An unwritten historic rule: No impeachment for pre-White House actions
Special counsel Robert Mueller, with wife Ann, on Sunday in Washington. Credit: AP/Cliff Owen
The Russia report by special counsel Robert Mueller, as quoted so far, said the investigation "did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
By all accounts this wipes out the presumed could-have-been cause for impeachment known as "collusion," for which Democratic partisans in Washington clearly were rooting.
It seems to work out in America that the conduct of an incumbent prior to his oath of office lacks relevance by the time opponents are looking to impeach him.
At least that's been the case so far.
The activities of hackers, leakers and propagandists who helped Trump in 2016 against Hillary Clinton took place when he was still in private life.
That's why the matter of obstruction of justice always seemed a worse potential problem for Trump than so-called collusion.
Trump, as president, tried to get the FBI director to back off on his ex-national security adviser — then fired him. The president publicly bullied his attorney general in relation to the probe and spoke of possible pardons.
But apparently no conclusion on obstruction of justice was reached — possibly because of special presidential protections in the law. Trump made noises about firing Mueller but never did so. Mueller was allowed to complete his investigation.
Bill Clinton's foes tried to oust him based on perjury and obstruction of justice. Impeachment articles resulted from his sexual relationship with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.
But for years there were scandal stories out of Arkansas — stemming from events that occurred while Clinton was governor — that produced many books and articles but failed to interrupt his presidency in any tangible way.
Impeachment proceedings were under way against Richard Nixon when he resigned from the presidency in August 1974. The articles were mostly related to the famous Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up and involved obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress.
For years, detractors called Nixon "Tricky Dick" before he finally won the White House. Before his election, it turns out, Nixon ally Anna Chennault and others told Saigon leaders that they should not cooperate with President Lyndon Johnson's peace talks.
Collusion with a foreign government? Meddling? That's what it sounded like. But the full facts of pre-White House exchange emerged only years later and never hurt Nixon politically. In fact, the secretive overseas dealings are believed to have helped him win in 1968.
The first impeachment proceeding was in 1868 against President Andrew Johnson, who clashed with Congress over post-Civil War legislation and was accused of violating the law regarding appointments. He was acquitted.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, isn't waving the white flag.
Not prosecuting Trump at this point "doesn't mean, of course, that there isn't compelling and incriminating evidence that should be shared with the American people." Now it's the Republicans' turn to call for Schiff's removal.
Now investigators are focusing interest on Trump's tendency to convey inflated versions of his wealth and whether that has constituted fraud in his dealings with banks. But if all this occurred before he took office, would it count?
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
