I remember sitting on the end of an Orlando hotel bed watching television, burning some time before leaving to catch a flight, and watching President Clinton point his finger directly at me and proclaim, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” I discerned he was lying, intentionally, straight to my face, and I instantly lost any respect I had for him.
Later, of course, Clinton would become only the second President in American history to be impeached by the House of Representatives; one of his charges, ironically, being perjury (the other: obstruction of justice). Clinton, though, would also join Andrew Johnson as escaping conviction by the Senate.
An American President intentionally lying to the American people is totally unacceptable to me. An American President committing perjury concerning relations he had is an impeachable offense, obviously. So, what about an American President who unconstitutionally commits an act of war against a sovereign nation and who then intentionally lies to Congress about the only reason he'd be constitutionally permitted to act?
The intent of the framers in commanding a declaration of war by Congress was to prevent exactly what President Trump unconstitutionally committed last Thursday, April 6, in America and last Friday, April 7, in Syria: a unilateral act of war that had nothing practical to do with defending the national security of the United States of America at all.
Yet, after committing his intentionally unilateral, unconstitutional act, President Trump further compounded his intolerable constitutional crime by intentionally lying to Congress:
Dear Mr. Speaker:
At approximately 8:40 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on April 6, 2017, at my direction, United States military forces in the Mediterranean Sea, operating beyond the territorial sea of any state, struck the Shayrat military airfield in Syria. United States intelligence indicates that Syrian military forces operating from this airfield were responsible for the chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians in southern Idlib Province, Syria, that occurred on April 4. I directed this action in order to degrade the Syrian military’s ability to conduct further chemical weapons attacks and to dissuade the Syrian regime from using or proliferating chemical weapons, thereby promoting the stability of the region and averting a worsening of the region’s current humanitarian catastrophe.
I acted in the vital national security and foreign policy interests of the United States, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive. The United States will take additional action, as necessary and appropriate, to further its important national interests.
I am providing this report as part of my efforts to keep the Congress fully informed, consistent with the War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148). I appreciate the support of Congress in this action.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Trump
Plainly, then, the President Trump's "vital national security" offering to Congress is just as intentionally deceiving as President Clinton's equally intentional lie to the American people, and to the court, which resulted in his impeachment.
How much more is worth impeachment, then, than intentionally and unilaterally committing an unconstitutional act of war against a sovereign nation, killing people by doing so, and then lying to Congress trying to justify that illegal act?
Mr. Trump, like Mr. Clinton before him, has totally lost this American's respect.