Congress, Constitutional Law, Politics

No, The Disaster in Afghanistan is Not an Impeachable Offense

During the Trump Administration, we regularly discussed Democratic members and writers calling for the impeachment of Trump for everything from criticizing NFL kneelers to obnoxious tweets. Not to be outdone, many Republicans have been demanding the impeachment of Joe Biden for an array of missteps or controversies. Most recently, Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene called for the impeachment of Biden for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. (This is the second such motion for Greene). It is the same misuse of impeachment as a type of  “no confidence vote.” The failure to properly plan and execute the withdrawal from Afghanistan has been an appalling failure by the Biden Administration. However, negligence is not an impeachable offense. Indeed, the lowering of the standard to cover such negligence would create great instability and dysfunction in our constitutional system.

Before addressing the constitutional question, it is important to note that Rep. Greene also referred to President Biden as a “piece of s**t.”  Regardless of how one feels about Biden, it should be deeply offensive to all Americans to have an elected official use such language toward our President. During the Trump Administration, I made the same objection to vulgar attacks on him and his cabinet and staff. In our age of rage, there is a sense of impunity or license for adults to act in ways that we have long barred in our children from name calling to profane attacks. Even law professors have succumbed to this low-grade form of debate. Figures like Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe now regularly engage in profane and personal attacks when they disagree on political or legal issues. We can have passionate debates without resorting to such juvenile and offensive attacks.

Greene announced that “I have my team right now working on articles of impeachment. Because I’m so disgusted with Joe Biden. You know I’ve already filed one set of articles of impeachment. But his failure as a president is unspeakable.”

Many presidents have been viewed as “failures” by critics but that it not what impeachment is designed to address.

Parliamentary systems, like Great Britain’s, allow for “no confidence” motions to remove prime ministers. Parliament can pass a resolution stating “That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government.” But that’s not our system, and it’s doubtful that the members of Congress calling for Trump’s impeachment would relish a parliamentary approach: When such a vote succeeds, the prime minister isn’t necessarily the only politician to go. If the existing members of parliament can’t form a new government in 14 days, the entire legislative body is dissolved pending a general election.

The Framers were certainly familiar with votes of no confidence, but despite their general aim to limit the authority of the presidency, they opted for a different course. They saw a danger in presidents being impeached due to shifts in political support and insulated presidents from removal by limiting the basis for impeachment and demanding a high vote threshold for removal. There would be no impulse-buy removals under the Constitution. Instead, the House of Representatives would have to impeach and the Senate convict (by two-thirds vote) based on “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes or Misdemeanors.”

When we make someone president, we give them tremendous power and tremendous discretion in wielding that power. Such discretionary judgments are protected for even low level federal officials. The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) contains a major exception called the the discretionary function exception to protect officials from lawsuits for poor judgments. If a president uses poor judgment, you can refuse a second term or use the checks and balances of the system to counteract his mistakes.

Past presidents have made breathtaking mistakes from the Bay of Pigs to wars like Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan. However, those judgments have not been deemed high crimes and misdemeanors. Otherwise, you create the basis for the impeachment of virtually any president.

Like many, I cannot imagine how the United States could mess up this withdrawal in such a spectacular and gut-wrenching manner. We had long ago announced our withdrawal and had many months to carry out an orderly withdrawal. While the Biden Administration insisted that no one foresaw the collapse of the government in such a short time, that is simply untrue. Even if it were not true, good policymakers do not rely on such assumptions when you are dealing with the lives of tens of thousands of citizens and allies.

Controversies like the Afghan withdrawal only become matters like impeachment when impeachable acts are committed to carry out the policies or to conceal aspects of the resulting scandal. It is often not the scandal but the response to the scandal that gets powerful people in trouble in Washington.  While not required to be actual crimes, Congress has often looked to the criminal code to weigh such transgressions. We have no evidence that such offense have occurred here.

