Constitutional Scholar Natelson Says Trump Committed No Crime
Following the headlines about a possible impeachment inquiry regarding President Trump’s phone conversation with the President of the Ukraine, KGVO reached out to Constitutional scholar Dr. Rob Natelson.
Natelson, the Constitutional Fellow at the Independence Institute in Denver provided clarification about the possible charges against the President.
“In order for there to be grounds for impeachment, the President must have committed treason, or bribery or another felony, or what’s called a high misdemeanor, which means a breach of fiduciary duty or breach of trust,” said Natelson. “There are pretty clear standards for what that means in our law and chatting about potential corruption in another country involving an American citizen certainly doesn’t qualify.”
Natelson looked back at the last President to be impeached, Bill Clinton.
“Remember when Bill Clinton was impeached, there was unquestionable evidence that he had committed a felony, specifically the felony of perjury, and yet even that was not sufficient for the Senate to convict him and remove him from office,” he said. “I don’t see how this charge or any other charges that I’ve yet seen against the President would even begin to come to the level of the impeachment standard.”
Natelson addressed the issue of President Trump discussing political issues with the leader of another country.
“The President is the leader in U.S. foreign policy,” he said. “When you have one politician talking with another politician, guess what, they’re going to talk about politics. When you read the transcript you see the President of the United States congratulating the President of the Ukraine on his victory. Now, those are internal Ukrainian matters, but that is typical conversation among political leaders. This is routine stuff.”
Natelson also compared Trump’s conversation with the President of the Ukraine with other American Presidents and one Secretary of State.
“The people who are so concerned with President Trump’s conversation are very silent when they come face to face with the indubitable fact that Bill Clinton committed perjury, that Hillary Clinton used her influence to promote her family foundation, or that President Obama used agencies of the federal government to spy on political opponents,” he said. “Those facts don’t seem to have much interest for the partisans who are now going after President Trump.”
Natelson is the author of ‘The Original Constitution; What it Actually Said and Meant’, and appears every month on the KGVO Talk Back program.