Posted on 04/19/2019 10:13:34 AM PDT by Kaslin
Which Conway? Come on, man. The Kellyanne-George public war over Donald Trump reached its zenith — so far, anyway — with the latter’s call to remove his wife’s boss from office. Writing in the Washington Post today, George Conway urges Congress to impeach Trump even though Robert Mueller found no collusion with Russia and declined to reach a conclusion on obstruction:
Still, the special counsel’s report is damning. Mueller couldn’t say, with any “confidence,” that the president of the United States is not a criminal. He said, stunningly, that “if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.” Mueller did not so state.
That’s especially damning because the ultimate issue shouldn’t be — and isn’t — whether the president committed a criminal act. As I wrote not long ago, Americans should expect far more than merely that their president not be provably a criminal. In fact, the Constitution demands it. …
The Constitution provides for impeachment and removal from office for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” But the history and context of the phrase “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” makes clear that not every statutory crime is impeachable, and not every impeachable offense need be criminal. As Charles L. Black Jr. put it in a seminal pamphlet on impeachment in 1974, “assaults on the integrity of the processes of government” count as impeachable, even if they are not criminal.
And presidential attempts to abuse power by putting personal interests above the nation’s can surely be impeachable. The president may have the raw constitutional power to, say, squelch an investigation or to pardon a close associate. But if he does so not to serve the public interest, but to serve his own, he surely could be removed from office, even if he has not committed a criminal act.
Conway goes on to compare Trump to Nixon unfavorably, but stumbles over the comparison by leaving out significant information. Nixon’s “aides were the driving force behind the obstruction,” Conway asserts, leaving Nixon to be “mostly passive.” Conway acknowledges that Mueller found no underlying crime for obstruction — which isn’t necessarily a defense — but for some reason disparages the fact that Nixon’s case did have an underlying crime.
The underlying crime in Watergate was a clumsy, third-rate burglary in an election campaign that turned out to be a landslide.
Yes, but it wasn’t just any clumsy third-rate burglary — they were burglarizing the offices of the opposition party as part of their re-election effort. Nixon and/or his aides then used the power of the federal government to cover up that crime, which Nixon knew about and at the least did nothing to stop. In that case we have an actual crime that went to the heart of an election and an official conspiracy to keep it from getting tied back to Nixon and his campaign. There were more serious allegations than Conway credits in the Articles of Impeachment against Nixon, including attempts to use the IRS against his political enemies, misuse of the FBI and Secret Service for political surveillance, and his Saturday Night Massacre in firing multiple officials, including independent prosecutor Archibald Cox, to derail the Watergate investigation.
And if no underlying crime isn’t a defense against obstruction, I’m pretty confident that “a landslide” isn’t a defense against burglary, either.
Why underreport Nixon’s crimes? Conway wants to draw a tilted comparison to Trump to bolster his argument. Ignoring and downplaying the corruption of Watergate only makes Conway’s argument look more threadbare, however. Since he’s the one using Watergate as a measuring stick, the actual Articles of Impeachment — and their bipartisan support — shows how far short a Trump impeachment effort falls of that metric.
At the moment, this still looks like no sale with Democrats, as Politico notes:
But while Conway was clear in his call for Congress to impeach Trump, Democrats have continued to tread lightly on the issue. Democrats in the House have pledged to continue their bevy of investigations into Trump, with some arguing that Mueller’s findings on obstruction serve as a road map of sorts for them. Others have concluded Mueller intended to leave the question of obstruction up to Congress, but party leaders have notably stopped short of saying they’ll pursue impeachment.
Without a smoking gun in Mueller’s 448-page report, it will be nearly impossible to reach a widespread bipartisan consensus on the issue, a prerequisite that top Democrats have laid out multiple times. Still, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday signaled some sort of action, writing to her caucus that “Congress will not be silent.”
Impeachment is going nowhere, now that it’s clear that the Trump campaign didn’t collude with Russia and the 2016 election was on the level. They’ll continue to harass him with investigations, but most of that effort will be aimed at helping out their 2020 nominee with some oppo research. (The rest of that effort will be aimed at self-promotion by the committee chairs.)
The big question is no longer whether Congress will impeach Trump. It’s which Conway plans to impeach the other.
George Conway is a TOAD....a JEALOUS TOAD!
Kelly,
Kick fatboys a$$ to the curb.
I ignore the fool.
Conway really wants to go back home to New York. If he can get his wife fired, he gets to move back home. If he complains about Trump publicly he does not get the anti-Trump bias hurting him professionally. He is just trying to get his New York lawyer life back.
I could swear at this point, this is an act.
George is playing the “beta cuck male” who hates Trump
KellyAnn is playing the strong feminine career soccer mom who loves Trump
Its like a soap opera of some sorts, played out in real life and time
No man wants to be George
Every woman wants to be KellyAnn
Think about it
And if my theory is right, this is genius
You know what?
I wish the democrats would actually go ahead and start impeachment NOW.
Clear the air, get it out, see if they can remove him.
If they succeed, then it will time for patriots to once and for all rise up and throw the bums out!!!
What was that thing Kurt Russell told Billy Bob in Tombstone?
Kelly Ann needs to go. In my opinion, she’s complicit in playing the “good cop” “bad cop” routine with her husband. She was not on the Trump train from day one. She jumped on after he became the nominee. She’s one of the few who have been an insider from day one and I always thought the motor mouth was a leaker. There is no way her husband would be making such damning statements without her approval.
KellyAnn is not getting fired
George is doing exactly what he is told to do.
This is all a show
Why hasn’t Kellyanne left this despicable man or resigned from the Trump administration? This has gone on far too long.
Look over here bait
I will have to respectfully disagree
I think George is doing exactly what he is told, not just from KellyAnn but from the Trump campaign as well.
George is a short troll who undermines his successful wife who hates Trump
No man wants to be George
No woman is attracted to George either
This is smart, very smart imagery going on here.
Sometimes the best political messages are not spoken
Obumbles, Clinton, Brennan, Clapper, Comey, and the entire canal of scores of others DID commit the same and far worse crimes than did Nixon and his cohorts. They sneakily covered up their crimes and the coverup by getting an SC appointed and conducting a bogus two year long investigation. Obama knew full well what was going on and encouraged it.
Will the true treason and crimes against the U.S. of A. ever be exposed and the criminals prosecuted? What they did is a million times worse than Watergate.
In sickness and health... Kellyanne should be applauded for honoring her vows, and keeping this sadly mentally disabled person as her spouse. Some would chose to take someone with such a severe lack of cognitive ability and kick him to the curb. But no, Kellyanne honors her commitment and keeps this woefully disabled man around.
I wish them both well. Perhaps more winning will slowly lessen the impact of TDS. I recommend 4 more years of Trump as the ultimate therapy.
No she doesn't. Why are you helping this guy out anyway?
He sure is, I don’t get it why she doesn’t dump him.
Excellent question.
What does she do anyway? They took her off the media circuit and the gaffes have gone down. Who’s raising her kids?
She is in a really high profile position. Why would she not speak out against what he’s saying? His latest comments are very damaging. He gave the media the sound bite they need to pile on the Presiddnt. If she cant keep him in check she should go. I can think of several really good replacements.
What would they get out of this? A reality tv show?
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