Impeach Donald Trump

It’s time to impeach Donald Trump.

Impeachment shouldn’t be used over disagreements about policy. The contrived impeachment of Bill Clinton by the Republicans is an example of abuse of impeachment.

So why impeachment now? Because Trump has committed treason.

Trump is subservient to Vladimir Putin. Putin insults him, yet Trump slavishly maintains that he likes and respects Putin. When asked by Bill O’Reilly how Trump could say that he liked and respected Putin in light of overwhelming evidence that Putin was a murderer, Trump responded: “And we’re so innocent?”

That statement alone coming from a U.S. President makes him unfit for office. Harry Truman would never have said that about Stalin. John F. Kennedy would never have said it about Khrushchev. Trump is betraying our country for money, and because he is being blackmailed.

Trump has been the subject of deep grooming by the Russians for at least a decade. He’s received Russian funding for his businesses for a long time. As one example, reported by The Miami Herald, a Russian oligarch with ties to Putin paid Trump $100 million in 2008 for a Trump home in Palm Beach that Trump had bought for $41.3 million in 2004. The oligarch never set foot in it, and in fact had it torn down, taking a loss on the transaction. As reported by MSNBC, Trump used the profit on the deal to pay off his debt to Deutsche Bank. The financing for the oligarch was arranged through the Bank of Cyprus, a money laundering bank used by Russian oligarchs. MSNBC further reported that the largest shareholder of the bank, and one of its vice presidents, was Wilbur Ross, now Trump’s Secretary of Commerce.

Trump’s sons in the past have boasted about receiving financing from the Russians for a long time, because American banks would no longer lend to Trump. The reason that Trump persists in not disclosing his tax returns is not because they might prove he isn’t wealthy (he is wealthy); and not because they might show he doesn’t pay taxes (he’s paid taxes in some years, and in others he presumably took advantage of real estate deductions). The real reason is that it would disclose the identities of LLC’s from which he has gotten income, and to which he’s made interest payments.

The Chinese have recently gotten in on the act, knowing that he can be bribed. Mother Jones reported that a Chinese purchaser with ties to the Chinese government overpaid for an expensive apartment in one of his properties. USA Today reported that Trump owns 422 luxury condominiums around the country with prices up to $35 million.

If the Russians had given Trump a $59 million check, it would have been a bribe. When they paid $100 million for a home he bought for $41 million, Trump claims the art of the deal. Similarly, if the Chinese give Trump $5 million checks, it’s a bribe. If they pay $10 million for a $5 million condo in one of his buildings, it’s the art of the deal. Concealment of these structured bribes is the reason he doesn’t disclose his tax returns.

Trump is not simply on the take with the Chinese and the Russians. He’s also being blackmailed by the Russians on different grounds. A former British intelligence agent, investigating Trump in the course of the presidential campaign, reported that Trump had been videotaped by the KGB in a Russian trap involving women recruited by the KGB. Other details of the British agent’s report have proven to be true, e.g. specifics about conversations, dates, and with whom.

All of this has hurt the United States deeply.

Trump’s frightened submission to Putin has resulted in the United States’ supporting Putin’s efforts to dismember Europe. Trump has attacked our NATO allies, as Putin attacks them, using the argument that they are not paying enough to earn our support. When asked what he’d do if Putin invaded Latvia, Trump said he’d check to see whether Latvia was current in its payments.

In a recent NATO meeting in Europe, Trump shoved aside the Prime Minister of Montenegro to get to the front of the group. Montenegro in April charged fourteen men for launching a Russian-backed coup designed to assassinate that Prime Minister in retaliation for his bringing Montenegro into NATO.

Trump has also slavishly followed Putin’s attack on European unity. He egged on the Brexit movement; he egged on Marine Le Pen in France; and he’s been insulting to both Theresa May of Britain and Angela Merkel of Germany. He refused to shake hands with Merkel. When Theresa May in a joint White House press conference recited how they both had a commitment to NATO, Trump smirked and remained silent. He refused at the NATO meeting to state that the United States would honor its obligation to defend Europe.

In a story several months ago that has not received the attention it deserved, The New York Times reported that they received documents from Trump’s inner circle showing Trump’s plan to lift economic sanctions on Russia for the invasion of Crimea. Trump and Putin will hold a meeting, now rescheduled to July. Putin, to allow Trump to save face, will demand a “100-year lease” on Crimea. Trump will resist strongly, prove himself a master negotiator, and propose a “50-year lease.” Putin will reluctantly agree to the 50-year lease, and Trump will lift the sanctions. There will be no consequence to Russia for violating the provisions of the Minsk Agreement, adherence to which is a requirement for lifting the sanctions on Russia, and for hacking into the U.S. elections in 2016. Putin will then hack into the U.S. 2020 elections to help Trump get reelected.

Trump initially suggested that Japan and Korea were not paying enough money for their defense, and maybe they should “get their own nuclear weapons.” This encouraged the North Koreans to further test missiles, and has demoralized South Korea and Japan. South Korea just elected a leader who is committed to getting closer with North Korea, understanding that he can’t count on U.S. support.

China has been building artificial islands in the South China Sea to disrupt navigation and assert control over the Sea. The South China Sea is essential to world trade, and its military domination is essential to the interests of the United States. President Obama had ordered Navy ships to sail close to the islands to establish that shipping from all nations, including U.S. Navy ships will go where they please.

Now that Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, have been granted difficult to obtain trademarks in China, and now that Trump has received income from overpayment for his apartments, he recently ordered the Navy not to go near those islands. Trump has also promised the President of China that he will get permission from China before he speaks again with the President of Taiwan. Now, out of fear, the Association of South East Asian Nations just watered down their opposition to China’s artificial islands.

Impeachment is essential.

Matthew Flynn is a Milwaukee attorney.