In a previous post in
these pages, your humble servant opined that congressional Republicans would
begin to abandon ship if the allegations of President Trump’s extortion attempt
on the president of Ukraine were fleshed out. [1]
Alas, it now appears that confirmation bias will carry the day.
Right now it isn’t clear
whether the defense will be that Trump did not engage in the actions alleged,
or that he did so but that his actions were legitimate. Either way, the
zeitgeist appears to be that he will be impeached in the Democratic House but
acquitted by the Republican controlled Senate.
But the Democrats don’t
need to put all of their impeachment eggs in the extortion basket. All they
need to show is that the President engaged in some sort of high crime or
misdemeanor. [2]
Well, how about the fact
that “Donald Trump spent more than a quarter-million dollars from his
charitable foundation [the Donald J. Trump Foundation] to settle lawsuits that
involved the billionaire’s for-profit businesses, according to interviews and a
review of legal documents” by The Washington Post.
“Those cases, which together
used $258,000 from Trump’s charity, were among four…documented expenditures in
which Trump may have violated laws against ‘self-dealing’ — which prohibit
nonprofit leaders from using charity money to benefit themselves or their
businesses.
“In one case, from 2007,
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club faced $120,000 in unpaid fines from the town of Palm
Beach, Fla., resulting from a dispute over the height of a flagpole.
“In a settlement, Palm
Beach agreed to waive those fines — if Trump’s club made a $100,000 donation to
a specific charity for veterans. Instead, Trump sent a check from the Donald J.
Trump Foundation, a charity funded almost entirely by other people’s money,
according to tax records.
“In another case, court
papers say one of Trump’s golf courses in New York agreed to settle a lawsuit
by making a donation to the plaintiff’s chosen charity. A $158,000 donation was
made by the Trump Foundation, according to tax records.
“In another case, court
papers say one of Trump’s golf courses in New York agreed to settle a lawsuit
by making a donation to the plaintiff’s chosen charity. A $158,000 donation was
made by the Trump Foundation, according to tax records.” [3]
This behavior was
blatant. Mr. Trump basically stole from his non-profit foundation. As The
Washington Post further reported,
“‘I represent 700
nonprofits a year, and I’ve never encountered anything so brazen,’ said Jeffrey
Tenenbaum, who advises charities at the Venable law firm in Washington. After
The Washington Post described the details of these Trump Foundation gifts,
Tenenbaum described them as ‘really shocking.’
“‘If he’s using other
people’s money — run through his foundation — to satisfy his personal
obligations, then that’s about as blatant an example of self-dealing [as] I’ve
seen in awhile,’ Tenenbaum said.”
It’s true that Trump
engaged in this activity before he was President. But so what? The Constitution
doesn’t require that impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors must be committed
while in office. And how are Trump’s partisans going to defend this?
If House Democrats think
that what they’re doing is worthwhile, they should not sacrifice thoroughness
for speed. They’re going to need an airtight case if they don’t want the
impeachment to die in the Republican controlled Senate. Trump’s misuse of the
funds of his non-profit is going to have to be an article of impeachment. And
the matter is going to have to be investigated sufficiently to be tried before
the Senate.
