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Maybe we should get this out of the way first.
Now, let's adress the legality of the illegal president.
Trump’s Quid Pro Quo Is Unconstitutional
Obviously quid pro quo is a far cry from being nothingburger. It's something most Republicans will be hard pressed to justify, as long as their feet are held to the fire. Pelosi and Schiff need to fan the flames.
Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of law at Harvard University and was a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
Now, let's adress the legality of the illegal president.
Trump’s Quid Pro Quo Is Unconstitutional
When a president urges a foreign state to find evidence against his opponent, he violates this fairness. He takes advantage of his official power to manipulate the system — power his opponent lacks. This exploits the advantage of incumbency to undermine the possibility of a fair election.
No quid pro quo is necessary for this abuse of power to take place. In fact, Trump’s public appeal to China to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden is just as much an abuse of power as the Ukraine quid pro quo is. It is the president using his office to gain an electoral advantage not available to his rivals.
It follows that it’s no excuse to say the president is using a power granted by the Constitution. To the contrary: The abuse of power depends on possessing that power in the first place. To deploy presidential authority to gain partisan advantage is to abuse that authority.
Obviously quid pro quo is a far cry from being nothingburger. It's something most Republicans will be hard pressed to justify, as long as their feet are held to the fire. Pelosi and Schiff need to fan the flames.