Rules of Impeachment

I’ve witnessed the whole sorry episode around the Richard Nixon scandal, and this one with Donald Trump is far worse.

Imagine an entire country, Ukraine, being held hostage with congressionally approved funding withheld, just because The Donald wants to do dirt by one of his political opponents. Congress can do better than this.

To begin with, senators must base their decisions only on the evidence — and cannot under any circumstances accept fundraising help from Trump or coordinate with his defense before or during the trial.

The House must be allowed to present its full case — calling necessary witnesses and allowing all evidence from the impeachment inquiry into the trial record.

The American people deserve to see what’s happening, limiting transparency only to protect classified information and whistleblower anonymity.

Michael E. Peterson

Eugene