The battle to isolate Trump .. America is heading for an unprecedented constitutional crisis

Mohamed Minshawi-Washington

The White House has decided to refuse to cooperate with ongoing investigations that Democrats are seeking to begin proceedings to isolate President Donald Trump, arguing that the investigation lacks "constitutional legitimacy" and would put the United States in a constitutional crisis.

With control of the House of Representatives, Democrats are trying to uncover whether Trump abused his position, when he asked the Ukrainian president to open an investigation into corruption over the family of former Vice President Joe Biden, the likely Democratic presidential candidate in the 2020 presidential election.

In contrast, Trump's attorney Pat Cipoloni accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of working to "cancel the 2016 election results, deny Americans freely the president they chose, and try to influence the 2020 election."

In a letter to Pelosi, Siboloni said that "your investigation lacks the foundations of constitutional legitimacy or minimal manifestations of neutrality," adding that under these circumstances, "President Trump will not allow his administration to participate in this biased investigation."

What does the Constitution say?
During discussions of writing the US Constitution in 1787, delegates granted the president the right to remove the president from both houses of Congress. The discussion documents show delegates' assertion that the change of president must be done through the election mechanism and by the electorate.

Delegates were also aware of the possibility that the president would spoil and adopt the wrong policies that could harm the republic, so that it cannot wait for upcoming elections.

But the constitution did not specify the details of the process of isolation and confined to the House of Representatives passage of the resolution by a simple majority, provided that the final decision taken by the Senate - which plays the role of the judge - by a two-thirds majority (67 votes).

The Trump team accuses the speaker of violating constitutional precedents by refusing to put the idea of ​​impeachment proceedings before the House of Representatives for a vote, as were attempts to isolate former presidents Richard Nixon and Democrat Bill Clinton.

The Trump team also believes that Pelosi's initiative to conduct investigations without taking the opinion of the House deprives Republican members of the right to express their position, nor does it allow them the right to call witnesses to testify, which means limiting those rights to the Democratic majority in the House.

According to the Trump legal team, Pelosi's actions do not allow the president's lawyers to participate in asking their own questions to those summoned to testify before House committees in closed sessions.

Nancy Pelosi is conducting the investigation seeking to start the removal of President Trump, unlike in the case of Presidents Nixon and Clinton.

There are no restrictions on Pelosi's approach. The US Constitution has left the House of Representatives only to initiate the removal of the president, without providing any reference to the procedures or steps to do so.

According to NBC constitutional expert Katie Fang, Trump's refusal to cooperate with Congress in the investigation is not based on any legal basis, and is "a crime in itself requiring his removal from power."

Offensive strategy
As President Trump is hard to imagine, with Republicans having a strong majority in the Senate, the issue of investigations and the positions of candidates will be high on the Democratic primaries, leading up to the same presidential election in November 2020.

Trump has opted for an offensive approach in this battle focused on several points, including:

1. Stress that the investigation is looking for mirage or what does not exist, and Republican commentators reject the Democratic proposal regarding the call of President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart.

Pat Buchanan, a former aide to President Ronald Reagan, believes Trump "has not linked aid to Ukraine with initiating investigations against Joe Biden and his son."

2. Demonstrate himself as a victim in front of the Republican voting bloc, and indeed this helped him raise more money to support his campaign, and Trump's campaign succeeded in raising $ 125 million during the third quarter of this year.

Funding for the campaign has increased dramatically as the isolation investigation began, according to a report by the US National Radio.

3. The Democratic Party and its leaders were challenged to investigate the corruption of Joe Biden and his son, and Intercept investigated the relationship of Biden's son to deals and accepting positions for millions of dollars.

What then?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accuses the White House of trying to control the process and steps to isolate the president, stressing that "the president is not above the law," while President Trump Pelosi calls for the House of Representatives to vote first to begin investigations.

For its part, Congress can bring criminal charges related to insulting Congress and demanding prison sentences for those who refuse to appear before him.

In the past, Congress could have sent a security team to arrest those who refuse to appear, but this scenario is highly unlikely these days.

That leaves the door open to different possibilities, including: a compromise by one side of its hard-line position, or the face of a constitutional crisis nobody knows how it will end.