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# Articles of Impeachment Could be History’s Takeaway on Donald Trump
November 11 2019
Written by James Reston Jr.
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**CITYWATCH TODAY**--It’s an all but foregone conclusion that the House of Representatives will impeach Donald Trump, and it is almost as certain that the Senate will not convict him. For those who are convinced of the president’s venality, the latter prospect makes it imperative that the formal indictment in the House — the articles of impeachment — be detailed and all-encompassing.
The articles’ content, the exact way they focus the effort to hold Trump accountable, could possibly sway the eventual verdict, as senators ponder individually the moral choice between party loyalty and the rule of law. As important, the way the charges are conceived and written will affect how history remembers this “grand inquest of the nation.” Was it merely misbegotten politics or a legitimate attempt to adjudicate incontrovertible high crimes and misdemeanors?
The House proceedings against President Trump represent only the fourth impeachment in American history. In two of the others, the prosecution of the president was flawed or tainted to begin with. In the third, the Nixon non-impeachment impeachment (his resignation truncated the process), the House presented a masterful set of articles — succinct, persuasive, accessible and exacting. That experience not only justified the national trauma of the process. It serves as the model for a proper and successful proceeding today. [*(Read the rest*](https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-11-10/impeachment-donald-trump-richard-nixon-constitution)*[.)](https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-11-10/impeachment-donald-trump-richard-nixon-constitution)*
-cw
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