Trump is saying 'I am above the law' and 'nobody can control me': Harvard Law's Laurence Tribe

Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe explained that it has become obvious that President Donald Trump is using the Office of the Presidency for his own purposes.

Speaking to MSNBC host Ari Melber on his impeachment special, Tribe explained that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) refused to authorize an impeachment inquiry until it became clear that Trump was using his office for political purposes.

"He was taking hundreds of millions of dollars voted by Congress and withholding them from the Ukraine in an act of sheer extortion and soliciting what amounted to a bribe because he wanted Ukraine’s help, help against Joe Biden for 2020 and help in clearing him of colluding with Russia in 2016," Tribe said.

Ironically, Trump made that notorious July 25 call just as Robert Mueller had finished testifying before Congress about his investigation into the last time Trump asked a foreign power to help him during an election.

"People, I think, should understand that when those things happen the purposes of the impeachment power as defined originally by people like Hamilton and Madison kick in in a big way because we have a president who is abusing the power of his office, committing bribery, which is one of the explicit impeachable offenses and essentially betraying his oath in the country," Tribe continued.

One way Tribe said he's doing it is that Trump is placing himself above the law.

"One of the ways he’s doing that is by essentially saying nobody can control me. Nobody can investigate me, not the Manhattan D.A., not the courts, not the special prosecutor or special counsel," Tribe continued. "And now, not even Congress."

Former President Richard Nixon was told by the Supreme Court that he had to turn over the tapes of the recordings made in the Oval Office. There were, however, other subpoenas were defied by the White House. That became one of the Articles of Impeachment for Nixon.

"He's called the impeachment a lynching, a phony proceeding," Tribe went on. "He’s basically said nobody can investigate him. That, it seems to me, when it’s manifested not just in words but in orders to his subordinates, some of whom as patriots have denied the president, that amounts to laying down the gauntlet and saying, essentially, 'I am king. Nobody can control me. I am above the law and if acting in that way does not constitute a reason for removing a president, then nothing does.'"

Watch Tribe's full interview below: