Are There Three?

On the afternoon of August 7, 1974, Senator Barry Goldwater, a Republican from Arizona, accompanied by Republican Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott from Pennsylvania, and Republican House Minority Leader John Jacob Rhodes, from Arizona, delivered the message that Nixon faced certain impeachment in the House and likely conviction in the Senate.   It was Goldwater who actually delivered the message and when Nixon asked about his prospects, Goldwater famously told him that there were only about 15 senators still willing to vote for his acquittal.

Nixon told his associates and family of his dire situation, and resigned the following day.

This was all about Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate Scandal…which took place in June of 1972.

The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's attempts to cover up its involvement in the failed break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C. Watergate Office Building.  Nixon wanted to know the strategy of the DNC in regards to the election of 1972.

Five burglars, known as “the Plumbers” were caught and arrested for the break-in. Investigative reporters and members of the Justice Department connected the cash found on them at the time to Nixon's re-election campaign committee.

Senate Watergate hearings were broadcast nationwide and roused further public interest. Witnesses testified that President Nixon approved plans to cover up involvement in the break-in and had a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office. 
 
Throughout the investigation, the administration resisted attempts to further the investigation, which led to a constitutional crisis.  The Supreme Court ordered Nixon to release Oval Office tape recordings to government investigators. The tapes revealed that Nixon had conspired to cover up activities that took place after the break-in and had attempted to use federal officials to deflect the investigation.  However, approximately 18 minutes of the tape was erased before they were presented to the Congress.

Several major revelations and egregious presidential action against the investigation later in 1973 prompted the House to commence an impeachment process against Nixon.

This was one of, if not the biggest political scandal to hit the Office of the President of the United States. 

Until…

On April 6th of this year, Democratic Representative John Larson introduced Articles of Impeachment against President Donald J. Trump.  Those Articles of Impeachment listed 13 different articles of which the President may be guilty.

Those articles range from alleging the President is guilty of initiating war against alleged drug runners from South American countries without providing concrete evidence, to include murder on the high seas and piracy.  This “war” as the President described it, was conducted without Congressional approval.  Many of the actions conducted in this “national security” war, was done in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).  While the UCMJ provides the mechanism for prosecution, 18 U.S. Code § 2441 explicitly defines war crimes for American law, including: 

• Breaches of the Hague Convention IV.
• Grave breaches of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.
• Willful killing or causing serious injury to civilians

The Articles also give an explanation regarding the piracy of Venezuelan oil on the open seas, then the selling of approximately 500 million dollars of Venezuelan oil and depositing the money in a Qatar bank.  Additionally, the President sold another 500 million in Venezuelan oil, took the money from the Qatar bank and place approximately 1 billion in the Treasury of the United States.

The Trump administration sold seized Venezuelan oil primarily to Vitol, a Geneva-based commodity trading firm, and the Trafigura Group.  The first shipment was handled by Vitol, which is notable because a senior trader involved in the deal is a significant donor to Donald Trump's 2024 campaign. 
 
The Articles of Impeachment include Article XI: Flouting Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment.  President Trump is signed an Executive Order declaring “birthright citizenship” to be null and void.  What the President really wants is to overturn the Supreme Court ruling of 1898, the United States v. Wong Kim Ark.  This would strip a certain class of people born within the jurisdiction of the United States to undocumented citizens of their citizenship.
 
However, I believe over turning the Wong Kim Ark case would give precedent for the President to re-write or delete, or erase any and all parts of the Constitution by Executive Order instead of using one of the prescribed methods outlined in the Constitution.  In other words, this ruling isn’t about “birthright citizenship”.  It is about consolidating the power of the government in one branch of government, the Executive Branch, thereby doing away with the 3 equal branches of our government system, along with the checks and balances of each branch of government we, as a nation, have enjoyed for 250 years.
 
Surprisingly, even though there is much speculation about invoking the 25th Amendment, or the impeachment of the President, I do not agree with the method the Congressman has introduced.  I would simply cite the President is guilty of “Abuse of Power”, list all of the alleged abuses and proceed from there. 
 
If one were to read the entire document of Congressman Larson,

https://www.congressgov/119/bills/bres1155/BILLS-119hres1155ih.pdf,
 
one may very well agree with my premise.  

In my mind, it would be far easier to convict on a single charge of Abuse of Power, than 13 different charges.

What I really wonder is…are there Republicans in the government much like Goldwater, Scott, and Rhodes who would make the trip to the White House and deliver the message as these three Republicans did?
 
I have my opinion, I hope you have one too!