Congress’ duty

Wow, the case for the impeachment of Donald Trump is crystal clear. The comments of Robert Mueller at last week’s press conference only filled in the blanks about why he did not indict the president during his investigation: He was not allowed to do so.

Mr. Mueller has clearly provided the evidence to Congress to take the ball and begin the impeachment process. It seems the president obstructed the investigation by lying about his knowledge of the meeting with the Russians at Trump Tower and then trying to cover up the reason for the meeting.

The president fired James Comey, the director of the FBI which was investigating, in part, the president’s role in a successful Russian conspiracy to influence the election. The president attempted to fire Mr. Mueller and end the investigation. The president attempted to influence the testimony of key administration officials before Congress. The president has violated his oath of office by doing nothing to protect the nation against continuing Russian attacks on our election, and much more. Any one of these things would be impeachable offences. Taken together, the articles of impeachment write themselves.

Democrats have a legal obligation to protect the Constitution and the nation from such abuses. The fact that they fear political consequences if they do is a dereliction of duty. But in fact, impeachment proceedings will help the Democrats through the next election season. The public Congressional hearings will reveal all the dirty dealings of the Trump administration. The fact that Mr. Trump is unlikely to be convicted and removed from office by the Senate is irrelevant. Republican senators will go on record as partisan hacks voting to support the president in the face of a mountain of damning evidence.

The public needs to see out in the open what the most corrupt administration in American history has done to the country.

GREG MOLINDA

South Fayette