General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhoa, Justin Amash (R) concludes that Trump has commited impeachable offenses:
Here are my principal conclusions:
1. Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Muellers report.
2. President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct.
3. Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances.
4. Few members of Congress have read the report.
Link to tweet
sinkingfeeling
(51,444 posts)demmiblue
(36,838 posts)brucefan
(1,549 posts)Lochloosa
(16,063 posts)OnDoutside
(19,952 posts)Indykatie
(3,695 posts)He should just leave the GOP and stop wanting to believe he can improve their lot from within. He Can't.
demmiblue
(36,838 posts)He is principled, I will give him that. But many of his views are abhorrent and fit soundly within the GOP framework.
Where is he going to go? Third party?
saidsimplesimon
(7,888 posts)Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)Broken clock
dajoki
(10,678 posts)he might be the only one who knows how to read, but he is still a repube. I am very sick of all the praise for stating the obvious, until more start to speak out I will refuse to give any of them credit.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)gldstwmn
(4,575 posts)positions really suck.
ancianita
(36,017 posts)PunkinPi
(4,875 posts)1. Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Muellers report.
2. President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct.
3. Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances.
4. Few members of Congress have read the report.
I offer these conclusions only after having read Muellers redacted report carefully and completely, having read or watched pertinent statements and testimony, and having discussed this matter with my staff, who thoroughly reviewed materials and provided me with further analysis.
In comparing Barrs principal conclusions, congressional testimony, and other statements to Muellers report, it is clear that Barr intended to mislead the public about Special Counsel Robert Muellers analysis and findings.
Barrs misrepresentations are significant but often subtle, frequently taking the form of sleight-of-hand qualifications or logical fallacies, which he hopes people will not notice.
Under our Constitution, the president shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. While high Crimes and Misdemeanors is not defined, the context implies conduct that violates the public trust.
Contrary to Barrs portrayal, Muellers report reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.
In fact, Muellers report identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice, and undoubtedly any person who is not the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence.
Impeachment, which is a special form of indictment, does not even require probable cause that a crime (e.g., obstruction of justice) has been committed; it simply requires a finding that an official has engaged in careless, abusive, corrupt, or otherwise dishonorable conduct.
While impeachment should be undertaken only in extraordinary circumstances, the risk we face in an environment of extreme partisanship is not that Congress will employ it as a remedy too often but rather that Congress will employ it so rarely that it cannot deter misconduct.
Our system of checks and balances relies on each branchs jealously guarding its powers and upholding its duties under our Constitution. When loyalty to a political party or to an individual trumps loyalty to the Constitution, the Rule of Lawthe foundation of libertycrumbles.
Weve witnessed members of Congress from both parties shift their views 180 degreeson the importance of character, on the principles of obstruction of justicedepending on whether theyre discussing Bill Clinton or Donald Trump.
Few members of Congress even read Muellers report; their minds were made up based on partisan affiliationand it showed, with representatives and senators from both parties issuing definitive statements on the 448-page reports conclusions within just hours of its release.
Americas institutions depend on officials to uphold both the rules and spirit of our constitutional system even when to do so is personally inconvenient or yields a politically unfavorable outcome. Our Constitution is brilliant and awesome; it deserves a government to match it.
Is the tide finally starting to turn?
demmiblue
(36,838 posts)Qutzupalotl
(14,300 posts)MFGsunny
(2,356 posts)saidsimplesimon
(7,888 posts)Republican? Pigs, with genetic mutations, may one day fly, but, could this be a cynical ploy?
I "want to believe" that Republican politicians will disavow the usurper, logic is a stern master.
Kid Berwyn
(14,865 posts)Now lets see who else is with him.
In the process, well discover who else stands with the traitor.
kentuck
(111,076 posts)It sounds like he has given it a lot of thought.
coti
(4,612 posts)DemoTex
(25,392 posts)I'm not surprised, but seriously: WTF?
Susan Calvin
(1,646 posts)I think he meant that if they had they would've come to his conclusions.
Barr didn't read the report before issuing his summary. Probably still hasn't read it.
Ligyron
(7,624 posts)Came right out and confessed he didn't examine any of the evidence when questioned.
Ford_Prefect
(7,877 posts)Glimmer of Hope
(5,823 posts)steve2470
(37,457 posts)Peacetrain
(22,874 posts)just started an op on this myself and then saw your op.. so I deleted.. Hopefully this is the beginning of the flood that will take the current resident of the white house back to ny
riversedge
(70,185 posts)Peacetrain
(22,874 posts)riversedge
(70,185 posts)Peacetrain
(22,874 posts)sprinkleeninow
(20,235 posts)Peacetrain
(22,874 posts)I have it..
sprinkleeninow
(20,235 posts)denbot
(9,899 posts)There is hope..
Ramsey Barner
(349 posts)"While impeachment should be undertaken only in extraordinary circumstances, the risk we face in an environment of extreme partisanship is not that Congress will employ it as a remedy too often but rather that Congress will employ it so rarely that it cannot deter misconduct."
Thanks, PunkinPi, for the unrolled thread!
kairos12
(12,852 posts)Mike Nelson
(9,951 posts)
they should be required to read the report... if was sent to them for reading.
barbtries
(28,787 posts)probably weighing the relative merits of doing the right thing vs following his party vis a vis his future in politics. he is a republican after all. having said that, i'll take it and venture that he will come out smelling like a rose compared to most republicans after this is all written down in history.
what i struggle with is any republican who remains with the party given the clear evidence of their wrongdoing.
patphil
(6,164 posts)And a Republican member of Congress expresses a reasonable, honest, patriotic, non-partisan statement on the content of the Mueller report.
I don't know which would be the most remarkable thing.
Patrick Phillips
Leghorn21
(13,524 posts)Amash is trending at #3, so the whole wide worlds gonna hear about this, YEAH
This is how ya do it, COTTON
FLYNN
GAETZ
GRAHAM
MCCONNELL
MEADOWS
JORDAN
Etc ad infinitum
fuck you all
Mr.Bill
(24,274 posts)is either an idiot or is guilty of the same crimes.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)Uh, no dude..false equivalency... stop trying to soften the blow.....
"There are good nazis and there are bad nazis.. sure...."
.... fucking lying republican traitors have "eroded our system of checks and balances."
blah blah--even that is a throw away line --- twinkle twinkle ...
Stop putting ANY of this on Democrats !
Different Drummer
(7,612 posts)Well done, Rep. Amash!
samnsara
(17,615 posts)..so hes been known for a bit for his fair views. But wow to come out and say this out loud is very big. Maybe this is what Nancys beens waiting for..or maybe she knew/knows all along who will support her, and when.
Trumps gonna be piiiiiiiiised.
caught the end of a live report on it..SE Cupp and Bill Kristol
Funtatlaguy
(10,870 posts)kimbutgar
(21,111 posts)Though it might be ignored by Fox and their minions so as not to get people to pay attention, Maybe we need to give his tweet a gentle push in the twitter verse.
pamdb
(1,332 posts)He's my congressman. He also come in on the tea party wave. Need voted for him, never will,
but I will say he has come out before against pumpkin head, so I'll give him that. I think he
might try running as an independent but he's got awhile. Hope he doesn't look at running for Senate against our two democratic senators.
Evolve Dammit
(16,723 posts)NastyRiffraff
(12,448 posts)Talk to your Republican colleagues.
Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)certainot
(9,090 posts)phone and scream at his staff all day repeating what limbaugh's been saying since inauguration - that it's a deep state coup, and he'll start backtracking like they all do
that's why trump paraded limbaugh out at mara largo right after the report came out - it apparently didn't work with amash
although maybe amash has a kid in the army (i don't know)
gibraltar72
(7,501 posts)is not afraid of a tweet.
Stuart G
(38,414 posts)key sentence and key words
Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) slammed President Trump and Attorney General William Barr is a series of tweets, while saying he offers his conclusions only after having read Muellers redacted report carefully and completely.
....After reading the full report, Amash says Barr deliberately misrepresented (lied) about the contents of the report and their conclusions. This is pretty strong, accusing the AG of lying about the contents of the report.
What this really means is Amash is urging everyone to read the "entire report carefully and completely."
Many congresspersons have not done so. So, he says read it all, and you will come to the same conclusion.
saidsimplesimon
(7,888 posts)tick, tock
Grasswire2
(13,565 posts)Response to demmiblue (Original post)
amb123 This message was self-deleted by its author.
madville
(7,408 posts)because if he does he is going to get a Pro-Trump primary challenger and lose. I admire his courage on the subject though, his political career is over as a member of the Republican Party.
orangecrush
(19,516 posts)repubs grow a conscience.
catbyte
(34,367 posts)jimlup
(7,968 posts)could be a trend. We can hope that some Republicans are actually human beings rather than FOX NEWS zombies.
raccoon
(31,110 posts)coti
(4,612 posts)roamer65
(36,745 posts)Hes getting ahead of the game. His district is only R+6, as presently gerrymandered.
roamer65
(36,745 posts)MI-6 and MI-7. They are going down!
PatrickforO
(14,570 posts)Quite the eye opener.
wryter2000
(46,032 posts)Honesty.
Now, when a few Republican Senators agree, I'll have some hope for impeachment.
zentrum
(9,865 posts)Heard it on the BBC this morning.
coeur_de_lion
(3,676 posts)Dozens left to go. Its a start.