# The Trump Impeachment Inquiry **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 24, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771 "2019-09-24T20:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 98
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1941 "2019-10-05T16:24:54Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Is there a DOJ policy against informing Congress of impeachment worthy allegations? If they do, it’s not famous like that no-charging the President one. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1942 "2019-10-05T16:25:11Z")
Is it DOJ policy to cover up criminal acts by a president because opinion is that he can’t be charged? ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1943 "2019-10-05T16:26:27Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > In his defense, if it’s DOJ policy that they can’t charge a President, why launch an investigation into him? DOJ has denied this was a factor. [NBC](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1062481): > [@](#): > > Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec told NBC News that the decision not to open an investigation was made by the head of the criminal division, Brian Benczkowski, in consultation with career lawyers at the public integrity section. She and other officials declined to say whether anyone dissented. > > The operative Justice Department standard that the president can’t be indicted while in office was not a factor, she said. Barr has said he believes the president can be investigated and prosecutors can make a determination whether he committed criminal conduct. > > “Relying on established procedures set forth in the Justice Manual, the Department’s Criminal Division reviewed the official record of the call and determined, based on the facts and applicable law, that there was no campaign finance violation and that no further action was warranted,” Kupec said. > … > Some legal experts are puzzled by the Justice Department’s narrow approach. > > “They are not by any stretch of the imagination limited to the referral,” Chuck Rosenberg, an NBC News contributor and a former U.S. attorney, said. “They have the authority — in fact, they have the obligation — to look more deeply and more broadly and bring whatever charges are appropriate.” > > [Berit Berger, a former federal prosecutor who heads the Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity at Columbia Law School] added, “When you get a criminal referral, you don’t go into it saying, ‘This is the criminal violation and now I’m going to see if the facts prove it.’ You start with the facts and the evidence and then you see what potential crimes those facts support. It seems backwards to say, ‘We are going to look at this just as a campaign finance violation and oops, we don’t see it — case closed.’” ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1944 "2019-10-05T16:28:14Z")
Can’t help but think that’s bullshit. A room full of lawyers and campaign finance laws were all they thought of? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1945 "2019-10-05T17:30:21Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I guess I am more of an “ends justify the means” kind of thing, especially if I know the other side is already using those means. The “end” here is getting rid of people like that, not just wanting your side to win. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1946 "2019-10-05T18:21:15Z")
I will say it’s readily apparent, and has been since 2016, that a political party could consider America “ungovernable” if they were unable to gain power solely by the clear consent of the governed, relying on foreign adversaries to help gain and then solidify, their grip on power. Yeah, a party in a position like the above is, effectively, conceding that America is ungovernable. The sanctity of elections is shit. The sanctity of the 2nd Amendment, however, is inviolable. Can’t wait to hear these two arguments being made by the same people the next time some asswipe with an AR15 decides to shoot up a church. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1947 "2019-10-05T18:29:02Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I will say it’s readily apparent, and has been since 2016, that a political party could consider America “ungovernable” if they were unable to gain power solely by the clear consent of the governed, relying on foreign adversaries to help gain and then solidify, their grip on power. > > Yeah, a party in a position like the above is, effectively, conceding that America is ungovernable. > > The sanctity of elections is shit. The sanctity of the 2nd Amendment, however, is inviolable. Can’t wait to hear these two arguments being made by the same people the next time some asswipe with an AR15 decides to shoot up a church. A white church or a nonwhite church? ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1948 "2019-10-05T19:32:38Z")
At least no shoeboxing lately. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1949 "2019-10-05T19:35:26Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > A white church or a nonwhite church? The only one I recall is a synagogue. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1950 "2019-10-05T19:41:45Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The only one I recall is a synagogue. > **[Charleston church shooting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting)** > > The Charleston church shooting, also known as the Charleston church massacre, was an anti-black mass shooting and hate crime that occurred on June 17, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine people were killed, and one was injured, during a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest black church in the southern United States. Among the fatalities was the senior pastor, state senator Clementa C. Pinckney. All ten victims were African Americans. At the time, it... ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Colossus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.colossus/32/9423_2.png) [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1951 "2019-10-05T19:45:37Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > At least no shoeboxing lately. I keep seeing this term–what does it mean–“Shoeboxing?” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1952 "2019-10-05T21:17:30Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The only one I recall is a synagogue. > [@RTFirefly](#): > > [Charleston church shooting - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting) [Sutherland Springs, Texas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutherland_Springs_church_shooting) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1953 "2019-10-05T21:52:52Z")
