Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe wants Congress to seize on the opportunity presented by special counsel Robert Mueller and impeach President Trump.
“The consequential decision to impeach should not be made lightly. But Mueller’s damning report is an invitation that Congress shouldn’t refuse,” Tribe wrote in an opinion piece published Sunday by USA Today.
Tribe, one of the co-authors behind To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment, hangs his argument on Mueller’s decision not to assert Trump committed a crime based on Justice Department policy that an occupant of the Oval Office cannot be indicted. Tribe also argued that even if the president’s conduct fell short of criminal conspiracy, it may still be impeachable.
“Mueller pointedly notes that the sitting president’s immunity, however, would not preclude prosecution ‘once the President’s term is over or he is otherwise removed from office’ — that is, impeached,” he wrote. “Mueller invites Congress to take action, either through impeachment or by exposing a disgraced but politically acquitted Trump to criminal prosecution after he is no longer president — so long as that time comes within the five-year statute of limitations for obstruction.”
[READ: Robert Mueller’s redacted Russia report]
Tribe, who told Slate as recently as March that he was advising lawmakers to investigate Trump rather than impeach him, additionally excoriated the president and Attorney General William Barr for falsely claiming Mueller had exonerated Trump.
“Mueller’s report has in no way cleared the president of grave wrongdoing. It would be a lie to claim otherwise, as Barr and Trump repeatedly have done,” he wrote. “The report is unequivocal in concluding that even if Trump is criminally innocent of obstruction, it is not for lack of trying. The main reason the investigation wasn’t completely thwarted was not that the president didn’t ‘endeavor’ to thwart it — the definition of criminal obstruction — but rather that Trump’s subordinates refused to comply.”
Tribe concluded his article praising 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts for demanding Trump to be ousted from office.
“Postponing impeachment — even out of fear that a Republican-led Senate will fail to convict — no longer makes sense. Any such postponement would not only be unprincipled. It would also be politically shortsighted,” he said.
Mueller’s report was released with redactions on Thursday. It showed Mueller did not find Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia, but it also did not clear the president of obstruction of justice.
