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  1. thedispatch.comJonah Goldberg15 min
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    9.5
    thedispatch.com
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    9.5
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    • jeff4 years ago

      Topical and deeply informative. A rare combination!

    • SEnkey4 years ago

      "More relevant to current events, Washington conceded another point: The House would have every right to look at the documents if it were conducting an impeachment inquiry. “It does not occur,” he wrote, “that the inspection of the papers asked for can be relative to any purpose under the cognizance of the House of Representatives except that of an impeachment, which the resolution has not expressed.”

      There was unanimity in Washington’s Cabinet on this point. That’s kind of a big deal given that the Washington administration was literally chock-a-block with Founding Fathers, as anyone who has seen Hamilton the musical would recall. Treasury Secretary Oliver Wolcott (a signatory of the Declaration of Independence) wrote that “when an Impeachment is proposed & a formal enquiry instituted,” Congress can get whatever it asks for.

      That would be a strange argument for even the most ardent supporters of the president to make: We must ignore evidence in an impeachment trial to preserve the ability of future presidents to hide impeachable offenses. "