Abuse of Power Is a Dangerous Standard for Democrats to Play With

Almost the minute after the White House released its 110-page brief for the Senate impeachment trial, careful observers noticed a contradiction between the White House counsel’s view and Attorney General William Barr’s. The White House brief argues that there can be no impeachable “abuse of power” without a violation of established law. Meanwhile, in a memorandum to senior Justice Department lawyers written while he was still a private citizen in 2018, Barr argued that abuse of power can indeed be impeachable even if there is no crime.

As a purely legal matter, the position of the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, is incorrect. But that doesn’t help the Democrats in this case, and should perhaps worry them in the long run.

Read the full article on The Atlantic.