President Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday night, becoming only the third American chief executive to be formally charged under the Constitution’s ultimate remedy for high crimes and misdemeanors.
The historic vote split along party lines, much the way it has divided the nation, over a charge that the 45th president abused the power of his office by enlisting a foreign government to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election. The House then approved a second charge, that he obstructed Congress in its investigation. The articles of impeachment, the political equivalent of an indictment, now go to the Senate for trial. If Trump is acquitted by the Republican-led chamber, as expected, he still would have to run for reelection carrying the enduring stain of impeachment on his purposely disruptive presidency. The process is far from over though. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff joins Larry on AirTalk to react to the historic vote. Plus legal and political analysts weigh in on where the process is at and where we go from here.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee; Democratic Congressman representing California’s 28 Congressional District, which includes Burbank, parts of Pasadena, and Glendale; he tweets
Michael Isikoff, chief investigative correspondent with Yahoo News, he covered the Clinton impeachment process, he’s the co-author of “Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump” (2018); he tweets
Laura Litvan, U.S. Senate reporter for Bloomberg News; she tweets
John Malcolm, vice president of the Institute for Constitutional Government and director of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.
Pratheepan Gulasekaram, professor of law at Santa Clara Law, where he specializes in constitutional and immigration law
Sean T. Walsh, Republican political analyst and partner at Wilson Walsh Consulting in San Francisco; he is a former adviser to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger and a former White House staffer for Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush
Nomiki Konst, founding member and board director of the newly launched PAC, Matriarch, which aims to help progressive working class women run for office; former member of the DNC Unity Reform Commission, which worked to increase participation in the Democratic Party and reform the presidential primary process; former Bernie Sanders surrogate in 2016; she tweets @NomikiKonst
Jack Pitney, professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College; he tweets