Meacham: If BuzzFeed Report True Congress Must Proceed with 'Impeachment'

TUR: Jon, really great to have you. You are looking at this from a historical lens—if this turns out to be true, do you think there is any choice that Republicans have but to vote for impeachment?

MEACHAM: I don’t think there is any choice in terms of proceeding with impeachment. And if the evidence is what it appears to be, I think in good conscience, Republicans and Democrats who are following their constitutional duty and the precedents of impeachment themselves—which has the virtue of being bipartisan. Both President Nixon—well, he resigned first. President Clinton was impeached for obstruction of justice for suborning perjury for attempting to shape stories to keep facts from Congress and from the public. Ultimately, you hear an argument a lot from Republicans, and I am sure you hear it more than I do, which is impeachment is not the way to go because that would overturn the election. That’s a political interpretation of what is also constitutional and legal procedure here. If in fact the president of the United States committed what we found in our system to be a high crime or misdemeanor and we have evidence, I don’t see how one would argue not proceeding and ultimately not voting for that possibility.

TUR: Are you saying even though high crimes and misdemeanors have not been explicitly laid out in the Constitution, there had been two modern day Congresses who have decided that high crimes and misdemeanors does equal, at the very least, obstruction?

MEACHAM: Absolutely.