What I said in 2017 in the face of Democratic calls for impeachment is still true today:

“History has already answered this call for impulse-buy impeachments. The Framers saw the great abuses caused not only by tyranny of nobility, but tyranny of the majority. They sought to insulate our government from the transient impulses of politics. Otherwise, impeachment becomes little more than grabbing any opportunistic excuse for impeachment like so many “straws” in the political wind.”

79 thoughts on “No, The Disaster in Afghanistan is Not an Impeachable Offense”

  1. I find Green to be a total embarrassment to conservative women (and the entire party for that matter). This is not the first time she has acted like a 14 year old juvenile delinquent. The Afghanistan debacle was not just Mr. Biden’s decision, but appears to be very controlled by people in the shadows. Also, the withdrawal was decided on well before the Taliban swooped in “unexpectedly”. I read that China had met with Taliban a couple weeks before Biden’s blunder took place.

    I have a feeling this withdrawal was designed to distract us. My guess is they need resources elsewhere (which Biden did mention – unwittingly in one of his recent press conferences). Iran? I know Israel is tired of waiting.

    Something else that quietly happened but which I have a feeling has great significance: Rahm Emanuel (the Ex-IDF soldier for Israel, and ex-mayor of Chicago) has been selected as Ambassador to Japan.

    Another perception: We may be faced with a huge cyber attack that takes down all of main street (of course the tech billionaires will remain open for more business as usual). This would kick off the big finale for our Constitutional Republic as we enter war with Iran. China may have gotten Afghanistan as a pay-off for allowing such a war with Iran get started. Just a thought.

    1. And I find darth baizou biden to be a cold insufferable idiot. Now mind you I do not hate senile people…. but this certified fruitcake has been installed by the cabal in the DC shadows. He is the supreme halfwit …not even rates an idiot savant. We are faced with a complete fool as pres and a complete tool as VP ,,,and you are worried about Mrs Greene…gotcha , your priorities are fudge. No doubt this has been planned so as to lessen the power grabs like mandatory blue jabs with toxic venom in any other world would never have been approved….. Pfizer even eliminated the control group to hide the lack of efficacy of their garbage product. meanwhile our dullard potus just crows on about masks and the scamdemic… and could care less about the billions of dollars of equipment , arms , ammunition abandoned to terrorists…let alone how many Americans are literally stranded and how many we have seen die already. Please attack the problem we have….it’s right in front of our noses and is the demoKKKrat zeig heil party trying to abridge our freedoms and dilute our constitution. \

  2. Sorry Prof. Turley, but you are wrong.

    While you should not be wrong. Clearly our founders did not intend what we have now,
    They did not create any review of the impeachment process.

    Therefore ANYTHING the house detemines is impeachable – is impeachable.
    The only review is conducted by the senate – which in the instance of even stupider impeachments refused to toss garbage impeachments back to the house.

    Therefore if The house decides the bungled handling of afghanistan is impeachable – it is.

    This does not matter right now.

    But it will if as is expected Republicans take over.

    The ludicrously stupid standard democrats used for Faux Trump impeachments will allow the house to tie up the Senate permanently whenever the house is a different party from the president.

    At this point this is not likely to end anytime soon.

    Regardless, You made the arguments this nonsense was unconstitutional, As did Derschowitz and other constitutional scholars.

    While you were inarguably right on the intentions of the founders, the constitution provides no review for the houses excercise of the power to impeach. Therefore whatever the house chooses to impeach on is impeachable.

    1. John– I agree. Pelosi set the standard for what is impeachable. Anything. If you fart in the elevator with her you could be facing impeachment. Nobody will intervene.

    2. Actually you are wrong, john. Impeachment is limited to : “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”.

      and while “high crimes and Misdemeanors” is a very coarse filter, it does imply that one would need to find a law that was violated by the President.

  3. I never, until today, read a transcript of a speech or interview with our current President. This morning, I happened upon this one from Biden’s recent interview by George Stephanopoulos. Here is link. It is excruciating to read.,

    “Houston, we have a problem.”

    Much of the media wants to ignore the obvious, much like the children’s story “The Emperor’s New Clothes, but this man is incapable of a coherent thought.

