For the first time in a generation, an American president faces the possibility of impeachment. A sweeping investigation by the House of Representatives is presenting evidence that Donald Trump attempted to extort the president of Ukraine to investigate his political rival, presidential candidate Joe Biden.
In his new book, Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump, celebrated Supreme Court lawyer and former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal argues the Ukraine allegations are an open and shut case for impeachment. And if the president is not held accountable for asking foreign powers to interfere in our elections, he warns, our democracy may never recover.
Katyal joins Brennan Center President Michael Waldman – a historian and former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton – to discuss the origins of impeachment in the Constitution, the most important elements of the Ukraine scandal, and how this moment will affect the future of our country. Did the Framers anticipate a chief executive like Trump? What will happen if he remains in office? If soliciting foreign interference in our elections isn’t impeachable, what is?
Neal Katyal, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States; Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of Law at Georgetown University; Partner, Hogan Lovells US LLP; author of Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump
Michael Waldman, President, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law