The White House denied the version of the conversation described by Comey’s aides, telling The Post “the president has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end an investigation”.
“I said to myself … this Russian Federation thing with Trump and Russian Federation is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won”, he said. Other Democrats have repeatedly echoed their thoughts. Amash paused and responded, “yes”. “There’s one simple way to do that: Carlos Curbelo can sign onto the discharge petition that is now on the House floor, and bring the bill creating an independent commission up for a vote as soon as possible”. That means 25 Republicans would need to be persuaded to vote to impeach Mr Trump, which could protect him. There are two big reasons for that.
ADAM SCHIFF: The country has to believe that the seriousness of the conduct is such that this president can not continue in office. “The president must be impeached”.
“Throughout the day the chatter of Donald Trump being impeached was largely confined to social media, but now that Congressman Al Green of the Democratic Party has called for it, traders are taking it more seriously”. Calabresi, co-founder of the conservative Federalist Society, said Trump would be “on a short leash” in the White House.
At its peak on Wednesday, the price of a “yes” contract on the impeachment question reached a record 33 cents, implying a 33 percent probability that Trump would be impeached, as compared to only 7 percent last week. What “high crimes and misdemeanors” qualify for impeachment is left up to interpretation.
But removing a president is hard. First, a majority of the House of Representatives would have to vote in favour of impeachment.
“In Watergate, we had the special prosecutor, but we also had a separate, ongoing impeachment investigation by the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, which is very different – it doesn’t only have to consider criminal activity”. Republicans hold 238 seats, while Democrats hold 193 (four seats are vacant). So, yes, the potential that Mike Pence could be president for 10 years is a real possibility- and imagine what the laws of the land or SCOTUS would like like then? Chief Justice John Roberts would preside, according to the Constitution.
Next, the Senate votes in a sort of trial.
President Donald J. Trump is the 45th President of the United States
SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE: Even before he took office, big chunks of the progressive base were demanding the impeachment of Donald Trump.
There is not even a critical mass of Republicans who think there should be a special prosecutor to investigate the Trump campaign’s ties to Russian Federation.
To continue the process, the articles of impeachment would have to be brought to the House floor for a majority-rules vote.
Only two presidents in American history have been impeached – Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson – and neither were convicted in the Senate.
Bill Clinton became the second president to be impeached, in 1998, as the Monica Lewinsky scandal unfolded. “Obstruction of justice is an impeachable offense”, Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) wrote on Twitter.
A number of Democratic lawmakers made less direct threats, saying if what has been reported is true it is obstruction of justice.
Both Nixon, who wasn’t actually impeached, and Clinton, who was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate, were facing off against a hostile Congress controlled by the opposing party.