    The world is now suffering because of it and it will suffer more. This is a mess of epic proportions.

    https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/something-is-wrong-with-the-president/amp/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=blog-post&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=top-bar-latest&utm_term=first&__twitter_impression=true

  4. So you think that Rep Greene’s incentive to impeach is just a sort of “political wind”? Perhaps, but putting vast quantities of military material in jeopardy of theft and at the same time thousands of US citizens in harms way during a violent gov’t turnover combined with serial additional executive “gaffs”appears to be more than just a glitch previously considered by the founders. The threat of a Harris presidency or after that fails – probably less catastrophically than the Biden presidency already has – leads to the frightening possibility that Pelosi would continue the series of disasters. If not impeachment then I beg that what the founders didn’t invasion, the 25 amendment, be actively considered to PERHAPS permit a healing following The Biden disaster. This might clue his successors that endangering the well being of the nation gives offense which our more responsible members of government will act to address.

  5. Prof. Turley falsely characterizes the conduct of the Plagiarist-In-Chief as mere “negligence.” Of course, Prof. Turley is dissembling. He knows that all of the actions of the Plagiarist-In-Chief were deliberate. Moreover, if the law was actually followed in the United States, instead of the consistent application of double standards granted to the Ruling Class, the Plagiarist-In-Chief would be properly charged with “adher[ing] to the[] enemies [of the United States], giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere” and would be found “guilty of treason.” §2381. Treason. The Plagiarist-In-Chief has publicly stated that the withdrawal from Afghanistan was done exactly according to his plan and “no mistakes” were made. So, the Plagiarist-In-Chief has not only admitted that his actions were entirely deliberate, but has effectively stated that they were carried out according to his instructions to a “T.”

    1. Biden has publicly stated: “Hunter is the smartest guy I know.” and “I don’t need your vote.” “The MSM misinformation program IS killing people.” True although Biden back peddled the statement.

    1. Your humor is out of the park analymonomus. You never saw thousands upon thousands of citizenry run for the talleywhackers….. the same brand of religious fascism that rules by fear. So do tell how you buy into that screed ?. As bugs bunny would say…what a maroon !.

    1. In nancy peloosi’s world that is how the queen of the senate runs the circus…and has. Remember the demoratzi mantra of “never let e crisis go to waste”….. well this self inflicted crisis of theirs is their dumbkirk if you will and exposes their cancerous rule.
      Meanwhile with all this distraction senile joe and his handlers are still at making the blue jab mandates and various other freedom eroding decrees against the people…for the children you know , because creepy uncle joe et al knows best , umm right massa he done knows bess wuts good fer us….. and his puppeteers aim to give it to us good and hard, yepper uh hum !!.

  8. Limiting impeachment to “treason, high crimes, or misdemeanors” means only past offenses are legitimate grounds for removal. Reasonable beliefs of future treasonous or criminal conduct would not be a legitimate ground. One the one hand, the thought that President Biden might engage in future actions that benefit the Chinese to the detriment of the United States, and only after he has engaged in such treason could be removed, is frightening. yet on the other hand I can see how future Democrats would use speculation of a similar vein to justify impeachment of a future Republican president who had done nothing wrong (as they did to President Trump). I don’t like this quandary.

  9. The most unbelievable Biden moment so far is when he told terrified Americans stranded in their homes in Afghanistan that if they needed a ride to the airport, just ” call us”.
    “Call us”!? Really?? What do they dial, Joe.? 1-800-WTF**K??

    1. CB — I called that number and got a recorded message:

      “We can’t come to the phone right now. We’re out at CRT training. Please call back during the next administration.”

  11. Trump’s family became rich in the private sector long before he ran for office. Trump donated his salary. So many politicians become rich as a result of being a politician.

    1. Karen: watch the A & E Biography on the Trumps. Pa Trump got rich off of constructing apartments for returning GIs after WWII–government grants–free taxpayer money–not brilliance as a real estate developer like they’d have you believe. According to Mary Trump, who lived in one of these buildings with her mother and brother after their father died, they were cheaply-constructed and poorly-maintained. Trump himself did a lousy job of being a businessman–one bankruptcy after another–and, that’s after his father couldn’t bail him out financially any more. He has cultivated a reputation as a wealthy, self-made billionaire. All smoke and mirrors–like that thing that lives on his head.

