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President Donald Trump began Wednesday morning with an all-too-common Twitter rant. This time, he targeted the swing states of Michigan and Nevada.
Trump falsely claimed that the two states' expanded voter access measures were illegal.
He threatened to withdraw relief funding from both.
Michigan sends absentee ballot applications to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This… https://t.co/O2Y8dXRvmd— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1589998381.0
State of Nevada “thinks” that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario… https://t.co/i9017leWhq— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1589980279.0
The impeachment proceedings against Trump may feel like a lifetime ago, but it's possible this situation sounds familiar.
That's because it came up as a hypothetical.
Trump was impeached for withholding congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine on the condition that the Ukrainian president to announce investigations into presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his son's business dealings.
As evidence and testimony began to stack up against the President, Republican lawmakers said that Trump was just weeding out so-called corruption in Ukraine before sending aid already approved by Congress. It was, they claimed, simply a coincidence that the investigation Trump was demanding involved his opponent.
Stanford Law Professor Pamela Karlan used her Constitutional law knowledge to testify before the House Judiciary Committee whether or not Trump's actions merited impeachment.
Spoiler alert: they did.
Watch below.
Pamela Karlan: “What would you think if, when your governor asked the federal government for the disaster assistanc… https://t.co/G0ixNXJ73c— House Judiciary Dems (@House Judiciary Dems) 1575478731.0
Karlan said:
"What would you think if, when your governor asked the federal government for the disaster assistance that Congress has provided, the President responded, 'I would like you to do us a favor.' I'll... send the disaster relief once you brand my opponent a criminal."
As the Washington Post's Greg Sargent pointed out, this is the exact situation we're facing right now: Trump is threatening to withhold aid from governors if they expand voting accessibility.
This scenario is quite literally what Stanford's Pamela Karlan floated during impeachment, to illustrate the corruption of Trump's Ukraine shakedown.
Trump is *doing* what Karlan posited *theoretically,* to illustrate a profoundly corrupt abuse of power:https://t.co/gsV4WJytF1 pic.twitter.com/lBuGCiFEGw
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 20, 2020
People were stunned at Karlan's prescience.
@Folon15 @gtconway3d Wow, did Prof Karlan hit the nail on the head. Time to impeach Trump again. Gee, he can hold… https://t.co/uHTMwT4kjd— D'Anne Brownell (@D'Anne Brownell) 1589997351.0
...from a state, unless they "brand my [political opponent] a criminal." Karlan's example was hurricanes, but pande… https://t.co/YhTTlIqKaS— go joe (@go joe) 1589982286.0
Hey remember when impeachment trial witness Pamela Karlan threw out a hypothetical about Presidential EXTORTION? On… https://t.co/6ECTWPyLhA— 🦋🌷Cynical Hippie🌷🦋 (@🦋🌷Cynical Hippie🌷🦋) 1589999719.0
By keeping Trump in office, Senate Republicans endorsed this behavior.
Susan Collins said he learned his lesson, so she didn't vote to convict him. How many times can she be humiliated? https://t.co/KawHtlpuwt— John Stoehr's Editorial Board (@John Stoehr's Editorial Board) 1589999165.0
Republicans in this country have completely screwed us Here is another QUID PRO QUO (aka - EXTORTION) being done r… https://t.co/qirtRM35ys— Holden Mirror (@Holden Mirror) 1589999496.0
I know the Senate has approved threatening to withhold appropriated money to coerce people in order to boost your c… https://t.co/CZSO5Mxsyt— Andrew Kydd (@Andrew Kydd) 1590000316.0
As Karlan warned, this is a threat to national security.
This man is a clear and present danger to the republic. https://t.co/zS7ZHvBDNJ— Walter Shaub (@Walter Shaub) 1589982180.0
Trump continues his massive election interference campaign. https://t.co/BJZZPRK75M— Tea Pain (@Tea Pain) 1589981517.0
The President is threatening to withhold funding because he's worried that protecting voting rights will hurt his r… https://t.co/qsZHqsNrrW— Alex Padilla (@Alex Padilla) 1589993048.0
For the record: Trump voted by mail in the Florida primary.