From Nixon to Trump, Zoe Lofgren Is Democrats’ Memory on Impeachment

Ms Lofgren is an impressive, thoughtful woman. Sad too many legislators are not like her. In these dark times of chaos we need institutional memory.

I am confused. The article states the second article of impeachment is “obstruction of justice” not “obstruction of Congress” as the articles read. Was this written before the articles were published or is it editorial license to recast the arguments presented here?

Maybe in today’s world, Zoe would conclude that Clinton’s crime of perjury and serial sexual abuse would rise to impeachment. She seems pretty clear-minded about this mish mash of a case against Trump.

As one of her constituents, I find Ms. Lofgren hypocritical. She accuses President Trump of violating American laws. But she herself supports tens of millions of illegal aliens who knowingly violate American immigration laws with impunity.

So many intelligent, competent, professional, ethical, morally grounded women making appearances throughout this embarrassment of a presidency. So many despicable, lying, self serving old white men. I’m sick of them.

[With Mr. Trump almost certainly headed for impeachment next week, the California congresswoman said she had been asking herself a question: “If this fact situation had come out with a Democratic president, what would I be doing now?”] This is the precise point made in Cass Sunstein’s book on Impeachment. And it is a question that must be answered honestly, and not emotionally.

"Misbehavior that really undercuts the system of the Constitution and the government". In that context I do not find the article regarding abuse of power to be of great concern. Where power is granted there will always be the potential for its abuse, and our system is set up precisely to deal with that, with divided government and checks and balances. We, the people, may decide that abuse of power occurred or not, and the system will carry on as designed. The article on obstruction of justice is profoundly troubling, however. If the Executive branch can simply choose not to be subject to Legislative oversight and checks on its power, then the entire "system of the Constitution and the government" has eroded or, perhaps, collapsed

Thank you, Ms. Lofgren! Someone has to be the memory, someone has to remind the Republicans, especially, of their oath of office and our history! New York Times, you need to do a better job of covering history, including a civic lesson for your Conservative readers! They seem to have either forgotten or they do not know what our Constitution requires of Congress!

Should we remember today as the day the democrats, driven by highly partisan radicals, went over the cliff...or wait for the full House vote, and say that's the day the party went over the cliff?

Lofgren asks: “If this fact situation had come out with a Democratic president, what would I be doing now?” Let’s hope her question is merely rhetorical, and not an expression of ambivalence about Trump’s corrupt and treasonous acts.

Remember when excellence, intelligence, reflection were good thing...I guess that’s biased, towards truth. She was my father’s and his wife’s rep and they spoke very highly of her...and I can she why. I want more people like her to consider a life of public service and to rid us of unthinking acolytes. I also agree that we have not heard enough about the actions of the presidents, consistent across his lies and history. I did nothing wrong...no the question is, is the wrong you have committed enough to impeach. Blocking the investigation by Congress is enough! And all agree he is doing this, and his acolytes think it’s fine...the fact there is not a ground swell suggests something is very wrong, what exactly and we can counter this is the debate.

The Republicans' process arguments remind me of when Democrats focused on the fact that Clinton's emails were "stolen" while ignoring the [accurate] content of those emails.

Why won't the Democrats highlight the fact that much crucial evidence- like the Nixon tapes- has been obstructed by the White House. Bolton, Gahn, Pompeo and relevant communications have all been withheld from the impeachment inquiry. Why would POTUS choose to withhold exculpatory evidence? Could there be a reasonable inference- that Trump is terrified of transparency as it would cook his goose.

Are the Democrats going to go spineless as they usually do or actually kinda meekly hold their ground, the best that can be expected of the corporate dems who have the same donors as the republicans, Who will win? The corporations or we the people and the constitution? You gotta persuade corporations they would not lose money if we hold the president accountable. Corporations who buy up our politicians are the insatiable monster in the room. Huffing and growling about the bottom line. This monster does not care who dies or if the earth is no longer habitable to life as long as the bottom line is more and more profit.

Lets hear it for institutional memory.

