Experts: Trump impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress

Donald Trump became the third U.S. president to be impeached as the House of Representatives formally charged him on two counts on Wednesday, December 18. The first count charges him with abuse of power for allegedly pressuring the president of Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rivals while crucial U.S. security aid was being withheld. The second charges him with obstruction of Congress for stonewalling investigative efforts. (CBC News)

Here are experts from McGill University that can provide comment on this issue:

Jacob Levy, Professor, Department of Political Science

“Impeachment in the US Constitution is not truly a criminal process, but a remedy for serious abuse of office. President Trump has clearly passed that threshold; the fact that he's almost certain not to be removed by the Senate demonstrates that the process in the US is genuinely broken.”

Jacob Levy is a Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Political Science and an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Philosophy. He is also the coordinator of McGill’s Research Group on Constitutional Studies.

jacob.levy [at] mcgill.ca (English)

Jason Opal, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of History and Classical Studies

“President Trump has clearly engaged in potentially impeachable offenses, based on a number of historical precedents and a reasonable interpretation of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’”.

Jason Opal is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of History and Classical Studies at McGill University, where he teaches and writes about the US Constitution in different periods of American history. His work tries to integrate social, cultural, and intellectual history and to shed light on such broad topics as nationalism, capitalism, democracy and U.S.-Canada foreign relations.

jason.opal [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)