Turley: ‘The current legal case for impeachment is not just woefully inadequate, but … dangerous’

In his opening statement at the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment hearing, George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley said Wednesday that he was not a supporter of President Donald Trump and had in fact voted for the past two Democratic presidents, yet, he believes “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.”

“I would like to start, perhaps incongruously, with a statement of three irrelevant facts. First, I am not a supporter of President Trump. I voted against him in 2016 and I have previously voted for Presidents Clinton and Obama. Second, I have been highly critical of President Trump, his policies, and his rhetoric, in dozens of columns. Third, I have repeatedly criticized his raising of the investigation of the Hunter Biden matter with the Ukrainian president,” he said in his written testimony.

“These points are not meant to curry favor or approval. Rather they are meant to drive home a simple point: 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. To put it simply, I hold no brief for President Trump,” Turley stated.