George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley will testify at today’s Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing that the Democrats’ efforts are “woefully inadequate” and “dangerous” according to Fox News.
Turley is the only GOP witness to testify at today’s impeachment hearing, and in his opening statement he makes it clear that he is “not a Trump supporter,” but disagrees that there is a legal basis for impeachment.
In fact, Turley notes, he previously voted for President Obama and Hillary Clinton.
“One can oppose President Trump’s policies or actions but still conclude that the current legal case for impeachment is not just woefully inadequate, but in some respects, dangerous, as the basis for the impeachment of an American president,” Turley writes in his opening remarks.
“The reference to the Hunter Biden deal with Burisma should never have occurred and is worthy of the criticism of President Trump that it has unleashed. However, it is not a case of bribery,” Turley states.
He says that if Trump believed there was corruption with Hunter Biden which was not investigated properly, “the request for an investigation is not corrupt, notwithstanding its inappropriateness.”
“In my view, there is no case law that would support a claim of corrupt intent in such comments to support a bribery charge,” Turley writes.
However, he notes, “There is no question that an investigation of the Bidens would help President Trump politically.”
Turley states he is concerned about “lowering impeachment standards to fit a paucity of evidence and an abundance of anger.”
He writes, “If the House proceeds solely on the Ukrainian allegations, this impeachment would stand out among modern impeachments as the shortest proceeding, with the thinnest evidentiary record, and the narrowest grounds ever used to impeach a president.”
“If we are to impeach a president for only the third time in our history, we will need to rise above this age of rage and genuinely engage in a civil and substantive discussion.”
The Judiciary Committee’s impeachment hearings are occurring today.
