Intermeddle and Influence
“It is not a coincidence that the Framers started with ‘Treason’ in defining impeachable offenses. Betrayal was no abstraction to them. They had recently waged a war for independence in which some of their fellow citizens remained loyal to the enemy. The infamous traitor, Benedict Arnold, had defected to Britain less than a decade earlier.
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“As they looked outward, the Framers saw kings scheming for power, promising fabulous wealth to spies and deserters. The United States could be enmeshed in such conspiracies: ‘Foreign powers,’ warned Elbridge Gerry, ‘will intermeddle in our affairs, and spare no expense to influence them.’
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“The young Republic might not survive a President who schemed with other nations, entangling himself in secret deals that harmed our democracy.” — The Majority Staff of the House Committee on the Judiciary; Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment, p. 22
Christoph Niemann
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