Draft Articles of Impeachment
Against Donald John Trump, President of the United States
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| Donald Trump Jan 28 2017 |
1. DIGNITY. Mr. Donald John Trump, unmindful of the high duties of his high office and the dignity and proprieties thereof, and of the harmony and courtesies which ought to exist and be maintained, has, in speeches to gatherings of citizenry, in messages to the general public (especially with the electronic media of Facebook and Twitter), denounced his political opposition, and especially members of the Democratic Party, individually and as a group, with utterances, declarations, threats and harangues, which utterances, declarations, threats and harangues, highly censurable in any, are particularly indecent and unbecoming in the Chief Magistrate of the United States, by means whereof the said Mr. Trump has brought the high office of the President of the United States into contempt, ridicule and disgrace, to the great scandal of all good citizens, whereby said Mr. Trump did commit, and was then and there guilty of a high misdemeanor in office.
2. DISCRIMINATION. Mr. Trump has excited and incited discrimination against persons according to their race, national origin, ancestry, religion especially the religion of Islam, and sex and sexual preferences, thereby intentionally impairing justice and mitigating the right of these persons to equal treatment under the laws.
3. MISTREATMENT OF PRISONERS. Mr. Trump has urged mistreatment and harm to prisoners and detainees. He has urged police and military officers to treat persons in custody “rough” and to torture them, and to punish them without lawful authority, in violation of the Constitution and several treaties to which the United States is party, including the Geneva Conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
4. GLOBAL WARMING PERIL. Mr. Trump has refused to acknowledge the human causes of the globally warming climate, including the release of carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere and oceans, despite nearly universal scientific findings affirming these gases trap heat, imperiling the United States and all human life. He has withdrawn the United States from participation in the Paris Climate Agreement and other international agreements to act to remedy the warming. He has declined to heed the severe national security implications of global warming identified by the Defense Department. He has curtailed scientific investigation into climate by United States government agencies.
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| Trial of Andrew Johnson in the Senate, Mar 13, 1868. Senate Collection. |
5. NUCLEAR WEAPONS PERIL. Mr. Trump has withdrawn or evidenced intention to withdraw from agreements with Russia and Iran to regulate the development and use of nuclear weapons, imperiling the United States and all human life.
6. NATO ALLIANCE. Mr. Trump has threatened to refuse to defend allies in NATO, North American Treaty Organization, should they come under attack, disrupting the most powerful alliance that defends the United States, thus weakening the defense of the United States.
7. FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. Mr. Trump has repeatedly denounced journalists, individually and as a group, even declaring them enemies, in direct retaliation against them for publishing articles unflattering to him. Thus has Mr. Trump endangered journalists and acted with animosity to the Constitutional protection of the press.
8. EMOLUMENTS. Mr. Trump has used the office of the President, exchanging changes in public policy for personal financial enrichment. Cloaked as commercial transactions, Mr Trump has received emoluments from the governments of Saudi Arabia, Russia and other countries, either directly, or via family members or compromised commercial organizations. Mr. Trump privately negotiated a business deal in Moscow for his personal profit. At the same time, he advocated relieving Russia of economic sanctions that were intended to impress upon the government of Russia the policy of the government of the United States.
9. TRADE WITH CLOSE ALLIES. Mr. Trump has used the powers granted to him by the Congress to disrupt Trade agreements with our most trusted, peaceful and democratic friendly governments, imposing harsh tariffs on imports from those regions, arousing unnecessary concern among them, with adverse effects on the strategic defense and economic vitality of the United States.
10. TRADE WITH CHINA. Mr. Trump has imposed tariffs on goods imported from China. The tariffs interfere with private commercial transactions, and increase the effective cost of goods to Americans. The cost of steel, for example, is higher under the tariff, but products of American steel producers are favored, which protects employment and profitability in United States steel companies. Predictably, the higher cost of steel increases the cost of producing automobiles, reducing the profitability and employment of automobile production. The government of China, predictably, retaliated with tariffs on agricultural and other products from the United States, effectively reducing the market and the profitability for American farmers. Thus the tariffs on imports from China have been predictably detrimental to the people of the United States.
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| Nixon presents transcripts of taped conversations. Apr 29, 1974. |
11. WALL ON THE BORDER WITH MEXICO. Mr. Trump advocates for the United States government to build a large wall to block the passage of civilians from Mexico to the United States, despite the United States having proudly opposed the presence of a large wall in Berlin to block the passage of civilians from East Berlin to West Berlin. He has separated children from their parents at the border, harming those children and families, to provide a disincentive to potential migrants hither, in violation of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Defending individual liberty and justice as fundamental elements of democracy, and defending the Constitution as the method of democracy in the United States, requires the President to oppose such walls.
12. ABUNDANT FALSE STATEMENTS. Throughout his presidency, Mr. Trump has nearly every day made false statements to the public and the news media. Often, he has not bothered to check the truthfulness of statements before he asserted them as facts. Often, he has contradicted his own statements made not long previously. Often, he has spoken words he knew were false when he spoke them. Often, he has negotiated agreements with members of Congress, cabinet members and other government officials, then violated those agreements within days. His betrays no intention to tell the truth.
13. RELIGION. Mr. Trump proclaimed executive orders to deprive Muslims of equal treatment under law, especially with regard to their entry to the United States from other countries, without any authority granted to him by Congress, and without Congress having any authority to grant him that authority, due to the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting recognition of establishment of religion, and without significant hostile threat to national security.
14. DECLARATION OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY AS ENEMY. Mr. Trump, in his public statements, has declared the Democratic Party as enemy of the nation, a direct threat to the right of the people to representation by persons they elect, a direct threat to democracy and republican form of government, a direct violation of Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution.
