Impeachment, Explained

This week, the House Judiciary Committee announced and approved two articles of impeachment. Why two instead of 10? Why is this process moving so quickly? And why are Democrats prioritizing trade deals the same week as impeachment? Vox’s Jen Kirby answers the key questions.

Noah Feldman is a Harvard Law professor and one of the constitutional scholars who testified at the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing. He joins me to talk about what he saw, what he learned, and the Republican argument that truly scared him.

Plus, on page five of the articles of impeachment lurks a clause many will miss, but I think it’s the single most important argument for removing Donald Trump.

Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]

Ezra's book is available for pre-order! You can find it at www.EzraKlein.com.

You can subscribe to Ezra's other podcast The Ezra Klein Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts

Credits:

Producer - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez 

Special thanks to Liz Nelson

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This week, the fact-finding phase of the Trump impeachment inquiry officially ended. Reports were released, hearings were held, articles of impeachment are being drafted. Andrew Prokop helps us break it all down.

Then, the impeachment analogue that most closely resembles what we are going through today isn’t Clinton or Nixon, it’s Andrew Johnson. Historian Brenda Wineapple, author of The Impeachers, helps us understand the trial that shaped our nation’s conception of what impeachment means.

Plus, how the GOP has become a definitively anti-Constitutional party.

Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]

Ezra's book is available for pre-order! You can find it at www.EzraKlein.com.

You can subscribe to Ezra's other podcast The Ezra Klein Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts

Credits:

Producer - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez 

Special thanks to Liz Nelson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rudy Giuliani will prove to be the crucial character who pushed Donald Trump towards impeachable offenses. But how did Giuliani go from “America’s Mayor” and icon of the moderate Republican establishment to…whatever he is now? There’s an answer, and it’s crucial to both the impeachment story and the broader approach Trump takes to running the White House. Preet Bharara joins me to give it.

In addition, Matt Yglesias and I discuss whether Democrats are wrapping their impeachment inquiry too early, and what it means that Lindsey Graham wants to turn the Senate trial into an investigation of Joe Biden.

And remember when Donald Trump promised to run the government like a business? I have a few thoughts on how a board of directors might look at this presidency.

Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]

Credits:

Producer - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez 

Special thanks to Liz Nelson

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The core question this impeachment process is raising isn’t “what did Donald Trump do?” The hearings have filled in important details and added confirming witness, but the story is largely the one we’ve known since the White House released the call record.

Instead, the core question the hearings are raising is: “What will Republicans accept and defend?” The answer, at least judging by the arguments of Reps. Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan, is chilling.

On this week’s episode, Andrew Prokop joins me to analyze the first, and perhaps only, week of public impeachment inquiry. Then, Thomas Mann, co-author of It’s Even Worse Than It Looks joins me to discuss how the Republican Party became the institution on display in this process.

I’ve heard from listeners who enjoy this podcast, but wish it could be more “balanced.” I wish it could be more balanced too. But to pretend that an imbalanced system is balanced is a poisonous form of bias. This episode is about seeing what’s right in front of our eyes, and taking seriously what it means for our future.

Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]

Credits:

Producer - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez 

Special thanks to Liz Nelson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week kicked off the public phase of the impeachment inquiry. On Wednesday, we heard the testimonies of State Department officials Bill Taylor and George Kent and on Friday the testimony of former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Vox’s Andrew Prokop helps us break them down. 

Then, Brianne Gorod, the chief counsel for the Constitutional Accountability Center, helps us understand the term “obstruction of justice.” What does it mean? When does it apply? And has the president committed it? 

Plus: How Republicans are normalizing obstruction of justice in all of its forms -- and the precedent that sets for the future.

References:

Andrew Prokop's 4 takeaways from the first public impeachment hearing

Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]

Credits:

Guest host - Sean Illing

Producer, engineer, and editor - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez 

Special thanks to Liz Nelson

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This is a helluva episode.

First, we’ve been working with Ipsos and PerryUndem on a national survey exploring Americans' beliefs about what is impeachable. The results are back, and they’re both fascinating and chilling.

Then, there was an amazing moment a few weeks back when Geraldo Rivera told Sean Hannity, “You are the difference between Donald J. Trump and Richard Nixon.” He was right. Nicole Hemmer, the brilliant historian of conservative media, joins to discuss how Fox News and the larger conservative media-verse protects Trump, but also lures him into disaster.