Lofgren is a principled servant to her constituents and the country at large. And Trump makes Nixon look like a choir boy.

During the July 25 phone call, President Trump did not ask President Zelensky to investigate Hunter Biden. Ukraine was investigating Hunter Biden before the phone call. The Ukrainian prosecutor assigned to the Burisma investigation before Zelensky became president had compiled a seven-page dossier of corruption allegations against Hunter Biden. Trump asked Zelensky to “look into” these widely publicized allegations and share information with the U.S. attorney general. Zelensky readily agreed to Trump’s request, saying, “I understand arid I'm knowledgeable about the situation.” He was knowledgeable about the situation because he knew about the dossier. The U.S. Justice Department was already involved in the Burisma investigation, which, as Deputy Assistance Secretary of State George Kent testified, began in 2014 as a joint U.S.-Ukraine effort. The Treaty With Ukrainian on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters requires the United States and Ukraine to assist each other in the conduct of criminal investigations. The assertion that Trump’s asking Zelensky to comply with its treaty obligation was an “abuse of power” because the Burisma investigation has implicated Joe Biden’s son is absurd.

One of my Republican friends hates the New York Times and the Washington Post, absolutely. Another considers teachers and librarians feeders at the trough. Evidence of governmental misuse and the underlying loyalty and honesty that are lost have been totally twisted by this administration and its GOP cohorts. So blatant, such a lack of respect, all baffling. What have these people sold out for? Soon, the very air they breath will be filled with carbon so what difference will it make?

If Barack Obama had held up Congressionally-approved foreign aid to Mexico in 2012 until Mexico did Obama 'a favor' and publicly announced an investigation of Mitt Romney and his family... until a whistleblower exposed the crime, I'm sure Republicans would have considered that attempted extortion of a foreign country for 2012 campaign assistance to be an impeachable crime. Nothing says 'Republican' like hypocrisy, cognitive dissonance, obfuscation, deflection and fake little American flags on your suit lapels. Grand Old Phonies 2019. Impeach Trump now.

I appreciate this profile of Zoe Lofgren, who was my congress woman for some time. I've always had a great deal of respect for her expertise. I've lived in Silicon Valley for 30 years and I work in Palo Alto (can't afford to live there) and this sentence: The daughter of a beer truck driver and a school cafeteria cook, Ms. Lofgren was raised in a solidly middle-class family in Palo Alto, Calif - brought me up short. That profile no longer describes middle class anywhere in most of the bay area and certainly not in in Palo Alto. I hope when Trump is gone, either though impeachment (unlikely, I know) or defeat in 2020 (please!) we can somehow get back to an economy that can recreate a truly broad based middle class.

While it is true that there is not a separate Article pointing to the obstruction of the Mueller investigation, the justification for both Articles alludes to the Mueller report, and rightly so. In Volume 2, Mueller and his colleagues made the case for obstruction of justice. In Volume 1 they documented the collaboration between the Russians and the Trump campaign. A key reason that they did not conclude that there had been a criminal conspiracy was that they felt that it was possible that the campaign was acting out of ignorance, not willfully. Well, this time there can be little doubt that Trump’s behavior was willful. Because he got away with obstruction of Congress once, his obstruction of the Ukraine investigation is even more egregious. The Articles emphasize this pattern of behavior.

I would like to have heard the answer to her own question at the end of the story. I hope Democrats would be doing the right thing regardless of party, but I doubt it.

Why are Republicans say ANYthing -- spewing a series of falsehoods-- while they ignore the FACT the President REFUSED to participate-- he could easily defend himself by showing relevant documents and permitting White House Counsel and other staff to testify? Why wouldn't President Trump reveal the documents and permit witnesses? What is he hiding?

Constitution, rules of law and civility out the window. The most powerful country in the world is now the most corrupt thanks to Trump and fellow Republicans.

Let's hope Rep. Lofgren will remind her colleagues today, the Mueller a report found Russia that Russia interfered in the 2016 US electio, and they did so in favor of candidate Trump. WHY? Sadly, today, at least a few falsely claim the opposite. Did they forget?

