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Impeachment

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Karlan quotes Brett Kavanaugh in testimony

Pamela Karlan of Stanford Law School quoted conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during her testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. "'It is fundamental to the definition of our national political community that foreign citizens do not have a constitutional right to participate in, and thus may be excluded from, activities of a democratic self-government,'" Karlan said, quoting Kavanaugh. "... Then-Judge, now Justice, Brett Kavanaugh was so correct in seeing this that the Supreme Court … summarily affirmed … that it's constitutional to keep foreigners out of our election process."

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Turley: "This isn't improvisational jazz"

Jonathan Turley, a CBS News legal analyst and George Washington University law professor, diverged from his fellow witnesses when he testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Turley, who was invited by Republican committee members, said that the Constitution does not allow a "boundless interpretation" of bribery and accused pro-impeachment lawmakers, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, of using a liberal definition of bribery that includes the exchange of meetings for political gain. Turley referenced the 1948 Supreme Court case McDonald v. United States in making his point. "You cannot take the bribery crime and use what they called a 'boundless interpretation,'" he said. "... You can't accuse a president of bribery and then ... say, 'Well, it's just impeachment. We really don't have to prove the elements.' … This isn't improvisational jazz. Close enough is not good enough."

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Turley: I will speak for Madison

Congressman Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, was taken aback by a response from Noah Feldman during Wednesday's impeachment hearing and appeared to imply that constitutional law experts should not interpret the Founding Fathers' words. "I think we just put in the jury pool the Founding Fathers and said what would they think? I don't think we have any idea what they would think," Collins said. "... To in some way insinuate … that the Founding Fathers would have found President Trump guilty is just simply malpractice." Jonathan Turley, a CBS News legal analyst and George Washington University law professor who was called by House Republicans, then defended his colleague's right to interpretation, jokingly replying, "First of all, only I will speak for James Madison. No, no, we all will speak for James Madison with about the same level of accuracy. It's a form of necromancy that academics do all the time."

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Turley criticizes Nixon impeachment article

Jonathan Turley, a CBS News legal analyst and George Washington University law professor, testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he strongly disagrees with one of the articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon and, in turn, disagrees with its use as a basis for the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. "Citations have been made to the third article of the Nixon impeachment. First of all, I want to confess, I've been a critic of the third article of the Nixon impeachment my whole life. My hair catches on fire every time someone mentions the third article," Turley said. "Why? Because you would be replicating one of the worst articles written on impeachment." Turley added that, in order to give the impeachment process legitimacy, Mr. Trump should be allowed to fight requests from Congress in the courts. "In Nixon, it did go to the courts, and Nixon lost. And that was the reason Nixon resigned," Turley said.

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Chabot: Avoid a party-line impeachment

Congressman Steve Chabot argued against a "party-line impeachment" during the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearing on Wednesday. "'We must not overturn an election and impeach a president without an overwhelming consensus of the American people,'" the Republican from Ohio said, quoting the committee's Democratic chairman, Jerry Nadler, during the impeachment of President Clinton. "... Well, what you said should never happen ... is exactly what you're doing now."

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Karlan: Trump is not a king

Pamela Karlan of Stanford Law School explained what makes President Trump different from a king during her testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee asked Karlan what characteristics of kings influenced the Founding Fathers in shaping the Constitution. "Kings could do no wrong because the king's word was law," Karlan told the Democrat from Texas. "And, contrary to what President Trump has said, Article 2 does not give him the power to do anything he wants." She added an example: "While the president can name his son Barron, he can't actually make him a baron."

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Gerhardt: Congress defines bribery

After much discussion over bribery at Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing, Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina Law School testified that bribery is defined by Congress, not the courts. Congressman Cedric Richmond (D-LA) asked the witnesses to comment on testimony from another witness, Jonathan Turley, a CBS News legal analyst and George Washington University law professor, who asserted that using public office for personal gain is a "viable impeachable offense." After all three remaining witnesses affirmed Turley's statement, Gerhardt said, "Much talk has been made here about the term bribery ... It's your job, it's the House's job, to define bribery, not the courts. You follow your judgement on that."

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Republican asks witnesses if they voted for Trump

Representative Tom McClintock asked the four witnesses in the House Judiciary Committee's Wednesday impeachment hearing to disclose if they voted for President Trump in 2016. Constitutional law scholar Pamela Karlan protested the question, noting she has every right to cast a secret ballot. When McClintock, a Republican, rephrased the question to ask if the witnesses supported Mr. Trump ahead of the 2016 election, no one raised their hand -- although witness Noah Feldman said that failing to raise a hand should not be interpreted as an answer.

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Gaetz questions witnesses on writings

Representative Matt Gaetz, a vocal supporter of President Trump, aggressively questioned three of the witnesses in the House Judiciary Committee's Wednesday impeachment hearing over their previous campaign donations and writings. Constitutional law scholar Michael Gerhardt confirmed that his family donated to President Obama, while Pamela Karlan said she contributed to Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Gaetz, a Florida Republican, also presented writings from Feldman in which he questioned impeaching Mr. Trump, to which Feldman replied the July 25 call changed his perspective "for good reason."

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House Judiciary Committee postpones vote on articles of impeachment

The House Judiciary Committee ended the debate on the articles of impeachment and postponed the vote until Friday morning. Republican Ranking Member Doug Collins slammed Chairman Jerry Nadler's decision to postpone, saying "words cannot describe how inappropriate this was." Associated Press White House reporter and CBSN political contributor Zeke Miller, CBSN political contributor Molly Hooper and CBS News Capitol Hill reporter Rebecca Kaplan joined CBSN to discuss the latest from Capitol Hill.

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