This is now officially a constitutional crisis
by digby
Trump’s lawyers say the White House won’t cooperate with the impeachment inquiry because it’s illegitimate to try to “overturn the 2016 election.”
“This is really nothing but a political strategy because Democrats want to overturn the results of the 2016 election, and they want to use impeachment and the political strategy to influence the results of the 2020 election.” —A Senior administration official
Essentially, they are saying that you can’t indict a president, you can’t impeach a president and if he cheats to win an election, there’s not a fucking thing you can do about it.
If the president does it, it’s not illegal.
From a legal perspective, this letter is objectively absurd. This is the indictment phase of impeachment. How can the President be deprived of the right to cross-examine witnesses when the Constitution requires the Senate to have a full-blown trial once the House indicts? https://t.co/sjVGXWG9A8— Heath Mayo (@HeathMayo) October 8, 2019
2/ Such attempted normalization of such a patent abuse of office, by those whose job it is to ensure the President complies w/his constitutional duties, is perhaps as troubling and as corrosive as the abuse itself, as @benjaminwittes and I recently wrote.https://t.co/UMCl4efUyG— Marty Lederman (@marty_lederman) October 8, 2019
Trump Administration: The reason why a sitting President can't be indicted is because the Constitution expressly creates an alternative, political process for presidential misconduct.
Also Trump Administration: That alternative process is too political and entirely illegitimate.— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) October 8, 2019
His claim we must wait until 2020 election has 2 serious flaws:
a)that's the very election he was trying to use foreign influence to win–he got caught 1x, but may be more
b)would mean a 2d term President can do whatever he wants b/c no election. No impeach/investig/indictment— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) October 8, 2019
This letter, in and of itself, is an impeachable offense.— George Conway (@gtconway3d) October 8, 2019
Cipollone's letter is repetitive and hysterical. Fancy lawyerin' ain't what it used to be.— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) October 8, 2019
Former GOP staffer to Senate Judiciary, Rubio, and Thune blasts WH Counsel letter.🔥🔥 https://t.co/6TBYSZriRw— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) October 8, 2019
They can get away with it if the GOP Senate and the Supreme Court help him.
What’s the over/under?
.