References:

Nicole Hemmer's Vox article on Trump's relationship with Fox News

Ezra's explainer on the national survey results

Credits:

Producer and Editor - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

Engineers - Cynthia Gill and Ernie Erdat

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez 

Special thanks to Liz Nelson

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This week, the House passed an impeachment resolution laying out how the process will work from here. There were unusual and important decisions made that will shape what comes next, and Vox’s Andrew Prokop joins me to explain them.

Then, California Rep. Zoe Lofgren is the only member of Congress who was part of the Nixon impeachment, the Clinton impeachment, and is still serving today. Lofgren is also the second-most-senior Democrat on the crucial Judiciary Committee. She walks us through how a House impeachment process actually works, what she learned participating in the past two, what’s different this time, and the role those of us who don’t serve in Congress need to realize we’re playing.

Plus: The implicit theory of presidential accountability offered by House Republicans, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s approach to legislative timing, and a question for all of you.

References:

Andrew's explainer on the House impeachment vote

Credits:

Producer and Editor - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

Engineers - Malachi Broadus & Topher Ruth

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez 

Special thanks to Liz Nelson

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We talk about this as a Ukraine story. But it's also a Russia story. The leverage Trump had on Ukraine came from Russia's invasion of Crimea and continuing support for insurgents in Ukraine. The leverage Trump had on his own government came from the strategic threat posed by Russian aggression. And Trump’s willingness to use military aid to Ukraine as political leverage came from his odd lack of concern about Ukraine falling to Russia.

In this episode, I talk with Evelyn Farkas, the Pentagon’s former point person on Russia and Ukraine, about the Russia-Ukraine crisis Trump exploited. It’s a conversation that changes how I understood this story. It’ll change how you understand it, too.

I also talked with Vox’s Alex Ward about Ukraine envoy Bill Taylor’s testimony, former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker’s argument that “abuse of power is not a crime,” and the GOP’s fury over the House Democrats’ process.

And, at the end, a thought on why it’s Mitch McConnell, not Donald Trump, who poses the core threat to our constitutional structure.

References:

Read Bill Taylor's opening testimony

"High Crimes and Misdemeanors," explained

Credits:

Producer and Editor - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

Engineers - Malachi Broadus & Chris Shurtleff

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez 

Special thanks to Liz Nelson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This was the week of confessions. Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney admitted to a Trump administration quid quo pro with Ukraine, with cameras rolling. EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland confirmed that President Trump made Rudy Giuliani the hinge of America’s Ukraine policy. And then the administration announced that the location for the upcoming G7 summit: Trump’s own resort in Doral, Florida. We break down the three stories that mattered most in impeachment this week.

And then we dig into the four words that will shape the entire impeachment fight: “High Crimes and Misdemeanors.” What did they mean when they were added to the Constitution? How have they been interpreted through American history? And do Trump’s acts qualify?

Welcome to Impeachment, Explained.

References:

"Indispensable Remedy: The Broad Scope of the Constitution’s Impeachment Power" by Gene Healy

"The case for normalizing impeachment" by Ezra Klein

Credits:

Producer and Editor - Jeff Geld

Researcher - Roge Karma

Engineers - Malachi Broadus & Jeremey Dalmas

Theme music composed by Jon Natchez 

Special thanks to Liz Nelson

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This will, in all likelihood, be the fourth time a US president is impeached. But it’ll be a devilish story to follow. Already, there are more threads, places, names, and events than even full-time reporters can remember. What’s the role of the EU ambassador? What was Rudy Giuliani doing for Donald Trump in Ukraine? Why is Australia involved? What’s the secret server where the Trump administration stored damaging call records? Why was America involved in firing a Ukrainian prosecutor in the first place? And what does Joe Biden have to do with any of this?

Keeping up with the daily revelations, statements, and disputes is difficult enough. But understanding impeachment demands grappling with deeper questions in our political system — questions that don’t get covered in the daily news but will shape the process from here. What did the Founders mean by “high crimes and misdemeanors”? How does an impeachment trial work? Has partisan polarization broken the impeachment process? How do other countries handle impeachment? How does polarized media change the way impeachment will play out?

Every Saturday, Vox's founder and editor-at-large Ezra Klein will do just that – through deep conversations with Vox reporters and leading policy voices about what’s going on, why it matters, and where it leaves us now. Subscribe to Impeachment, Explained on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or your favorite podcast app to get stay updated on this story every week.

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