On impeaching
The Times Editorial Board
.. The Times has made no secret of its opposition .. to his fluid relationship with fact, to his embrace of fringe political theories and movements, to his disrespect for basic institutions of democratic government, to his careless handling of intelligence, to his cavalier attitude toward alliances and partnerships that have stood the country in good stead. We believe his election and continuing tenure as commander in chief are bad for the nation. We see no evidence that he will grow into the job. We look forward to the day when he is no longer president.
The Constitution provides a procedure for a president to be impeached and removed from office. Although the criteria are “treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors,” and the impeachment process has some of the form of a legal prosecution — with the House of Representatives acting as grand jury and prosecutor and the Senate acting as judge and jury — impeachment ultimately is a question of political power. Congress will define for itself what constitutes an impeachable and removable offense, and no court can step in to override its decision. The option should be used if the president appears to have committed a serious crime, but also if his actions pose a serious and irreversible danger to the nation. If it is merely a question of policies with which we disagree, that is a problem better left for the next election ...
Action to remove a president outside the course of a regular election is so serious a matter that it could inflict serious damage on the confidence that is needed to make our democratic institutions function. But there is certainly a point at which failure to act in the face of criminal or dangerous conduct becomes more damaging than moving forward ...
... we are now in the zone in which we dissect testimony for evidence of a crime, await more reporting and the results of investigations like Mueller’s, and wonder whether a move toward impeachment is any more damaging than failing to do so.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-impeach-trump-20170610-story.html
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