Progressive Democrat Issue 126: IMPEACH CHENEY

Continued and updated from last week.

Last week I wrote on Daily Gotham about my new Congressional Rep, Yvette Clarke, becoming the fifth Congress Critter to officially call for impeachment of Dick Cheney. Clarke has signed on to Dennis Kucinich's bill, HR 333, which are articles of impeachment against Cheney. For the full text of HR 333, go here.

Since last week, three more reps have signed on, including Rep. Maxine Waters of California. In fact, California leads with the most reps signed on. Impeachment is a serious thing, but the impeachment of both Bush and Cheney is all about upholding the rule of law and we need to support the impeachment movement if we want the rule of law to mean anything.

Back in February I began advocating the impeachment of George Bush based on the exact articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon, an arguement widely discussed by former Congresswoman Liz Holtzman, who was part of the House committee that DID impeach Nixon. If anyone can be said to be an expert on impeaching a president, Liz is one of them.

George W. Bush pesonally authorized about 45 wiretaps without any court approval. He has also publically admitted that he has done this.

This is precisely what is covered in Article 2 of the articles of impeachment of Richard Nixon adopted by a bipartisan vote in Congress. Bush is guilty of a crime that was part of the Nixon impeachment. No new case has to be built from scratch, although Liz Holtzman ALSO argues for several more articles of impeachment built around several other areas where Bush has violated the law and/or his oath as President. But the framework for impeachment based on illegal wiretapping already exists from 1974.

Here it is:

Article 2
Using the powers of the office of President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in disregard of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has repeatedly engaged in conduct violating the constitutional rights of citizens, impairing the due and proper administration of justice and the conduct of lawful inquiries, or contravening the laws governing agencies of the executive branch and the purposed of these agencies.

This conduct has included one or more of the following:

1. He has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents, endeavoured to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information contained in income tax returns for purposed not authorized by law, and to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be intitiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.

2. He misused the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, and other executive personnel, in violation or disregard of the constitutional rights of citizens, by directing or authorizing such agencies or personnel to conduct or continue electronic surveillance or other investigations for purposes unrelated to national security, the enforcement of laws, or any other lawful function of his office; he did direct, authorize, or permit the use of information obtained thereby for purposes unrelated to national security, the enforcement of laws, or any other lawful function of his office; and he did direct the concealment of certain records made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of electronic surveillance.

3. He has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents, in violation or disregard of the constitutional rights of citizens, authorized and permitted to be maintained a secret investigative unit within the office of the President, financed in part with money derived from campaign contributions, which unlawfully utilized the resources of the Central Intelligence Agency, engaged in covert and unlawful activities, and attempted to prejudice the constitutional right of an accused to a fair trial.

4. He has failed to take care that the laws were faithfully executed by failing to act when he knew or had reason to know that his close subordinates endeavoured to impede and frustrate lawful inquiries by duly constituted executive, judicial and legislative entities concerning the unlawful entry into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, and the cover-up thereof, and concerning other unlawful activities including those relating to the confirmation of Richard Kleindienst as Attorney General of the United States, the electronic surveillance of private citizens, the break-in into the offices of Dr. Lewis Fielding, and the campaign financing practices of the Committee to Re-elect the President.

5. In disregard of the rule of law, he knowingly misused the executive power by interfering with agencies of the executive branch, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Criminal Division, and the Office of Watergate Special Prosecution Force, of the Department of Justice, and the Central Intelligence Agency, in violation of his duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

In all of this, Richard M. Nixon has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.

Wherefore Richard M. Nixon, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office.

Adopted 28-10 by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives.

The 28 who voted for Article 2 included 6 Republicans. It's all there ready for us to use. Bush signed his name to the illegal wiretaps and has publically admitted it.

Liz Holtzman also noted that Bush really didn't need to resort to illegal means if he really needed to wiretap. In response to Watergate, Congress in 1978 set up a judicial mechanism by which the President can more easily get permission to wiretap through a court. That court has, since 1978, received some 19,000 requests from Presidents to wiretap. Out of those 19,000 requests only 5 have been denied. Why couldn't Bush go through this existing, Constitutionally approved method of wiretapping? He chose to break the law instead. Why? What was he doing that he felt he had less than a 5/19,000 chance of the court approving?

Now let's return to the impeachment of Dick Cheney. It has now been revealed that although it was Bush that signed his name to the illegal wiretaps, Dick Cheney was one of the main advocates of breaking the law, as revealed in the Washington Post. This comes as no surprise,of course, but we now have direct evidence that Cheney advocated an illegal policy and, further, was part of the firings of US attorneys that came about as a result of Justice Department resistance to the illegal wiretapping. Illegal wiretapping combined with a coverup. That is what brought down Nixon and that is what should bring down Bush and Cheney. We have a constitutional, legal and moral duty to hold Bush, Cheney and Gonzales accountable for their illegal, unConstitutional, unAmerican behavior. The legal case is rapidly being established and, unlike the Clinton impeachment fiasco, this case hinges on issues that directly affect the integrity of our democratic system and on real Constitutional issues.

It is time. Impeachment should be on the table. Impeachment is not an overnight process, nor is it a condemnation. It is an indictment and there is probable cause for an investigation and an indictment. Hearings will determine the validity of the charges. But without hearings justice and democracy are violated.

Both the wiretapping (if done through the existing special court set up after Watergate) and the firings (if they hadn't engaged in a coverup) could have been done legally. But they weren't. The president, vice president and attorney general all CHOSE to violate the law unnecessarily and arrogantly. They should be held accountable in a court of law.

Contact your Congress Critter (Democrat OR Republican, they ALL should support the rule of law in a democracy) and the media and TALK about impeachment of BOTH Dick Cheney and George Bush for what look like clear violations of the Constitution and a coverup regarding the firing of US Attorneys. Also contact Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James Clyburn, Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel, Democratic Caucus Vice-Chair John Larson, and DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen.

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