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We the People

Should President Trump Be Impeached?

We the People

National Constitution Center

News Commentary, News, History

4.61.1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2019

⏱️ 84 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As the House Judiciary Committee unveils articles of impeachment against President Trump, we’re sharing a fascinating two-part conversation on impeachment hosted here at the National Constitution Center on December 2nd. The first panel features leading constitutional scholars including NCC Scholar-in-Residence Professor Michael Gerhardt who testified as an impeachment expert before the House Judiciary Committee. The next panel (starting at 37 minutes) features current and former members of congress, including Vice Chair of the House Judiciary Committee Representative Mary Gay Scanlon. They share their candid takes on the current impeachment inquiry, how it’s been handled, and what the Framers might think. This program was originally shared on our companion podcast, Live at America’s Town Hall, in two parts. You can listen at these links: part one featuring the impeachment scholars and part two featuring the current and former members of Congress. Panel one features: Michael Gerhardt – National Constitution Center Scholar in Residence, CNN impeachment expert, and professor at UNC Law School Keith Whittington – professor of politics at Princeton University Kimberly Wehle – professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law and CBS News legal analyst John Malcolm – Vice President of the Institution for Constitutional Government at Heritage  Moderator: Jeffrey Rosen – National Constitution Center President Panel two features: Rep. Dwight Evans (PA-03) Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05)  Fmr. Rep. Charles Dent (PA-15) Fmr. Rep. Ryan Costello (PA-06) Moderator: Jeffrey Rosen – National Constitution Center President Questions or comments about the podcast? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome

0:07.8

to We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.

0:11.5

The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit chartered by Congress

0:16.2

to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.

0:21.0

The House of Representatives is now debating articles of impeachment against President

0:26.2

Trump.

0:27.2

On December 2nd here at the National Constitution Center, we hosted a fascinating two-part conversation on the constitutional dimensions of impeachment.

0:37.0

The first panel features leading constitutional scholars from diverse perspectives,

0:42.0

including Professor Michael Gerhart,

0:44.3

our scholar in residence at the Constitution Center, who testified as an impeachment

0:49.1

expert before the House Judiciary Committee.

0:50.9

It also features John Malcolm from the Heritage Foundation

0:54.0

who's a member of our Madisonian Constitution for All Commission. And the next

0:59.0

panel features current and former members of Congress, two Republicans and two Democrats, including the Vice

1:05.1

Chair of the House Judiciary Committee Representative Mary Gay-Scanland.

1:09.7

Because impeachment involves a mix of legal and political considerations,

1:15.0

it's hard to have a purely constitutional debate about impeachment.

1:19.0

But I ask the audience during this program

1:22.0

to separate their political from their

1:24.8

constitutional views. In other words not to ask as a partisan matter whether or

1:29.4

not they believe that President Trump should be impeached, but whether they thought that the Constitution compelled

1:35.5

it and how they would vote if they were members of the House of Representatives.

...

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