The House Freedom Caucus thought that they were helping Trump by trying to impeach Rod Rosenstein. Instead, they made it easier for Trump to be impeached.

Ex-Watergate attorney Michael Conway wrote on NBCNews.com:

Meadows’ resolution also degrades the standard necessary for the House to initiate an impeachment proceeding. Some respected commentators have argued that the House should never initiate impeachment proceedings unless there is a likelihood that the Senate will convict following a trial on the merits. This thinking parallels the notion that a prosecutor should not seek a criminal indictment unless there is a reasonable prospect of a conviction at trial.

But Meadows endorses a far more relaxed standard, as his resolution has almost zero chance of leading to the Senate’s removal of Rosenstein. To remove Rosenstein from office, 67 senators would have to vote to convict him. With only 51 Republicans in the Senate, there is no possibility that Rosenstein would be removed by the Senate. As a result, Republicans’ call to impeach Rosenstein undermines the proposition that the party in power must refrain from starting an impeachment inquiry if the prospect of a Senate conviction is nil.

In Their Rush To Help Trump, House Republicans Lowered The Standard For Impeachment

The members of the House Freedom Caucus actually damaged Trump by lowering the impeachment standard with the Rosenstein resolution. These House Republicans have laid the groundwork and made it easier for the next Congress to impeach Donald Trump. The next Congress is a logical assumption because there is no way that the current Republican-controlled House will begin impeachment proceedings before the midterm election.

Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, and company have set a precedent that is dangerous for Trump. The bar for impeachment has been lowered. It doesn’t matter if the Senate will convict Trump, if the House believes that Trump has committed impeachable offenses, they could tie up Congress for the next two years and effectively kill the Trump presidency.

Republicans were trying to save their president, but in their desperation, they made a critical strategic error that makes it easier for Trump to be impeached.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association