The Case for Impeachment

Issue #1 is the attempt to have a monopoly on truth by using the powers of his office to delegitimize all rival sources of truth (the media, the courts, science).

Issue #2 is the increasing evidence that Trump's campaign had improper contact with certain Russians while they were helping to elect him president and will soon cross the line - if he hasn't crossed it already - of obstructing justice.

If there is an Issue #3, I suspect it will be his mental balance (or lack thereof) as the pressure increases on his.

Issue #4 is his violation of the emoluments clause - that is low-hanging fruit JUST WAITING for the Republicans to have had enough and pull the trigger on it.


Issue #2

"On 14 February, the New York Times reported that advisers and associates of Donald Trump may have been in direct and continuous contact with officers of the Russian intelligence agency, the FSB, during a tumultuous election campaign in which the American democracy itself was hacked. A major party – now in opposition – was the victim of an unprecedented cyber-attack.

"According to the Times, intercepted telephone calls and phone records indicated to American counter-intelligence officers direct contact with the Russians."

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"Now, thanks to CNN, we learned on Thursday that Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, had reportedly contacted the deputy director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, and requested that the bureau publicly characterize the Times story as not being serious – in McCabe’s reported words, “total BS”.

"When this was rebuffed by McCabe, Priebus reportedly went to the FBI director, James Comey, who allegedly also refused to comment publicly. Priebus then allegedly asked both if he could quote them anonymously as “top intelligence officials”, saying the story was totally wrong. According to CNN, McCabe and Comey agreed to let him do that, despite the fact that the FBI and the White House are prohibited from communicating about open investigations.

"The White House then turned to other intelligence officials and to members of Congress. According to the Washington Post, House and Senate intelligence committee chairs Devin Nunes and Richard Burr were asked to push back against Russian stories that did not favor the administration. They told the Post they did so."

The story of the week is Trump, Russia and the FBI. The rest is a distraction