Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/149

 constitutional governance if he remains in office. It is one thing for a President to use harsh rhetoric in criticizing an impeachment inquiry. It is something else entirely for that President to declare such an inquiry "illegitimate" and use his official powers to stonewall the House. A President who declares himself above impeachment is a President who sees himself as above the law. That President is a monarch in all but name and imperils our democracy.

To explain our judgment that President Trump's conduct constitutes "high Crimes and Misdemeanors," we first describe the House's power of inquiry, as well as its power to investigate grounds for impeachment. We next confirm the Committee's assessment from President Nixon's case that obstruction of a House impeachment inquiry is an impeachable offense. Finally, we apply the law to President Trump's conduct, consider his various excuses, and assess whether he remains a continuing threat to constitutional governance and democracy if allowed to remain in office.

A.The House's Power of Inquiry

"[L]egislative subpoenas are older than our country itself." They originated in the English Parliament, "when that body, as part of its campaign to 'challenge the absolute power of the monarch,' asserted 'plenary authority' to hold offending parties in contempt." By the late 17th century, "[t]he privileges and powers of the [House of] Commons"—which include the linked powers of contempt and inquiry—"were naturally assumed to be an incident of the representative assemblies of the Thirteen Colonies." In part for that reason, "[a]fter the Revolutionary War and the Constitutional Convention, the U.S. Congress wasted little time in asserting its power to use compulsory process to investigate matters of national—and potentially legislative—importance." Such Congressional oversight activity was grounded in Article I of the Constitution, which grants Congress "[a]ll legislative Powers," and authorizes "[e]ach House [to] determine the Rules of its Proceedings." Through these provisions, the Constitution vests the House with a "power of inquiry," including "process to