Impeachment Seen as Impacting 2020 Election
(China Daily | Dec. 11, 2019) As the US House Democrats sought on Monday to bolster the case for impeaching President Donald Trump, analysts said the move would have political repercussions on the campaign trail even if the result is “impeached but not removed”.
Trump “constitutes a continuing threat to the integrity of our elections and to our democratic system of government,” Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said after the panel heard from House Intelligence Committee staff members on their investigation of Trump on Monday.
“Such conduct is clearly impeachable. This committee will proceed accordingly,” said Nadler, a New York Democrat …
… William C. Banks, a Syracuse University College of Law professor, said the scenario that Trump is subjected to a trial and ultimately acquitted may help him politically, but “only time will tell how voters react”.
“For those who believe in the rule of law and the importance of constitutional norms, his impeachment is nonetheless important because it upholds and reinforces the importance of those norms,” Banks said.
Banks, who co-authored National Security Law and the Power of the Purse, a 1994 book about tensions between the executive and legislative branches over security and spending, said there will undoubtedly be an impact on the 2020 campaign.
“Biden is of course central to the Ukraine scandal, and his testimony will be more damning of the president than harmful to Biden,” Banks said.
Banks also said it is impossible to know the immediate repercussions of the impeachment for Democrats in next November’s election.
“Trump continues to have a constant 40 percent approval rating, but given the electoral system, he could win again with less than a majority of votes. It’s too soon to tell,” Banks said …