Donald Trump’s Civil War Threat Is Grounds For Impeachment, Says Harvard Professor

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President Donald Trump has demanded to meet the person whose accusations triggered an inquiry against him and appeared to threaten a civil war if the impeachment is a success.

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, ordered the investigation last week following a phone call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky the president of Ukraine in July.

The whistleblower claimed Trump abused his official powers during the conversation ‘to solicit interference’ from Ukraine in the upcoming 2020 election, and that the White House took steps to cover it up.

You can hear Trump talk about the whistleblower here:

Trump denied any wrongdoing and said whoever provided his accuser with information about his call is ‘close to a spy’, CNN reports. He added spies were dealt with ‘differently’ in the old days.

The whistleblower has not been named, and following Trump’s comments lawyers for the whistleblower sent a letter to Joseph Maguire, acting Director of National Intelligence, outlining ‘serious’ safety concerns for their client.

They wrote:

The purpose of this letter is to formally notify you of serious concerns we have regarding our client’s personal safety.

The events of the past week have heightened our concerns that our client’s identity will be disclosed publicly and that, as a result, our client will be put in harm’s way.

Last night, September 29, the president took to Twitter to continue his attacks, calling the whistleblower’s claims ‘totally inaccurate and fraudulent’ as well as demanding to meet them.

He went on to take shots at House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, accusing him of lying to Congress about his conversation with the Ukrainian president.

Schiff confirmed yesterday there is a tentative agreement for the whistleblower to testify before the House Intelligence Committee. The testimony is dependent on their attorneys getting security clearance.

Trump wrote:

Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called “Whistleblower,” represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way. Then Schiff made up what I actually said by lying to Congress.

His lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber. He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States. I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason.

In addition, I want to meet not only my accuser, who presented SECOND & THIRD HAND INFORMATION, but also the person who illegally gave this information, which was largely incorrect, to the “Whistleblower.” Was this person SPYING on the U.S. President? Big Consequences!

A rough transcript of the president’s phone call released by the White House suggests Trump repeatedly pushed Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s potential 2020 political rival, as well as his son, Hunter Biden.

Schiff, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel and Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings have all warned Trump to stop attacking the whistleblower, saying his comments about them being ‘close to a spy’ constitute ‘reprehensible witness intimidation and an attempt to obstruct Congress’ impeachment inquiry’, CNN reports.

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In a statement, they added:

We condemn the President’s attacks, and we invite our Republican counterparts to do the same because Congress must do all it can to protect this whistleblower, and all whistleblowers.

Threats of violence from the leader of our country have a chilling effect on the entire whistleblower process, with grave consequences for our democracy and national security.

On Sunday, Nancy Pelosi called for Trump to ‘speak the truth’, adding ‘don’t make this any worse than it already is’.

Trump’s Twitter tirade was far from finished, however, and he later went on to post a thread quoting Fox News contributor and megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress.

Jeffress addressed the impeachment inquiry when he appeared on the Fox & Friends show on Sunday, where he claimed Pelosi and the Democrats were using it as a ‘tool’ to ‘get rid’ of the president.

The pastor went on to say to say that impeaching Trump would cause a ‘Civil War like fracture’; a statement the Trump appeared to agree with.

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Trump cited Jeffress on Twitter, writing:

The Democrats don’t care if they burn down and destroy this nation in the process. I have never seen the Evangelical Christians more angry over any issue than this attempt to illegitimately remove this President from office, overturn the 2016 Election, and negate the votes of millions of Evangelicals in the process.

They know the only Impeachable offense that President Trump has committed was beating Hillary Clinton in 2016. That’s the unpardonable sin for which the Democrats will never forgive him.

If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.

Trump’s decision to share Jeffress’ comments has proved extremely controversial, with many people pointing out the President of the United States should never threaten civil war.

One person wrote:

The Civil War 1861-65 saw the death of 625,000 soldiers.

30% of all Southern white males between the ages of 18-40 died in the war.

It was the deadliest war in American history

People still live with its consequences today.

To raise its spectre is horrific & irresponsible.

Another responded:

So you welcome a civil war. Your vanity is so great that you would rather have people fighting over you then [sic] for you to be a person who protects the people of the United States? It’s to [sic] early for this BS.

Harvard Law professor John Coates claimed Trump’s mention of the civil war was alone enough to warrant his impeachment, writing:

This tweet is itself an independent basis for impeachment – a sitting president threatening civil war if Congress exercises its constitutionally authorized power.

Democrats have said articles of impeachment against Trump could be completed in as little as a month and swiftly voted on in the House, where the party has a majority.

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Emily Brown

Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.