Donald Trump could be impeached within weeks, according to at least one legal professor.
There is a strong case for the beginning of legal
proceedings that would stop Donald Trump from being president, says law
professor Christopher Peterson.
A paper from Professor Peterson says that there is ample
evidence to charge the new President-elect with crimes that would see
him potentially being removed from office.
Professor Peterson’s analysis was written in September,
before Mr Trump became president. But the argument makes it applies
after the election, too.
The paper revolves primarily around Trump University, the
school that the President-elect set up and then closed down in 2010. It
faces numerous lawsuits – one of which will see Mr Trump take the
witness stand in coming weeks – and argues that Mr Trump’s behaviour
laid out in those lawsuits could be grounds for lawmakers to impeach
their new President.
At the very least, the problems will cast a shadow over Mr
Trump’s status as President-elect and then as President, Professor
Peterson says.
“In the United States, it is illegal for businesses to use
false statements to convince consumers to purchase their services,”
explained Peterson. “The evidence indicates that Trump University used a
systemic pattern of fraudulent representations to trick thousands of
families into investing in a program that can be argued was a sham.
Fraud and racketeering are serious crimes that legally rise to the level
of impeachable acts.”
Actually having Donald Trump impeached requires a whole new
set of processes. Public opinion and that of lawmakers must turn against
the president, since the proceedings must begin with the House of
Representatives.
If Donald Trump were impeached, it’s likely that his Vice-President, Mike Pence, would take over to lead the country.
Petitions have already been created asking that Donald Trump be removed from office.
“Donald Trump has won the 2016 presidential election,” write
the creators of a petition posted online under the title ‘Impeach
Donald J Trump’. “It is clear something is wrong here if an openly
homophobic, racist, xenophobic and sexist individual can become the most
powerful man in the world.”
Just that petition has been signed tens of thousands of
times and is addressed at the US Congress, the US House of
Representatives, Barack Obama and “The People of the United States”.
“Make it clear you do not want this man leading our free
nation. Donald Trump as POTUS is a danger to the entire world,” the
authors write. “By signing this petition you are taking your stance and
requesting the immediate impeachment of Donald Trump - to remove his
position as President of the United States of America.”
Most impeachments have been for behaviour committed while in
office. But it does appear to be possible that a President could be
impeached for issues that arose before they actually came into the White
House.
No comments:
Post a Comment