On May 9th, President Donald Trump fired the director of the FBI, James Comey. The reason for the termination was initially unclear. In a letter addressed to Comey, Trump said it was due to the recommendation from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The White House Press Office and Vice President Mike Pence followed suit in their public comment. However, many were skeptical of the story considering that James Comey had just testified before Congress regarding his investigation into the Trump campaign's potential collusion with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential campaign.

The firing may have been related to Comey's role in the investigation.

In an interview with Lester Holt two days later, contradicting his entire administration's account, Donald Trump provided confirmation. Trump said, “In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.’”

'High Crimes and Misdemeanors'

Section 4 of Article II of the Constitution lays out the terms under which a President may be removed from office: "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, and other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Treason and Bribery are self explanatory, but "high crimes and misdemeanors" is vague.

A high crime is a crime that is not specifically written into law but one that can only be committed by someone holding the power and influence of that office. An example of such a high crime would be if a sitting President were to fire an individual leading an investigation against him. Such a firing is a unilateral power that only the President has, thus, such an obstruction of justice and abuse of power is of the sort that only a President can commit.

This may bring to mind James Comey, but let us not forget former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates who was fired for investigating Trump, as well as the firing of Preet Bharara, a US District Attorney who was investigating Trump and his Russian financial ties. Three separate individuals investigating Trump have been fired using the powers of his office, tallying three potential (and one certain) instances of obstruction of justice.

Such obstruction of justice was listed in the articles of impeachment against both Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.

It doesn't stop at obstruction of justice

Trump also has a penchant for witness intimidation:

Threatening private citizens using the powers of his office:

And, not to mention a myriad of emoluments violations, including accepting money and exchanging favors with foreign governments in business dealings around the world.

There is enough now

While it would cover the "treason" portion of section 4, article II, at this point, whether there was collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign is irrelevant when it comes to the matter of whether Donald Trump should be allowed to remain in office. The Comey firing is an obstruction of justice, just as his intimidation and threats against Sally Yates and James Comey are the sort of high crimes that the Constitution talks about -- crimes that can only be committed using the powers of his office. In a previous article, I argued that Trump was either one of the most obtuse people to have ever held public office or the biggest traitor to ever sit behind the resolute desk. It turns out that being the former is enough.
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