  12. If Biden commits treason, high crimes, or misdemeanors, then he should be impeached.

    That will likely depend upon the investigation into alleged criminal behavior. Actually, perhaps someone could answer the question if Biden is found guilty of serious criminal misconduct which occurred prior to taking office, could that form the basis of impeachment? Could he still be impeached if it’s determined he lacks mental capacity?

    1. Where did you get the idea that there’s any “alleged criminal behavior” by Biden? Wait…I think I know: was it Fox, OAN, News Max, Breitbart, Culture Wars or some other alt-right media?

      You wanna know why alt-right media talks about Biden getting impeached over Afghanistan, but nothing will come of it? All show for the disciples, like Karen. Right off the bat, there would be Trump’s botched agreement with the Taliban to draw down troops from 14,000 to 2,500 and his agreement to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners. Then, there’s the fact that the Afghan Army became demoralized because they weren’t even included in discussions about concessions agreed to by Trump. But…the impeachment talk will go an and on–keep the faithful stirred up–keep them believing.

  13. Every military family that I know is deeply upset and angry about the Afghanistan debacle.

    The husband of one of my friends missed the birth of both their children because he was deployed both times. And for nothing?

    What kind of fool sends the military home before evacuating our people, including our allies who helped us at great risk to themselves?

    At least the Brits and the French military are out there combing the streets, rescuing as many as they can, while our military is made to observe this unfolding. Best wishes to the Afghani women’s robotics team, most of whom were evacuated thanks to Qatar. May they rescue the remaining members.

    Joe Biden has gotten every single foreign policy decision wrong over his 40 years of public service. He even advised Obama against going in to get Bin Ladin, which is one of the few Obama actions I admired.

    Biden seems determined not to break this streak.

    We can’t even take any joy in “We told you so” because people are dying, and women are getting raped, because of this incompetence.

    Wasn’t it nice going 4 years without a war?

    1. More of Karen’s absolute devotion to Trump. Karen: we didn’t have “4 years without a war”–the war in Afghanistan was going on during his fake “presidency”. Don’t you know this, or do you think that repeating alt-right lies somehow makes them true?

      You ask: “What kind of fool sends the military home before evacuating our people, including our allies who helped us at great risk to themselves?” Why not ask Trump that–he’s the one who drew down our troops from 14,000 to 2,500 and turned loose 5,000 Taliban prisoners? His administration, Steven Miller, an Islamophobe, intentionally held up SIV visas for those who helped the US. These people were trying to get out, and would have gotten out long ago but for Miller intentionally slowing down their visa applications.

      You have such a juvenile devotion to alt-right media that it is embarrassing. The US went to Afghanistan because George W. Bush thought they were harboring Bin Ladin, who, it turns out, was living in a luxury compound in Pakistan, right down the road from a Pakistani military facility. We didn’t go to Afghanistan to change their culture, to promote womens’ rights or to build democracy–those things are none of our business. Do you think the Afghans said: “Hey, USA, why don’t you come over here and tell us everything we’re doing wrong when it comes to womens rights, and how to fix it”? That seems to be your argument. Biden can’t prevent women in Afghanistan from getting raped. Why would you try to blame him for this, which is one of the stupider things you’ve posted about? Other than completely taking over Afghanistan, the US cannot prevent women from being abused, assaulted or being forced to wear beekeeper suits. It’s their culture. It’s not our culture. Cultural change will have to come from within–not from outside. And, if the Afghan military hadn’t surrendered, which was unexpected, the chaos would not have happened. Trump bears responsibility for this due to his lousy agreement with the Taliban and releasing 5,000 of their prisoners before eveyone got out.

      I don’t know where, other than alt-right media, you got the crap about Biden being against capturing Bin Ladin or being wrong on foreign policy.

