As last week fades into memory, the pictures of Presidential mug shots are the news item and meme of the day. The dour expression of Trump is representative of a process he calls unprecedented, but as I tell my students, never trust a politician to tell you history. In fact, August 17th, was the 25th anniversary of Bill Clinton speaking to a grand jury himself explaining definitions of terms.
The Presidency has almost always been the center of scandal in this country because it is the most central position in the Constitution. With dozens of Senators, Representatives, and Judges, the one president makes them a target. However, this hides something. There have been a dozen people impeach and either removed from office or resigned in disgrace, but since they were Senators, Representatives, and Judges, we forget (the most recent was Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Jr. in 2010.) Obviously, no President has been removed from office because of Impeachment, though Nixon resigned.
Such political complexities go back to the very beginning, Thomas Jefferson was not accused, but called as a witness in the case against Aaron Burr. If you don’t know the Burr Conspiracy, its…strange. On top of killing his political opponent in a duel and going to congress the same day to vote on an impeachment. He was accused of attempting to sell the Louisiana Purchase to the English in exchange for war ships and funds so he could take part in Latin American revolutions. You read that correctly. His refusal to speak is the first reference we have to presidential executive privilege.
Every generation there seems to be another Presidential scandal; War of 1812, Bank War, start of the Civil War, Grant Corruption Scandals, Tea Pot Dome, Watergate, Iran Contra, et al. We will discuss many of these in the future. Each time it seems like revenge. Henry Hyde claims that the Clinton Impeachment was revenge for the treatment of Richard Nixon. Now, Republicans claim that Trump’s legal troubles are revenge for Clinton (you can pick whichever one, there was Benghazi).
As a historian, the important thing is the trial and the process. We believe no one is above the law, but further, often times trials and Congressional investigations are the places where evidence comes out. It is why after ten investigations, one by the FBI, one independent, two by the Democrat controlled Senate, and six by House Republicans, they all exonerated Clinton, Obama and Biden. However, this example is appropriate here. On Fox News to Sean Hannity, Kevin McCarthy (in 2015) announced that the investigation was hurting Clinton’s numbers. Something that the Republicans are accusing the Democrats of trying to do now. (Though it seems to not really be affecting Trump’s numbers much and Clinton hurt herself more than the investigation ever did). In the end, I want to see evidence come out. There are four indictments as of writing, but potential for another indictment out of Michigan. Two are federal, two are states (which are Presidential pardon proof) and, as a historian, I am interested in what we can learn.
