Ukraine-gate is Not Enough
In an earlier posting (www.dailykos.com/…), I made a case for why the Articles of Impeachment should go beyond a sole focus on Ukraine-gate.
(In summary, the argument is that it is important to show as many Americans as possible that Trump’s criminality and corruption have pervaded his presidency and are not confined to just what he’s done regarding Ukraine. That’s important so that
the electorate will understand that his removal is necessary, and won’t fall for the Republicans’ apparent fallback position, in which they concede that, yes the President did wrong, but the wrong-doing doesn’t rise to the level of impeachment; and the Republican Party’s willing complicity, these past three years, with Trump’s criminality and corruption and assault on the constitutional order will be brought into sharp relief. (Whereas if the public’s attention is focused only on the Ukraine scandal, they will not have much reason to perceive how disgraceful and indefensible the choices that the “Trump Party” has been making throughout this presidency have been.)
Given, therefore, the importance of using the Articles of Impeachment to broaden out the picture of Trump’s criminality and corruption presented to the American people, I argued further, the Mueller Report’s clear demonstration of “multiple felonies” of “obstruction of justice” should get wrapped into the House’s indictment of Trump.
Of course, It must be immediately recognized that the Democrats (in the House Judiciary Committee) tried and failed months ago to bring the Mueller Report’s findings to life in nationally-televised hearings. The Democrats found themselves stymied by the Trump gang’s complete stonewalling. Witnesses and documents were subpoenaed, but the subpoena’s were ignored. Court processes were initiated, but they take forever. Between the way the Trumpites defied Congress, and the way the Democrats responded to the Trumpian blockade, it looked uncertain — until the Ukraine scandal broke -- whether the Democrats’ efforts to move toward impeachment would ever get anywhere.
So the question arises: How can the Democrats fare better now in bringing the Mueller Report to life for the American people?
Bringing the Mueller Report to Life on National TV
I. The first possible route to the success that eluded the Democrats back in the spring stems from how the Trump obstructionism has already broken down massively. The House Intelligence Committee has been getting a steady stream of credible witnesses testifying despite the (illegal) orders from President Trump (and in some cases from Secretary of State Pompeo) for them not to appear.
Perhaps, in view of that breaking of the logjam, Don McGahn will respond now to the kind of subpoena he defied before.
But, if the old obstructions continue to hold, then the Democrats will have to show more creativity in their approach to the task than they showed before. For example:
II. The crimes of obstruction well-documented in the Mueller Report have been described as “not even a close call.” They are as clear and fully as significant as those that have emerged in the Ukraine scandal.
All the necessary information is already in the Mueller Report — the fruit of a vigorous investigation behind closed doors needing now only to be enacted publicly so that that the evidence gets absorbed by the 99+% of the American people who didn’t read that 400-page document.
Don McGahn’s testimony is already in the public realm, on the printed page. Don McGahn is not the only one who can deliver that testimony to the public.
So, if the Democrats can’t get McGahn to perform out loud before the cameras the devastating testimony the Mueller Report indicates that he gave under oath, the Democrats/Judiciary Committee could bring in some high-visibility movie star types to do a dramatic reading from the Mueller Report.
Get people like Tom Hanks or Oprah Winfrey or Meryl Streep reading the story of Trump’s efforts to get McGahn (and Corey Lewandowski) to shut down the Mueller investigation (and lie about it).
People will tune in to see the stars. And when they tune in, what they hear will get them to see more clearly what a liar and a thug Trump has been in one situation after another.
III. After the hearings have performed some of the essential testimony recounted in the Mueller Report, the Judiciary Committee could move forward into explaining why the presidential conduct is significant in legal terms. I.e. why it qualifies as “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The Judiciary Committee could bring in some from among the more than 1000 former Justice Department officials — especially some of those of Republican background -- who can explain why the accounts in the Mueller Report show Trump committing real crimes of some seriousness for which anyone (but the President) would be indicted.
IV. One more level I propose be addressed: to explain to America why the offenses described represent threats to our constitutional order, and thus why the oath of office requires the members of Congress to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” against this particular President. The Committee could call some of the nation’s pre-eminent constitutional scholars to explain why our founders designed the system as they did, and how our well-being truly does depend on keeping the force of lawlessness that Trump represents from tearing it down.
The Matter of Timing
I don’t expect that this whole process — i.e. of “bringing the Mueller Report to Life” — should take more than a few days. Not more than a week, anyway. So it should not greatly delay the formulation of the Articles of Impeachment to be voted on by the House and passed along to the Senate.
As for when those few days should begin, I would suggest that it be immediately after the House has completed its public hearings laying out the Ukraine scandal— which has the virtue of being easily comprehensible. So the virtue of “Keep It Simple” should already be in the bank.
With the Ukraine scandal having been laid out for the people — and the Republicans likely declaring it doesn’t rise to the level of impeachment — the Judiciary Committee would proceed to show how this President is guilty of a general disregard of the law and the constitutional order— the very kind of lawlessness that absolutely demands impeachment and removal.