House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., challenged the argument from Trump’s defenders that impeachment must allege a violation of statutory law.
To make his point, Nadler played a 1999 video of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was a manager 20 years ago in the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton. The Constitution allows impeachment for “high crimes and misdemeanors,” a term that has been debated during the Trump investigation.
“What’s a high crime?” Graham asked in the well of the Senate in 1999. “How about an important person hurting somebody of low means? It’s not very scholarly, but I think it’s the truth. I think that’s what they meant by high crimes. Doesn’t even have to be a crime. It’s just when you start using your office and you’re acting in a way that hurts people, you’ve committed a high crime.”
CLIP: @RepJerryNadler uses C-SPAN Video Library clip of Sen. @LindseyGrahamSC during 1999 Senate Impeachment Trial.
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Republicans have challenged the accusations of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress as vague and not grounded in established law.
“This view is completely wrong,” Nadler said of the Republican argument. “It has no support in constitutional text and structure, original meaning, congressional precedents, common sense or the consensus of credible experts. In other words, it conflicts with every relevant consideration.”
Nadler quoted two constitutional scholars who testified at a Dec. 4 hearing in the impeachment inquiry.
Michael Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, said the Constitution “plainly does not” require a violation of law for impeachment.
Republicans generally declined to respond to videos Democrats showed of past statements from members of the president’s legal defense team and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., about impeachable offenses and abuses of power.
Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow said his team was composed of lawyers from many different schools of thought on the level of conduct constituting an impeachable offenses, and “the actions alleged and the actions of the president, do not reach that level regardless of your school of thought”
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., quipped, “I thought Lindsey looked a lot younger,” when asked about the video of Graham.
Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., said the consequence of being in politics for a long time was sometimes contradictory positions.
“That’s the irony of being here a long time, and all the different dynamics you might be part of,” Braun said. “I don’t think you can hold that against Lindsey, since I think you can hold that against almost every Democrat that is currently here today that was there over 20 years ago.”
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