Evidence Against Trump “Clearly Rises to Level of Impeachable Offense,” Says UM Law Expert

“Our constitutional system can’t tolerate that sort of thing and continue to function,” says Richard Primus on Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson.

Richard Primus
Richard Primus

Congress has begun hearings to determine the scope — and possible criminality — of President Donald Trump’s solicitation of the Ukrainian president to investigate a political rival. 

This is nothing short of monumental. It’s an effort by Congress to investigate a president, and perhaps begin impeachment proceedings that would remove him from office. 

It’s great political theater. But it’s also about history, and the bounds of our republic. 

“This is clear evidence that the president himself is reaching out on his own initiative to ask a foreign government to go after the president’s domestic political rivals. That’s very bad,” says University of Michigan constitutional law expert Richard Primus on Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson.

“It’s the sort of thing that quite clearly rises to the level of an impeachable offense,” he says. “The system isn’t built to withstand a president who is going to try to use all of his power and all of his influence to harass his political opponents.”

Primus also talks about how this impeachment process compares to others throughout U.S. history and how the process plays out from here.

Click on the player above to hear the full conversation with University of Michigan constitutional law expert Richard Primus.

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  • Detroit Today
    Dynamic and diverse voices. News, politics, community and the issues that define our region. Hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Stephen Henderson, Detroit Today brings you fresh and perceptive views weekdays at 9 am and 7 pm.