The Most Dangerous Form of Bribery

Thus far, the facts at issue in the impeachment inquiry are relatively undisputed. President Donald Trump’s administration conditioned Ukraine’s access to U.S. decision makers and military aid on it publicly announcing investigations that would benefit the president’s reelection campaign.

Instead, the principal battleground is whether President Trump’s conduct qualifies as an impeachable offense. To answer that question, the inquiry has turned to ascertaining the Founders’ views of the explicitly listed offenses in the Constitution—especially “bribery”—as well as whether election interference itself is independently impeachable.

But while these two