Law professor tells Congress if Trump's actions aren't impeachable, 'then nothing is impeachable'

Authored by theweek.com and submitted by TheWeekMag
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Professor Michael Gerhardt argued during Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing that if President Trump's actions aren't impeachable, then "nothing is impeachable."

Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, was one of the witnesses called by Democrats for Wednesday's hearing in the impeachment inquiry, which is focusing on whether Trump abused the power of the presidency by pushing Ukraine to announce investigations that might help him politically. Gerhardt testified that Trump committed impeachable offenses and that there's "more than enough" evidence that he obstructed justice.

"If what we're talking about is not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable," he said. "This is precisely the misconduct that the framers created a Constitution, including impeachment, to protect against."

Gerhardt went on to say that if Congress gives Trump a "pass," then "every other president will say, 'okay, then I can do the same thing,' and the boundaries will just evaporate ... and that is a danger to all of us." Brendan Morrow

aManPerson on December 4th, 2019 at 18:56 UTC »

Democrats: Exactly, that's why he should be impeached

Republicans: Exactly, that's why he shouldn't be impeached

cakeweefs on December 4th, 2019 at 18:41 UTC »

Despite Representative Doug Collins telling me that I would not understand the testimony of these witnesses, that was pretty clear.

Wattsferatu on December 4th, 2019 at 18:03 UTC »

Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, was one of the witnesses called by Democrats for Wednesday's hearing in the impeachment inquiry, which is focusing on whether Trump abused the power of the presidency by pushing Ukraine to announce investigations that might help him politically. Gerhardt testified that Trump committed impeachable offenses and that there's "more than enough" evidence that he obstructed justice.

"If what we're talking about is not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable," he said. "This is precisely the misconduct that the framers created a Constitution, including impeachment, to protect against."

Gerhardt went on to say that if Congress gives Trump a "pass," then "every other president will say, 'okay, then I can do the same thing,' and the boundaries will just evaporate ... and that is a danger to all of us."