"Ms. Lofgren said in an interview that Democrats had not adequately made the case to the country that Mr. Trump had obstructed justice." To the contrary, I think the impeachment case against Trump has been made abundantly clear. What is also unfortunately clear is that Trump has succeeded, with strategically calculated deliberateness, in weaponizing lies to systematically devalue truth. Representative Lofgren's Republican colleagues in Congress have fully subscribed to Trump's Paul Joseph Goebbels tactic of lying big and often to Americans, who have been strategically placed, largely by decades of anti-humanist Republican policies, on workday treadmills of grinding mediocrity and near-poverty to such an extent as to be disenfranchised of the leisure to study and know what is happening. As Lofgren notes of the impeachment articles, “I think they are well crafted, and, unfortunately, supported by the evidence.” Given that, the problem is not making the impeachment articles sufficiently clear. The problem instead is what Trump and the Republican Party have achieved in twisting the citizen mindset into a twisted perversion of our collective intelligence.

We heard her opinion on whether Clinon`s actions impeachable. Why are we not hearing her extremely qualified opinion on whether Trump`s actions are impeachable in this article?

Why am I only learning of Zoe Loftgren now!? And why isn't SHE running for President!? I have a thousand questions to ask her. Especially, because the Constitution puts impeachment jurisdiction solely in the legislative branch, how heavily must/should we adopt the federal Cour's rules of practice and evidence? E.g., wouldn't strict adaptation of federal court rules be akin to disturbing the balance of powers? Didn't our Founders believe we should trust our elected Senate to hear ALL evidence and -apart from evidential restraints- decide the truth of the matter?

She hasn’t served in Congress for 45 years... might I suggest you re read the article

Term Limits!

Well let's see how the new member act!

I thank God for Zoe Lofgren and those like her.

Two things -- 1) We wouldn't need Zoe Lofgren to be the Democrats' memory if the news media hadn't dumped all their older journalists chasing digital nativism. 2) I find it horrifying that basing something on the Mueller report is considered to be something lacking in factual basis. That suggests that all of Washington, not just the Republicans, have dismissed the work of the Independent Counsel, which was far more deep a dig into the facts than the work, however admirable, done by the Intelligence Committee. It also suggests that whatever narrative prevails in the media is the truth, which is a very dangerous place for this country to be in.

Representative Lofgren is the same age as myself. She just tabled an appeal from Collins. She was very confident, and of course knowledgeable on point of order. Of course she is knowledgeable. She is experienced, holds high tenure, has seen many a day in this the United States. She’s seen wars, she’s seen action for health care, has attended numerous inaugurations, and so much more. I feel proud of her and bad for her. To have to deal with the likes of Donald Trump, but even more, to have to deal with the likes of these Republican legislators trying to make the minds of Americans, hollering and screaming at us citizens, from the Capitol of this country, must be nauseating to Ms. Lofgren as it is for us. This incivility presiding over the likes of our country is very difficult to watch, to feel, to believe, but this is where we are at. No one asked Donald Trump to betray us. Now the country is forced to take action. We would be less than the expectation of the forefathers if we did not proceed. No. Mr. Collins, you Republicans and this president are the embarrassments, not the Democrats.

“If this fact situation had come out with a Democratic president, what would I be doing now?” It’s true. It would be very difficult to impeach a member of your own party. But no-one was talking about the end of checks and balances while impeaching Clinton. His lies were not important. This is so different, and Trump isn’t even a real Republican. I’d imagine they’d love to get rid of him.

@Eric Key. How is institutional memory a bad thing? What do you have against history and facts?

Is there a Center on Impeachment Studies anywhere??? The examination of executive privilege, obstruction of justice, courses of action (special prosecutor and courts or Houses of Congress routes to impeachment) and training of specialized legal experts on these matters could be useful in our world. Well done to Ms. Lofgren for high service and sound demeanour.

Are we really well-served by having members of Congress serve for over 45 years?