Once Trump thought Mueller exonerated him -- he was at it again with Ukraine: Harvard's Laurence Tribe

Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe explained during an MSNBC appearance that the reason Democrats are so intent on a speedy trial is that President Donald Trump is trying to fix the election for 2020 right now.

Speaking to Lawrence O'Donnell, Tribe said that one of the strongest reasons for impeaching Trump is that he continues to do what he did with Russia because special counsel Robert Mueller said that he couldn't indict Trump. In the case of Russia, there was an argument that the Trump team didn't know what they were doing. By now, they should know that it is illegal to work with a foreign government on a US election. Yet, that's what they're doing by trying to manipulate Ukraine.

O'Donnell said that the GOP is playing a game and pretending that Trump suddenly decided to hand over the money to Ukraine and he didn't already know that an investigation had already begun and the whistleblower complaint hadn't been filed.

"We know that this is a president who was abusing his office, abusing his power, betraying his oath, corrupting the next election in a dangerous way," Tribe agreed. "And we know that the very fact that the whistle got blown and that he then decided, well, he'd better release the transcript or almost the transcript of his call with [Ukraine] President Zelensky. We know that that just shows that he will do whatever it takes until he's caught, and then he'll wait, and then he'll do more."

Tribe explained that this is now a pattern with Trump. He asked Russia for help and then accepted it. He obstructed the investigation of the Russian election meddling and his involvement.

"And as soon as we heard the testimony of Robert Mueller, which the president thought exonerated him, he was at it again," Tribe continued. "And at that point, he was trying to shakedown Ukraine. This is as the witnesses made clear, the classic case for removing a president who will not obey the law and [who] will take the moment he thinks he can get away with it, interfere with the central part of our democracy, our electoral system. It really gets me that the Republicans say, 'Well, just wait until the next election.' What? The election that he's trying to corrupt with more help from Russia? With help as he asked for publicly from China, with whatever he can get from Ukraine? This is not a case for waiting."

Tribe explained that this is the reason Democrats feel there is an "urgent need to protect the national security from an abusive president."

Watch his full interview below: