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Tags: trump | impeachment | ken burns | sidney blumenthal

Over 700 Historians Call for Trump Impeachment

Filmmaker Ken Burns
Filmmaker Ken Burns (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

By    |   Tuesday, 17 December 2019 12:33 PM EST

More than 700 historians have signed a letter "strongly" urging Congress to impeach President Donald Trump, writing that he "violated his oath" and that his actions "urgently and justly require his impeachment."

The group includes author and former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal, biographers Robert Caro and Brenda Wineapple, Princeton University professor Sean Wilentz, and filmmaker Ken Burns. Seven hundred fifty-two historians signed the open letter detailing their position, which was published under the name "Historians on Impeachment" on Medium.

"President Trump's numerous and flagrant abuses of power are precisely what the Framers had in mind as grounds for impeaching and removing a president. Among those most hurtful to the Constitution have been his attempts to coerce the country of Ukraine, under attack from Russia, an adversary power to the United States, by withholding essential military assistance in exchange for the fabrication and legitimization of false information in order to advance his own re-election," the post reads.

The authors go on to quote Alexander Hamilton's "The Federalist," in which he wrote that impeachment is for "the misconduct of public men" involving "the abuse or violation of some public trust."

The historians note that "Collectively, the President's offenses, including his dereliction in protecting the integrity of the 2020 election from Russian disinformation and renewed interference, arouse once again the Framers' most profound fears that powerful members of government would become, in Hamilton's words, 'the mercenary instruments of foreign corruption.'

"It is our considered judgment that if President Trump's misconduct does not rise to the level of impeachment, then virtually nothing does," they wrote.

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Politics
More than 700 historians have signed a letter "strongly" urging Congress to impeach President Donald Trump, writing that he "violated his oath" and that his actions "urgently and justly require his impeachment."
trump, impeachment, ken burns, sidney blumenthal
262
2019-33-17
Tuesday, 17 December 2019 12:33 PM
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