Waters Was Asked About Trump’s Crime, Says She’ll “Make Something Up”

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Perhaps the loudest of all the voices on the left demanding the removal from office of President Donald Trump is California Rep. Maxine “Impeach 45!” Waters.

The Democrat congresswoman was talking up the idea of impeachment yet again on Thursday while addressing the Congressional Black Caucus Town Hall on Civil Rights, according to CNS News, and seemed to dismiss those who’ve asked her what specific crimes should be the basis for Trump’s impeachment.

“Impeachment is about whatever the Congress says it is. There is no law that dictates impeachment,” Waters asserted. “What the Constitution says is ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,’ and we define that.”

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“Bill Clinton got impeached because he lied,” she continued. “Here you have a president, who I can tell you and guarantee you is in collusion with the Russians to undermine our democracy. Here you have a president who obstructed justice. And here you have a president who lies every day.”

Unsurprisingly, Waters got a little bit right and a whole lot wrong with her remarks about impeachment being whatever Congress decides it will be.

Law Newz, citing constitutional scholar and Harvard law professor Noah Feldman, explained that “high crime and misdemeanors” was a carefully crafted phrase that referred not to the seriousness of any specific crime but to the nature of an offense committed by a president.

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At the time of the drafting of the Constitution, the term “high” referred to “government” or “official,” with the whole phrase essentially covering any action “performed in an official capacity by a government official that violates the basic principles of government.”

Also, the impeachment process is an inherently political one, not criminal, thus it is indeed up to Congress to determine what exactly constitutes a “high crime or misdemeanor.” Still, the rather high bar of a supermajority was put in place for both impeachment in the House and conviction in the Senate to guard against “arbitrary and capricious actions” by politically motivated members bent on ousting a president they don’t like.

However, Waters was also wrong on a few things too, according to PJ Media, such as her assertion that “there is no law” dictating impeachment, as that would actually be Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, which states: “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Having already explained the purposefully vague definition of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” we turn to “treason,” which is explicitly defined as law in the Constitution, as well as “bribery,” which is also a specific crime dictated by statute.

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Trump hasn’t committed treason — no matter how much Democrats may howl otherwise — nor has any evidence proving bribery ever been put forward, and none of the talk about “collusion” with Russia  or Trump’s supposed “obstruction of justice” comes anywhere close to either of those specific crimes.

As an aside, Waters was also wrong in her assertion that former President Bill Clinton was impeached for “lying,” as he actually faced — and survived — an impeachment effort over “perjury,” the very specific crime of lying under oath, something she, as a member of Congress, should know and take pretty seriously.

In the end, Maxine Waters has shown that she really doesn’t fully understand the concept of impeachment or constitutional law, and has simply revealed yet again that, in her bitter hatred for all things Trump, she will indeed simply make up whatever crime she thinks necessary to remove the president from office.

Once again, the Founding Fathers should be thanked for their prescience in crafting the impeachment process in such a way as to prevent “arbitrary and capricious” members of Congress from easily ousting a president they don’t like for no real reason at all.

H/T Informed Folks

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