Impeachment 2019

While I believe that the President has committed impeachable offenses I don't believe he will be convicted unless further evidence is produced. As a matter of fact, I believe it is an exercise in futility to continue down the road of articulating the charges. It is not that I don't believe he is guilty. It is that I don't believe the American people believe that what he did in respect to the Ukraine rises to the level of an impeachable offense.

Democrats are faced with a conundrum. If these things are not impeachable then what is? Should we allow the President to avoid oversight and drag national ethics through the mud? What avenues of recourse are open that would express dissatisfaction with how the President casually ignores the mores of international relations? It may have been more reasonable to censure the President rather than impeach.

What is at the center of this ordeal is the President instructing his minions to ignore subpoenas from Congress. How can Congress conduct oversight without being able to command testimony? This tactic amounts to stonewalling and will set a terrible precedent for future cases that involve the Separation of Powers doctrine. The President MUST be subject to oversight for the oversight to work.

What is absent is the smoking gun linking the President to a demand of the Ukrainian President in return for American favors. A very strong circumstantial case can be built and likely will be but I don't think that will be enough in the eyes of the American people. Not many will be able to follow the train of evidence that going to be presented. Without that pressure from the people it is not likely that impeachment will come to pass.

I am still amazed that impeachment did not arise out of the Mueller Report and it is only because the Attorney General still refuses to release documents that impeachment charges were not brought there. This can't go on. Congress must be able to command testimony and evidence from wherever it may be.

WITHOUT FURTHER EVIDENCE I think this affair needs to be brought to an end while we still have time to prepare for an election to terminate his service.