UMD Law Professor Weighs In On President Trump Impeachment Inquiry
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — University of Maryland Law professor Mark Graber says he and his colleagues and students at the University of Maryland School of Law are watching impeachment inquiry developments very closely.
"We can say President Trump is the greatest gift of all professors. He's a walking final (exam). About every week, there's a new constitutional issue," Graber said. "It's very clear he was asking a foreign country to go after a political rival."
Graber is an author on constitutional law and teaches several law classes in Baltimore. He says a committee will investigate first whether there is a case for impeachment.
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"As the evidence emerges, what happens with public opinion?" Graber asked. "We can't impeach a president simply because we don't like the person. But, how big must the crime be?"
He points out public opinion was not behind impeaching President Richard Nixon at first, either. There is a lot the public does not know, like whether there was a quid pro quo with the Ukrainian president.
"What is very clear is that Trump was urging Ukraine to do an investigation of Joe Biden. He says it over and over again. He repeats it. There is no way this is deniable," Graber said.
The threshold of "high crimes of misdemeanors" for impeachment is broadly defined, and, ultimately, Graber says, a political question.
"Impeachment is what a majority of members of Congress and 2/3 of the Senate will vote on," Graber said. "We don't know that. Yet."