Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano challenged President Donald Trump’s fitness for office on Monday because of his “disparagement of the Constitution, which he is sworn to uphold.”
The attacks were his sharpest ever against Trump.
Napolitano told The Associated Press in a profile published Monday that he believes “there is a legal basis to argue high crimes and misdemeanors,” which the Constitution requires for the impeachment of a president. “That’s really beyond dispute ... If I were a Democrat in the House, which I am not and never will be, I would vote to impeach,” he said. He also said Republicans are going to find some of Trump’s behavior “difficult to defend.”
Napolitano, a former judge, denounced Trump on his Fox Nation subscription show “Liberty File,” criticizing the president’s apparent failure to follow the law, the Constitution, or norms of procedure in the White House.
“In nearly three years in office, President Donald Trump has spent federal dollars not authorized by Congress; separated families and incarcerated children at the Texas-Mexico border in defiance of a federal court order; pulled 1,000 American troops out of Syria, ignoring a commitment to allies ... and sent 2,000 American troops to Saudi Arabia without a congressional authorization or declaration of war,” Napolitano recounted.
The former judge also said Trump has “criminally obstructed a Department of Justice investigation of himself,” apparently referring to the investigation by former special counsel Robert Mueller. The president “escaped prosecution because of the intercession of an attorney general more loyal to him than to the Constitution,” Napolitano said.
Napolitano noted that Trump has also called the Constitution’s emoluments clause “phony.” The clause prohibits federal officeholders from receiving gifts or payments from foreign governments. It’s designed to prevent the president from being influenced by foreign entities to the detriment of America’s interests.
Trump’s remark was a “disparagement of the Constitution he is sworn to uphold, and — at the worst — a threat to ignore other clauses that he can disparage,” Napolitano said. He added: “This is most unusual and potentially dangerous in a president.”
“Can the president of the United States lawfully enforce only the clauses of the Constitution with which he agrees, and ignores those with which he disagrees? In a word: No,” he concluded.
Napolitano’s full comments about Trump on “Liberty File” can be seen here in the video posted by Law & Crime.
No comments:
Post a Comment