      If you want to blame someone for Afghanistan–blame Bush–he got this war started –and for the wrong reasons.

  15. Important post. No doubt.

    However, some would disagree here, at least to some extent:

    The respectable author of the post, argues, that, I quote:

    ” We have no evidence that such offense have occurred here ”

    But, this is the purpose of the impeachment (as meant to be, in the Congress). To investigate one affair, and consolidate, the guilt of the president. It is a sort of investigative and prosecutorial process (although the trial itself, is conducted in the Senate of course).

    But, provided, that impeachment, is possible or reasonable outcome. For that yet, we need investigation. If other agencies, don’t do it, one may argue, that the Congress should do it, and even within the framework of impeachment.

    So, in sum, even if there are no evidences, one should investigate, and may find evidences, for such horrific withdrawal.

    Thanks

  16. Aiding and abetting the enemy, state of the art weapons redistributive change, and the progressive viability of American citizens, agents, and friends of Asia. Time will tell if Biden will secure and sustain the Obama legacy in another transcontinental (“world”) war, per chance a forcing of catastrophic anthropogenic immigration reform (e.g. refugee crises). A depraved state.

  17. When the MSM, and especially CNN, turn on Biden (as they’ve done over the Afghanistan debacle) — then his days are numbered. Add to that, his own administrators now contradict him publicly.

    However, the Democrats are trapped by the Constitution and by the utterly phony KH. If the (execrable) KH becomes president, she needs Senate approval for a new VP. With her no longer the tie-breaking vote, the Senate is 50-50 deadlocked. And they know that a KH presidency means certain doom in 2022 and 2024.

    1. Sam, Good analysis.

      They could hurry and get something on KH so they could Agnew her and then find an acceptable replacement for VP and then Ford her into the presidency.

      If crap hits the fan for KH that may be the reason.

      1. Young — Thanks.

        “find an acceptable replacement”

        Who? (Serious question.) Such a person would need Senate approval.

    2. As VP Kamala Harris flees the Biden/Harris dumpster fire in DC to head to VIETNAM of all places on her ill-timed junket (yet more unbelievably bad judgment if that’s even possible) let’s fully layout the definition of that choice word Sam used to describe Kamala Harris:

      execrable

      [ˈeksəkrəb(ə)l]
      ADJECTIVE
      extremely bad or unpleasant.
      “execrable cheap wine”
      synonyms:
      appalling · awful · dreadful · terrible · frightful · atrocious · very bad · lamentable · disgusting · deplorable · disgraceful · reprehensible · shameful · abominable · abhorrent · loathsome · odious · heinous · hateful · detestable · despicable · foul · vile · scandalous · contemptible · repugnant · repellent · revolting · unspeakable · wretched · egregious

  18. Joe Biden has been in Washington DC enriching himself and his family via grotesque in-your-face corruption for 50 years. Biden was in the White House with Obama for 8 years. Much of Biden’s administration come from the Obama administration. These people are ostensibly “the experienced experts” and yet they have screwed things up THIS badly?

    It’s hard to believe that things could be done THIS bad solely due to gross incompetence at the decision-making levels.

    It almost seems as if they are intentionally diminishing America’s standing both at home and abroad. It feels like intentional sabotage of America’s standing in the world. Like an intentional take-down of American power and prestige in the world.

    How else could so many EXPERIENCED bureaucrats, military and policy “experts” make such forseeably and obviously disastrous decisions BY MISTAKE?

    1. Yeah, they are THIS bad. They believed their own propaganda so the result is not surprising, everyone but the Americans knows that the US army us collapsing.

  19. “Otherwise, impeachment becomes little more than grabbing any opportunistic excuse for impeachment like so many “straws” in the political wind.”

    This is exactly what Nancy Pelosi did during Trump’s presidency. Now she is commending Biden’s handling of Afg!

  20. To a Democrat, I’m sure “electing” a 78 yr old plagiarist crook with dementia seemed like a good idea at the time?

    I will say this again: The White House is the most exclusive Assisted Living/ Memory Care unit in the country.

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