> [@Dr.Colossus](#): > > I keep seeing this term–what does it mean–“Shoeboxing?” [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21896461&postcount=302](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21896461&postcount=302) ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1954 "2019-10-05T22:47:23Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Can’t help but think that’s bullshit. A room full of lawyers and campaign finance laws were all they thought of? And even then, the head of the FEC has repeatedly and recently expressed a very dim view of this kind of activity. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1955 "2019-10-05T23:33:12Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > [Charleston church shooting - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting) Thanks, RT. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1956 "2019-10-05T23:54:14Z")
Sen. Susan Collins becomes the [third Republican senator this week to criticize Trump](https://bangordailynews.com/2019/10/05/politics/collins-calls-trumps-invitation-to-china-completely-inappropriate/) (Bangor Daily): > [@](#): > > U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, joined two other GOP senators in criticizing the president this week after he publicly asked the Chinese government to investigate a political opponent while talking to reporters outside the White House this week. > > The Maine senator was unequivocal in her statements, which came after a firefighters memorial service in Augusta on Saturday morning, joining Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Ben Sasse, R-Nevada, in breaking rank with GOP support for the president. > > “I thought the president made a big mistake by asking China to get involved in investigating a political opponent,” Collins said. “It’s completely inappropriate.” In other news, Trump throws Rick Perry under the bus: [Trump pins Ukraine call on Energy Secretary Rick Perry](https://www.axios.com/trump-blamed-rick-perry-call-ukraine-zelensky-8178447a-0374-4ac6-b321-a9454b0565d4.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twsocialshare&utm_campaign=organic) (Axios). ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1957 "2019-10-06T00:10:29Z")
Gonna need a bigger bus. Running out of room under there… **[Scoop: Trump pins Ukraine call on Energy Secretary Rick Perry](https://www.axios.com/trump-blamed-rick-perry-call-ukraine-zelensky-8178447a-0374-4ac6-b321-a9454b0565d4.html)** > [@](#): > > President Trump told House Republicans that he made his now infamous phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the urging of Energy Secretary Rick Perry — a call Trump claimed he didn’t even want to make. > > Behind the scenes: Trump made these comments during a conference call with House members on Friday, according to 3 sources on the call. > … > [ul] > [li]But he then threw Perry into the mix and said something to the effect of: “Not a lot of people know this but, I didn’t even want to make the call. The only reason I made the call was because Rick asked me to. Something about an LNG [liquified natural gas] plant,” one source said, recalling the president’s comments. 2 other sources confirmed the first source’s recollection.[/li][/ul] > … This isn’t even a good comedy sketch. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1958 "2019-10-06T00:12:31Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Sen. Susan Collins becomes the [third Republican senator this week to criticize Trump](https://bangordailynews.com/2019/10/05/politics/collins-calls-trumps-invitation-to-china-completely-inappropriate/) (Bangor Daily): > > In other news, Trump throws Rick Perry under the bus: [Trump pins Ukraine call on Energy Secretary Rick Perry](https://www.axios.com/trump-blamed-rick-perry-call-ukraine-zelensky-8178447a-0374-4ac6-b321-a9454b0565d4.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twsocialshare&utm_campaign=organic) (Axios). Hmm… Rick Perry is heading to Lithuania. Sounds like DJT needs more explicit coaching from his boss. I was pretty sure Russia had a direct line into the WH but perhaps little Donny has compromised that with his blabbing. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1959 "2019-10-06T00:12:38Z")
This is why Republicans are terrified of Trump, they know damn well if he goes down he will take as many down with him as he can. If they dare remove him he will spend the rest of his life trying to ruin them. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1960 "2019-10-06T00:22:41Z")
> [@](#): > > But he then threw Perry into the mix and said something to the effect of: “Not a lot of people know this but, I didn’t even want to make the call. The only reason I made the call was because Rick asked me to. Something about an LNG [liquified natural gas] plant,” one source said, recalling the president’s comments. 2 other sources confirmed the first source’s recollection. “My subordinate made me do it”, supposedly to discuss a LNG plant that never came up as a topic of conversation according to the infamous not-quite-transcript of Trump’s perfect call. It’s like he’s not even trying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=97) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=99)