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The problem for Trump, legally, isn’t that he gave classified intel to Russia. The president’s bigger problem is that this could be considered a violation of his oath of office and an impeachable offense.

According to the Lawfare blog:

Congress has alleged oath violations—albeit violations tied to criminal allegations or breaches of statutory obligations—all three times it has passed or considered seriously articles of impeachment against presidents: against Andrew Johnson (“unmindful of the high duties of his oath of office”), Richard Nixon (“contrary to his oath”), and Bill Clinton (“in violation of his constitutional oath”). Further, two of the three articles of impeachment against Nixon alleged no direct violation of the law. Instead, they concerned Nixon’s abuse of his power as President, which, like the President putting the nuclear codes on Twitter, is an offense that can only be committed by the President and has thus never been explicitly prohibited in criminal law.

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There’s thus no reason why Congress couldn’t consider a grotesque violation of the President’s oath as a standalone basis for impeachment—a high crime and misdemeanor in and of itself. This is particularly plausible in a case like this, where the oath violation involves giving sensitive information to an adversary foreign power. That’s getting relatively close to the “treason” language in the impeachment clauses; it’s pretty easy to imagine a hybrid impeachment article alleging a violation of the oath in service of a hostile foreign power. So legally speaking, the matter could be very grave for Trump even though there is no criminal exposure.

The reason why the White House keeps trying to walk such a fine line based on the idea that Trump’s giving of the info was his decision, but it was not a danger to national security is because what Trump did could violate his oath office.

Therefore, it is possible for both the White House to right that what Trump did was legal, and it can also be an impeachable offense.

The giving of highly classified information to Russia by the President goes beyond being a political problem. What Trump could be used as grounds for impeachment. With Republicans in control of Congress, for now, it is important for Democrats to build their case, so if they win back all or part of Congress in 2018, they will be ready to go with a full-scale investigation that puts impeachment on the table.

With polling showing that popularity of impeaching Trump is at a record high, Democrats have nothing to fear politically by talking about impeachment out loud.

The transcripts will reveal all, and if a Democratic House is elected next year, what Trump’s actions, historically speaking, are grounds for impeachment.