Acquitting Trump Will Be Harder for the Senate Than It Appears

Regardless of what we’ve heard so far from Senate Republicans, I don’t think their upcoming decision about whether to keep or remove President Trump is an easy one. In the Ukraine scandal he committed serious crimes, betrayed the country and was caught. Two of his top aides, Mick Mulvaney and Gordon Sondland, have confirmed these crimes on camera. The original referral of these crimes came from two Trump appointees — the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community and the General Counsel of the CIA. They established the gravity and urgency of what the President had done, and other Trump Administration officials confirmed the story we know today — a story which was never seriously challenged during the House Impeachment process.

And this is the problem for the Senate Republicans — there is no question the President is guilty. Any effort to proclaim his innocence will be really risky — can one use the word innocent and Donald Trump in the same sentence? Just in the past few years he has been caught in a massive education fraud scheme (Trump U); his Foundation was shut down due to illegal activity; he and Michael Cohen broke federal campaign finance laws in their effort to bury his cheating on Melania; he and his family have enriched themselves while in office in a manner never seen before in US history; the New York Times and other news organizations have found clear direct…