’s reelection prospects rather than to benefit the country,” the letter says.
In terms of impeachment the second impeachment article — obstruction of Congress — these Republicans say this article is just as “flawed” as the first one. Under the House’s obstruction theory, the president could be impeached if he seeks executive privilege when the House asks for executive branch information, according to the letter.
“If the House can impeach a President for invoking executive privilege, the privilege is meaningless because it is under unilateral control of the House,” the letter reads.
At the close of their letter, the attorneys general said that the Senate should reject these impeachment articles on the basis that it is contrary to the Framers’ vision for impeachment, and weaponizes a process meant to be used scarcely.
“It is imperative that the Senate’s basis for rejecting the articles against President Trump be clear for future generations. We, therefore, urge the Senate to reject the Articles of Impeachment,” the letter concludes.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Star News Digital Media. If you have any tips, email Zachery at [email protected].
This is an exceptionally well-reasoned document. It clearly demonstrates how utterly invalid the entire impeachment process in the House has been. Without explicitly saying so, the AG’s seem to be asking the Senate to simply reject the articles of impeachment without even having a trial. They’re probably correct, but it’s a bit too late for that, and the Senate leadership was also probably right in thinking that doing so would not be a wise move from a political standpoint. When the Senate votes to acquit President Trump, they should do so in a way that makes it abundantly clear that the articles of impeachment were never valid to begin with. One way of doing this would be to pass a resolution censuring Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler et al for their blatantly partisan — and un-Constitutional — actions.
If anyone seems to think they are above the law, it is not President Trump but the Democrat House leadership.
If anyone is acting with corrupt motives, it is not President Trump but the Democrat House leadership.
When the Republicans regain control of the House — and they likely will in November — their first act should be to censure and expel Pelosi, Schiff, and Nadler (if they haven’t already been “expelled” by their erstwhile constituents. Some might argue that this would be unwise, but I believe it would be appropriate and justified.
After all, as argued in another current commentary, this isn’t a debate about ideas, it’s a war about political power. If we conservatives don’t start to recognize this fact, and get serious about winning the war, it will be over before we even begin. And, as anyone who has studied war understands, one of the smartest things you can do is to eliminate your enemy’s leaders.