By Michael Hernandez
It is time for Americans to support the Constitution. The House of Representatives would love you to believe that the Legislative Branch is above the Executive Branch; but because they are co-equal branches, President Donald J. Trump’s legal counsel Pat A. Cipollone wrote a letter (Oct. 8) to Democratic leadership on behalf of the President yesterday.
The letter was addressed to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff (chair of the House Intelligence Committee), Elijah Cummings (chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee), and Eliot Engel (chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee).
The White House letter states the following:
1. Your inquiry is constitutionally invalid and violates basic due process rights and the separation of powers.
“Your inquiry is constitutionally invalid and a violation of due process. In the history of our Nation, the House of Representatives has never attempted to launch an impeachment inquiry against the President without a majority of the House taking political accountability for the decision by voting to authorize such a dramatic constitutional step.”
2. The invalid “impeachment inquiry” plainly seeks to reverse the election of 2016 and to influence the election of 2020.
“The effort to impeach President Trump—without regard to any evidence of his actions in office—is a naked political strategy that began the day he was inaugurated, and perhaps even before. In fact, your transparent rush to judgment, lack of democratically accountable authorization, and violation of basic rights in the current proceedings make clear the illegitimate, partisan purpose of this purported “impeachment inquiry.”
3. There is no legitimate basis for your “impeachment inquiry”; instead, the Committees’ actions raise serious questions.
“It is transparent that you have resorted to such unprecedented and unconstitutional procedures because you know that a fair process would expose the lack of any basis for your inquiry.”
(Editor’s Note: To read the entire eight-page White House letter released Oct. 8 go to: file:///Users/mike/Downloads/429357573-White-House-Letter-to-Speaker-Pelosi-Et-Al-10-08-2019.pdf)
How crazy has the Trump paranoia become when you have Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden saying today that “Donald Trump has violated his oath of office, betrayed this nation and committed impeachable acts…Impeachment isn’t only about what the president has done—it’s about the threat the president poses to the nation if allowed to remain in office.”
Democrats can’t win an election (2016)—can’t stop the upturn in the U.S. economy—so the only strategy and course of action they have had since 2016 is to bring down a sitting President. But more than bring him down, they wish to imprison him.
California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who is House Financial Services Chair has spoken the following (Oct 1): “Impeachment is not good enough for Trump,” he should be imprisoned and “placed in solitary confinement.”
Now let’s go back to the White House letter written by legal counsel Pat Cipollone: “I write on behalf of President Donald J. Trump in response to your numerous, legally unsupported demands made as part of what you have labeled—contrary to the Constitution of the United States and all past bipartisan precedent—as an “impeachment inquiry.” As you know, you have designed and implemented your inquiry in a manner that violates fundamental fairness and constitutionally mandated due process.
“For examine, you have denied the President the right to cross-examine witnesses, to call witnesses, to receive transcripts of testimony, to have access to evidence, to have counsel present, and many other basic rights guaranteed to all Americans. You have conducted your proceedings in secret. You have violated civil liberties and the separation of powers by threatening Executive Branch officials, claiming that you will seek to punish those who exercise fundamental constitutional rights and prerogatives. All of this violates the Constitution, the rule of law, and every past precedent. Never before in our history has the House of Representatives—under the control of either political party—taken the American people down the dangerous path you seem determined to pursue.
“Put simply, you seek to overturn the results of the 2016 election and deprive the American people of the President they have freely chosen. Many Democrats now apparently view impeachment not only as a means to undo the democratic results of the last election, but as a strategy to influence the next election, which is barely more than a year away. As one member of Congress explained, he is “concerned that if we don’t impeach the President, he will get re-elected.” (Interview with Rep. Al Green on MSNBC, May 5, 2019). Your highly partisan and unconstitutional effort threatens grave and lasting damage to our democratic institutions, to our system of free elections, and to the American people.”
Is this the America that citizens want where all people—including the President is devoid of basic rights granted by the U.S. Constitution? Would you want to no longer enjoy due process? Ability to question your accuser? Ability to cross-examine witnesses?
This is a sham. This is a kangaroo court orchestrated by Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is time for Americans to rise up and support the U.S. Constitution before it is too late for all of us!
(Editor’s Note: 2020 Election Countdown is a political column focusing on both issues and candidates running for office. The goal is to inform voters, inspire political activism, as well as engage “We the People” into the public square.)
Michael Hernandez, Co-Founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service; editor of the History Makers Report and founder of History Makers International—a community nonprofit serving youth and families in Ventura County, is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. He has worked 25 years as a middle school teacher in Monrovia and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted by email at [email protected].
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