Featuring former Acting Solicitor General of the United States Neal Katyal in conversation with Slate Senior Editor Dahlia Lithwick. President George Washington said in his farewell address: “Foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.” The founders’ apprehension of foreign actors ultimately led to the Constitution granting Congress the power to impeach a president on the grounds of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. But what are high crimes and misdemeanors, exactly? As Congress considers impeachment, do we risk losing a piece of our democracy? Or would the precedent set by the failure to do so cause even greater damage? Katyal lays out the facts needed to make that determination – not only about whether President Trump solicited election interference from Ukraine, but also the history of impeachment: why it was included in our Constitution, how it has been enforced throughout our history, and where that leaves us today—and what it means for the fate of our democracy.
