The U.S. Constitution lists treason, bribery, and high crimes and misdemeanors as the grounds for removing someone from office. It’s my understanding that the phrase “high crimes and misdemeanors” refers specifically to official misconduct. But would there be any actions taken before becoming a sworn official that could rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors?
Say, for example, someone won the presidential election who had committed murder during the campaign, but nobody discovered who the murderer was until after inauguration? Would it be constitutionally permissible to remove him from office (the constitution doesn’t list felony as a disqualifier for public office, that I know of), or would the only recourse be at the next election, assuming he properly performs the duties of the office during his term?
But what if he’s accused of a crime and the House stubbornly refuses to impeach? It doesn’t appear to be a settled matter whether he can be indicted while in office without impeachment, right?
If he committed murder under state law, he could presumably be indicted by the state.
To take a crazy hypothetical, what if the candidate shot someone on 5th Avenue in New York? The local DA would have jurisdiction, even if the Reps in Washington declined to impeach.
A president who was a known murderer could be removed from office via use of the 25th Amendment (the VP, a majority of the Cabinet, and two-thirds of each House feel the prez should go).
That’s even more political than impeachment, since the only specification is “unable to discharge the powers and duties” of office. And it’s a lot faster than impeachment and trial.
Because the Vice President is not the head of the executive, while the President is. The argument is that since the President is ultimately responsible for the execution of the laws, the Attorney General and federal prosecutors cannot use their authority against him, because their authority flows from the President. That’s not the case with the Vice President.