President Donald Trump's list of enemies is an impeachable offense, attorney David Lurie wrote in The Daily Beast on Friday.
"Long before becoming president, Donald Trump called for the jailing of his adversaries. Aided by Attorney General William Barr, he may now actually be training the full force of federal law enforcement against his enemies, real or perceived," he wrote.
"The seriousness of such a presidential abuse of power, and its potential for undermining the Constitutional order, could well surpass any of the crimes detailed in the Mueller Report. Indeed, the Congress long ago recognized that such misconduct can merit impeachment," he continued.
Lurie explained the similarities with President Richard Nixon.
He wrote, "It’s reminiscent of Nixon’s secret scheme to 'use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies,' as then-White House Counsel John Dean put it, by manipulating 'grant availability, federal contract, litigation, prosecution, etc.'"
"Although the agency’s commissioner refused Nixon’s demand, the scheme became part of the impeachment case against Nixon, which accused him of illegally endeavoring 'to obtain [information] from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens,'" he noted. "While much of Nixon’s scheme was forestalled, Trump appears poised to effectuate his."
"As the nation recognized during the Watergate era, if the president employs the apparatus of the federal government to single out and punish political or personal enemies by making them the focus of law enforcement investigations, the perception (and the reality) of fairness on which our justice system depends will be gravely endangered," Lurie concluded.
Read the full column.