A Republican on Impeachment: Today's LA Times
By Paul Rosenzweig
In Washington, D.C., it is an article of faith that “the cover-up” is always worse than the crime. President Trump has upset that notion.
Up to now, the conventional wisdom had a lot of empirical grounding: There is no evidence, for example, that Richard Nixon knew of the Watergate break-in in advance. He resigned from office because he covered up a “third-rate burglary” that he had no role in planning or carrying out.
Likewise, Bill Clinton engaged in a tawdry affair with intern Monica Lewinsky — conduct that, in our #MeToo era looks more questionable than ever. But his impeachment was not for bad behavior. Rather it was for his perjury and obstruction of justice in concealing that affair from the American people — and, in the end, from the federal courts. Until recently Donald Trump’s most egregious offenses stemmed primarily from his multiple acts of obstruction of justice in the Mueller investigation of his connections to Russia.
Now, however, everything is different. President Trump is the subject of an impeachment inquiry that deals directly with concerns about his personal official conduct. And the difference between a cover-up and a crime is significant.
More at the link: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-11-04/trump-impeachment-crime-cover-up-ukraine-clinton-nixon
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