Re: The Coup against Donald Trump
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2019 9:32 am
In 1867, just before Andrew Johnson's impeachment, a writer named C.M. Ellis had this to say about the Constitution's impeachment clause:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... ed/548144/
But we seem not to have to worry about such a dispute in Trump's case, anyway. How does Dershowitz manage to overlook federal statute? From my non-expert perspective, the statute clearly applies, so what would be the reasoning?
He had much else to say in the Atlantic article. It has been the clear understanding since at least Ellis's time that a crime need not be the cause of the president's removal.The terms “high crimes and misdemeanors,” in their natural sense, embrace a very large field of actions. They are broad enough to cover all criminal misconduct of the President, — all acts of commission or omission forbidden by the Constitution and the laws. To the word “misdemeanor,” indeed, is naturally attached a yet broader signification, which would embrace personal character and behavior as well as the proprieties of official conduct. Nor was, nor is, there any just reason why it should be restricted in this direction; for, in establishing a permanent national government, to insure purity and dignity, to secure the confidence of its own people and command the respect of foreign powers, it is not unfit that civil officers, and most especially the highest of all, the head of the people, should be answerable for personal demeanor.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... ed/548144/
But we seem not to have to worry about such a dispute in Trump's case, anyway. How does Dershowitz manage to overlook federal statute? From my non-expert perspective, the statute clearly applies, so what would be the reasoning?
52 USC §30121. Contributions and donations by foreign nationals
(a) Prohibition
It shall be unlawful for-
(1) a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make-
(A) a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local election;
(B) a contribution or donation to a committee of a political party; or
(C) an expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication (within the meaning of section 30104(f)(3) of this title); or
(2) a person to solicit, accept, or receive a contribution or donation described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) from a foreign national.