Comey and the Unfit President — A complicated relationship

Former FBI Director James Comey believes Donald Trump is “morally unfit to be president.” He’s right. He believes Americans should vote this fall. He’s right there, too.

But he also thinks impeachment would “short circuit” our democracy, and we couldn’t disagree with him more.

With a reckless and lawless president in power, the country cannot wait three more years. That’s why the impeachment process exists. Mr. Comey’s expertise as a law enforcement officer ends way before professional advice on electoral politics.

After all, he is most famous for helping push Trump to victory — intentionally or not — by announcing a second FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails just days before the 2016 election. His decision to make that pronouncement — one that even he acknowledges went against Justice Department protocol — was influenced by Clinton’s lead in the polls and her assumed victory.

Comey called that one wrong. And he’s calling it wrong on the question of impeachment, too. Impeachment is far more than a theoretical moral issue. Impeaching this President focuses on provable facts and the rule of law.

Ironically, one of Trump’s key impeachable offenses was firing Comey in the first place. He did it, as he has said himself several times, because Comey refused to back off the FBI’s investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election. That’s obstruction of justice, which happens to be a charge in the impeachment actions against both Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon.

If that’s not enough, Trump’s daily violations of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause overtly buck the law and justify impeachment. Trump must not receive personal benefit from serving as president. Period. Yet by retaining ownership in his business, he violates the Constitution each time the Trump Organization does any business transaction with a foreign government or a domestic government agency.

We detail half a dozen additional impeachable offenses at www.NeedtoImpeach.com, including Trump’s penchant for wielding the powers of his office against freedom of the press.

Comey told the U.S. Senate that he felt “mildly nauseous” to think that his announcement about the Clinton investigation may have swung the election in Trump’s favor. If that’s true, it’s time for Comey to support the Constitutional solution to remove a real and present danger from the Oval Office.