Free Press Editorial | Why Congress must vote to impeach President Trump

The Detroit Free Press Editorial Board | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump impeachment now headed to House for vote The House of Representatives will vote on the impeachment of a president after the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment.

If government were a game, it might well be pointless for congressional Democrats to persist in their efforts to remove Donald Trump from office via the constitutionally prescribed but politically fraught process of impeachment.

Republicans control the U.S. Senate, and it seems unlikely, as Washington enters the darkest week of the year, that more than a handful of GOP senators will vote to unseat their party's president, however flagrantly he desecrates his office.

In a defiant declaration of partisanship that would disqualify him from jury service in any small claims dispute, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week there is "zero chance" that Trump will be removed and pledged "total coordination" with the president's defense team.

"We all know how this is going to end," McConnell added, assuring his Fox News audience that the coming Senate trial will have all the suspense of a Hallmark Christmas movie.

But impeachment is not a game, and the disposition of grave allegations against a commander-in-chief should not turn on partisan advantage alone — not, at least, if Americans expect the world not to guffaw at the claim that ours is a government of laws. And so it's crucial that the House of Representatives honors its constitutional obligation to hold this lawless president accountable for his abuse of power — even if craven senators lack the courage to do the same.

From U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin: How I reached my decision on impeachment

Evidence and obfuscation

That the full House will vote to impeach the president sometime this week seems certain after the House Judiciary Committee on Friday recommended two articles of impeachment. The charges against Trump stem from his abortive attempt to enlist Ukraine's assistance in his re-election campaign, his efforts to extort that country's cooperation by withholding vital security assistance appropriated by Congress, and his continuing obstruction of congressional efforts to map the full dimensions of his corrupt conduct.

The evidence supporting these allegations is so overwhelming, and the credibility of the career public servants who testified before the House so irreproachable, that House Republicans have strategically opted to ignore it. Their defense of a president whose conduct has become indefensible focuses on the motives of those who exposed it, and the endless repetition of conspiracy theories long ago debunked by the administration's own intelligence agencies.

The centerpiece of this disinformation campaign, currently being disseminated in 30-second spots targeting Democratic members of Michigan's congressional delegation, is that the articles of impeachment adopted by the House Judiciary Committee are the culmination of a three-year-old effort to remove the president from office on any pretext whatsoever.

It is true that a minority of Democrats, including Detroit Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, have been animated from the day they took office by that objective. But Michigan's other Democratic representatives have remained admirably focused on other priorities, as they pledged to do in their campaigns.

It took Trump's brazen attempt to extort Ukraine's assistance in his re-election campaign to convince most of those who represent Southeast Michigan in Congress that the House should undertake a formal impeachment inquiry. This was not the escalation of a relentless partisan crusade, but a marked reversal by elected officials responding to an unconstitutional usurpation of congressional authority.

The courage exemplified by Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) and Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Troy), both of whom won narrow election victories in districts where Trump remains popular, is especially noteworthy. Their resolve to place their constitutional responsibilities ahead of their political careers was critical in convincing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had long counseled against impeachment, that the president's lawlessness could no longer be ignored.

The case for caution

With the full House poised to adopt articles of impeachment sometime this week, Pelosi stands at the verge of relinquishing the process to a Senate majority that has broadcast its intent to subvert it. The Senate's own rules require members to begin a trial the day after articles of impeachment are formally presented and press forward six days a week until they reach a judgment.

If senators took their constitutional obligation seriously, they would defer such a judgment until eyewitnesses the accused president has forbidden to testify under oath agree to do so before the full Senate. Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former National Security Advisor John Bolton are among those whose first-hand accounts are incontestably relevant to the Senate's task.

But McConnell has already expressed his preference to summon no witnesses at all. So Pelosi should seriously consider postponing a formal handoff until Pence, Pompeo and the rest all agree to testify in her own chamber, and until the White House relinquishes the documentary evidence it has refused to produce.

Continued deliberation by the House would delay a resolution of the charges, but it would also light a fire under judges who might otherwise neglect their own responsibility to compel testimony and evidence disclosure.

Even if the White House and its craven servants in the Senate succeed in turning Trump's impeachment trial into a farce, Americans deserve to see the lawmakers they elected to represent them explain why allowing a president to extort an ally for personal advantage, flout congressional oversight and disparage honorable public servants is not a violation of their own constitutional oath.

Someday, after all, Americans may wish to restore the rule of law, the constitutional checks and balances and the democratic norms the president and his enablers have so thoughtlessly vandalized. When we at last find the gumption to resurrect those founding principles and fortify them against future presidents, it will be useful to review how they fell into such desperate circumstances.

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