flows from, and returns at stated periods to, the people.’’[1] That would be possible only if ‘‘those entrusted with [power] should be kept in dependence on the people.’’[2] Thus, “[w]hen the President concludes that elections threaten his continued grasp on power, and therefore seeks to corrupt or interfere with them, he denies the very premise of our constitutional system.”[3] President Trump placed his own political ambition above our Nation’s commitment to democracy and the rule of law—and for that reason his actions plainly rank as high crimes and misdemeanors.
C. President Trump Imperiled Congress
President Trump’s conduct not only harmed democracy, but also jeopardized the safety of the Vice President and nearly the entire Legislative Branch, as well as the police officers protecting the Capitol. Members of Congress and their staffs were forced to improvise barricades and hiding places while they awaited rescue by law enforcement. Others were trapped in the House Chamber, where they seized gas masks and ducked behind furniture to avoid insurrectionists. Many feared for their lives as armed attackers battered doors and Capitol Police drew weapons. The duration and severity of this threat were amplified by President Trump’s dereliction of duty during the attack. The Framers understood that “[t]he accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, … may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”[4] They wrote a Constitution that creates a system of checks and balances within the federal government. A President may be impeached for conduct that severely undermines this structural separation of powers.[5] Our constitutional system simply cannot function if the President, acting to extend his
