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• Andrew C. McCarthy in National Review:

“But the question is not whether collusion is a crime. It is whether collusion is a high crime or misdemeanor.”

Mr. McCarthy bemoans the fact that many in the news media are not informed “about how our constitutional system is supposed to work.” Impeachment, he reminds his readers, is a political issue, not a legal one, and it is the main lever in the Constitution’s tool kit to respond to “egregious executive malfeasance.” Therefore, partisan “bickering” over crimes of collusion miss the point. Mr. McCarthy, who identifies as a reluctant supporter of the president, writes that our standard for executive leadership should extend way beyond the low bar of “nothing he has done is indictable.” Read more »

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• David French in National Review:

“This isn’t the smoking gun that proves actual ‘collusion’ with Russia, but rather evidence that Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner tried to collude with Russia.”

Mr. French maintains that he always needed more information when it came to Russia’s connection to the Trump administration, citing his skepticism of anonymous sources in the media. Now that the emails to Donald Trump Jr. have been made public, he feels comfortable calling the Russia investigation a “national necessity.” Read more »

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• John Podhoretz in The New York Post:

“There is too much focus on the criminal aspect of this event, which might or might not be significant. There is not enough focus on the moral aspect of this event, which is far more significant.”