Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee say they came away from a hearing with constitutional law experts with a clear understanding of the founding father's intentions for the impeachment process and say they're convinced President Donald Trump committed impeachable offenses.
"I think it's so interesting when you think about how long ago that was, but the framers were trying to forsee into the future and here we are today with what I believe is exactly an excellent case of what the framers were so worried about and so concerned about," said Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla.
"What is clear is that the framers of the Constitution were concerned about three things. A, abuse of power, B, betrayal of the Constitution for personal gain and, C, corruption, particularly as it relates to the election process and Democracy," said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY. "Donald Trump's wrongdoing, and there's evidence of it which is hiding in plain sight, implicates all three fundamental concerns that the framers of the constitution had with presidential overreach. Donald Trump has apparently hit the impeachment trifecta."
"It's clear that they all feel that the president's conduct meets the classic constitutional definition of impeachment. That he's abused his power, that he's betrayed the national interest, and he's corrupted the election process of the country, and this is what the founding fathers were concerned about. So it's a classic case," said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn.
Republicans argued that House Democrats were fulfilling another concern the founding fathers had -- using impeachment as a political weapon.
“What’s interesting is the Chairman talks a lot about the founders from the quotes--and again this is why we have the hearing-- about the founders being concerned about foreign influence but what he also didn’t quote was the founders being really, really concerned about political impeachment because you just don’t like the guy. You’ve never liked him since November 2016," Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking member on the committee said.
None of the GOP members of the committee stopped to talk to reporters, but North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, who is not on the committee but attended the hearing, told Newsy it was political theater.
"Really at this point I don't know that any of us are surprised seeing liberal law professors who probably not only didn't vote for Donald Trump but have been very vocal in their opposition to the president now finding grave constitutional concerns that need to be addressed," Meadows said, adding, "Let's see it for what it is. This in an orchestrated attempt to provide cover for their more moderate Democrats."