15. THREATS TO POLITICAL OPPONENTS. Mr. Trump has multiple times threatened to imprison Ms. Hillary Clinton, his political opponent, a direct threat to democracy and republican form of government, a direct violation of Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution.
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| Bill Clinton by Bob McNeely |
17. OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE - COMEY. Mr. Trump sought to obstruct justice when he fired the director of the FBI, Mr. James Comey, when Mr. Comey did not cease investigation of persons, including Mr. Flynn, associated with Mr. Trump’s political campaign for President.
18. OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE - SESSIONS. Mr. Trump sought to obstruct justice when he harassed the Attorney General Mr. Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the FBI investigation of illicit interaction of Mr. Trump’s political campaign organization with agents of the government of Russia, though Mr. Sessions was part of Mr. Trump’s campaign organization.
19. SLANDER. Mr. Trump has often charged Mexicans, Guatemalans & Hondurans with murder, rape and other grave crimes without evidence, a grave slander on the character of innocent people.
20. REFUGEES. Mr. Trump has refused to grant refugees safe haven, and failed to expeditiously administer their applications for refuge and asylum. He has imprisoned many of them for long periods of time, pending administrative processing of their applications, and without probable cause or threat to national security, denying them rightful liberty and simple justice.
21. IMMIGRANTS. Mr. Trump has imprisoned immigrants without trial, including children, without probable cause or threat to national security, denying them rightful liberty and simple justice.
22. PUTIN OF RUSSIA. Mr. Trump has, on several occasions, shown deference to Mr. Putin, the autocrat of Russia. Mr. Putin is known to the Congress and should be known to Mr. Trump as antagonistic to the interests of the United States, antagonistic to NATO, antagonistic to the European democracies, vital defender of the autocrat of Syria, and rivalrous contender for dominance in Syria. Mr. Trump proposed a joint investigation by Russian and United States government agencies to investigate Russian efforts to influence the outcome of the United States presidential election in 2016. Mr. Trump revealed United States national secrets to the ambassador and the foreign minister of Russia. In withdrawing United States forces from Syria, Mr. Trump yields strategic advantage to Mr. Putin. Mr. Trump has astonished his friends and his critics by his persistent accommodation and generosity toward Mr. Putin.
23. GRATUITOUS ABRIDGEMENTS OF LIBERTY. Mr. Trump gratuitously used his office to criticize and discourage NFL, National Football League, players from exercising their rights of free expression by urging their employers to terminate their employment and discharge those who declined to stand during the national anthem, despite the employers’ protections from their property, their businesses, being taken for public use without just compensation, in violation of Amendment 5 of the Constitution, and despite the players’ protection of free speech and expression, in violation of Amendment 1 of the Constitution.
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| Andrew Johnson |
25. SYRIA. Mr. Trump, has misused the Constitutional power of the President as Commander in Chief of the armed forces by ordering United States forces to withdraw from Syria, on the ostensible but false pretext that United States forces have defeated the Islamic State. In withdrawing forces, he abandons our allies in the region. He renders doubts in the reliability of the United States among allies. He leaves the fierce religious autocracy, Islamic State, capable of recovering significant power in the region, thus giving Islamic State the opportunity to establish a base of operations from which they can threaten our allies and the United States. He surrenders the territory to the autocrats with whom United States forces have contended there, including Islamic State, Mr. Assad of Syria, Mr. Putin of Russia, Hezbollah of Lebanon, the high imams of Iran, and he leaves the ultimate outcome to their decisions. He fails to protect the population of Syria and leaves them at the mercy of autocrats. He has failed to establish democracy in those parts of Syria controlled by United States forces and allies. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, he has failed to reap the benefit of the military gains achieved by United States forces, rendering futile that expenditure of treasure and blood.
Afterword
I have omitted lists of descriptions of specific acts of the president, which were part of the articles for presidents Johnson, Nixon and Clinton. I’m hopeful the Congress has well-qualified staff who will supply those essential elements.
Also, I trust those staff will combine the Articles I’ve written with proposed Articles written by others, and to edit the combined Articles, correcting my errors and omissions, and assuring understandability, accuracy, effectiveness, and legality.
Finally, I’ll explicitly state my opinion. Mr. Trump’s High Crimes and Misdemeanors are abundant and obvious. He is, by far, the most impeachable president in the history of the US. Let ours be an example to all the world of the workings of a great democracy. Through the fundamental document they left to us, with the checks and balances, the founders of the republic charge the Senate to perform its role and remove this president.
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| Donald Trump on 150th Anniversary of Trial of Andrew Johnson Mar 13, 2018 |
References
Declaration. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
Articles of Impeachment:
- Johnson. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Impeachment_Johnson.htm#7
- Nixon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_process_against_Richard_Nixon#Articles_of_impeachment, http://watergate.info/impeachment/articles-of-impeachment
- Clinton. https://www.congress.gov/bill/105th-congress/house-resolution/611/text
Green’s Articles. https://algreen.house.gov/press-release/articles-impeachment-against-donald-j-trump-president-united-states
Images
Joyce N. Boghosian, Donald Trump on 150th Anniversary of Trial of Andrew Johnson (March 13, 2018, Official White House Photo, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/photos-of-the-week-2/. Public Domain.)
Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, in the Senate, 1868 (Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1868. Collection of the United States Senate. Copyright expired. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/common/image/Ga_chamber_38_00290.htm)
Nixon presents transcripts of taped conversations. Apr 29, 1974. (Wikipedia. Public Domain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nixon_edited_transcripts.jpg)
Bill Clinton by Bob McNeely (Official White House Photo. Public Domain. Wikipedia. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Clinton.jpg)
Donald Trump Jan 28 2017, (White House. Wikimedia. Public Domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trump_first_weekly_address_(cropped).jpg)
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