The FBI doesn't have enough agents to take care of it."[1]
On July 24, 2019, the Special Counsel testified before HPSCI and this Committee.[2] He affirmed his Report's evidence, which showed that—despite over 100 contacts between individuals associated with the Trump Campaign and Russian nationals or their agents while Russia was attacking our elections—no one from the Trump Campaign reported those contacts to law enforcement.[3] The Special Counsel emphasized to the Committees that reporting such information is something that Presidential campaigns "would and should do," not least because "knowingly accepting foreign assistance during a Presidential campaign" is a crime.[4]
The next day, however, President Trump did the opposite: he did not just accept and fail to report foreign interference in our elections, he demanded it on his July 25 call with President Zelensky. Moreover, this time he leveraged the powers of his presidential office, including military and security assistance and a White House visit, against a vulnerable foreign ally.
The Constitution creates a democracy that derives its power from the American people. Elections are crucial to that system of self-government. But the Framers knew that elections alone could "not guarantee that the United States would remain a republic" if "unscrupulous officials" rigged the process. President Trump has done just that. He has done it before, he has done it here, and he has made clear he will do it again. As Professor Karlan observes, what happened in "2016 was bad enough: there is a widespread agreement that Russian operatives intervened to manipulate our political process."[5] But "that distortion is magnified" when the President uses his official powers to procure and induce foreign intervention, all as part of a scheme to ensure his own re-election.[6]
Although the First Article of Impeachment addresses President Trump's solicitation and pressuring of Ukraine to announce two investigations for his own personal political benefit, as well as his persistence in such conduct since the scheme came to light, the consistency of this scheme with his broader pattern of welcoming and inviting foreign interference into our elections is relevant and striking.
There is an instinct in any investigation to seek more evidence, interview more witnesses, and
- ↑ Interview by George Stephanopoulos of President Donald Trump, ABC News, Jun. 13, 2019.
- ↑ Oversight of the Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election: Former Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III: Before the H. Comm. On the Judiciary, 116th Cong. (July 24, 2019); see also HPSCI Mueller Hearing.
- ↑ See Karen Yourish & Larry Buchanan, Mueller Report Shows Depth of Connections Between Trump Campaign and Russians, N.Y. Times, Apr. 19, 2019.
- ↑ HPSCI Mueller Hearing Tr. at 30.
- ↑ Constitutional Grounds Hearing (2019) (written testimony of Professor Pamela S. Karlan).
- ↑ Id.'
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