Apr 24, 2019
by Michael Sean Winters
I was wrong. I thought that someone like Attorney General William Barr would not misrepresent the findings of the Mueller report on Russian meddling in the 2016 investigation. He did.
I was also wrong to think that Mueller's statement — repeated by Barr, that while his report did not exonerate President Trump of the charge of obstruction of justice, he was not recommending action one way or the other, but leaving that determination to the attorney general and Congress — was the result of the difficulty in proving intent, especially because the president so often behaves like a 4-year-old. The report clearly indicates that the president wanted to obstruct justice. His top aides were unwilling to act on his orders because doing so would have involved them in criminal activity. The lack of actual obstruction was the result of his aides acting on their own, ignoring the president.
I was not wrong to think that impeachment remains a bridge too far. The president's actions certainly warrant impeachment proceedings in the House and conviction in the Senate. But, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, is as indifferent to constitutional norms in his way as the president is in his. A failure to convict the president, despite ample evidence of lying and disregard for the law, would be seen as a vindication of the president.
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi said "He isn't worth it" in explaining her desire to avoid impeachment, it was to this reality that she was speaking. Trump has endangered so many democratic norms already. Whether the Democrats were to pursue impeachment or not, either decision will also devalue the impeachment process itself, even though it was designed precisely for situations like this. He isn't worth it. And, let history be as unkind to McConnell as it will be to Trump ...
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/trump-deserves-impeachment-failure-would-harm-constitution
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