Back on the riot. Here's an excerpt of the BBC zoom interview with professor Michael Gerhardt of University of North Carolina.

"Professor Gerhart testified in both impeachment proceedings against Clinton in 1998 and Trump in 2020."

BBC correspondent asked him what he would say if he is asked to testify this time:

"Well I would say that the house is perfectly positioned and has great legitimacy in proceeding with consideration of impeaching President Trump second time. I think there’s no doubt whatsoever that the misconduct the president has exhibited this week qualifies as impeachable, and therefore the only real question is gonna be whether or not the house has the will to move forward to impeach the president for trying to undermine the legitimacy of the presidential election and inciting or encouraging the behavior that damage the Congress and also left 5 people dead.

What do you think the president’s defense ?

I think the president’s defense would be first, I can hear it now, It’s just another witch hunt, and that he isn’t responsible for all the things his followers did, and in fact, he hasn’t done anything wrong, and there’s just a few days left, therefore it’s a waste of time.”

Does impeachment work as it’s meant to?

No I don’t think it’s worked as it’s meant to. I think that’s the lesson we’re learning in these last few decades. I think that political party has gained stronger attachment over people. And that’s clouded their ability to think in terms of what’s the best thing to do here for the sake of the Constitution. Impeachment typically takes a while to get moving. I don’t think it’s going to take a while this time though. I think Speaker Pelosi clearly is signaling she’s going to move fast, and she clearly has this capability. But the real question becomes, what’s the Senate able to do. Mitch MConnel has said right now, that he’ll do nothing, Senate won’t come back in session until the new president is inaugurated. This will be left to the new majority leader Chuck Schumer to figure out how to do the trial, and how to hold the president, who is no longer in the office, accountable for his behavior.

Nancy Pelosi talked about the section 3 of the 14th admendment, which allows the Congress to vote to expel officials engaged in insurrectional rebellion against the us. Is that appropriate?

I think that’s another option that’s on the table here, I think it is appropriate. Keep in mind that we have senators who were encouraging these bad behavior, and were showing solidarity with it. And also the same senators were on the floor of the senate doing the president’s dirty work, and trying to undermine the integrity of the last presidential election. Every state in the union has certified the result of the election. Congress has certified the results of the election, there’s no fraud here. There’s nothing illegitimate, there’s just a president in the office who is a bad loser.

And that is not reason enough to overthrow the republic, storm the Congress, and kill people.

Is the 25th amendment which allows the vice president and the majority of the cabinet to remove the president temporarily, designed for a case like this?

I don’t think it is designed for a case like this. It’s designed to deal with a president who has substantial physical, or mental disability that precludes him from being president.

The problem right now in united states, is that Donald Trump just doesn’t want to do the duty of being the president. He wants all the glory, all the power, but he’s not doing anything as president right now.

He’s abdicating his authority for example, not calling the national guard up in time to protect the capital. So it’s because of that intransigence on the part of the president that the only option our constitution allows us right now, is impeachment, conviction, removal, and ultimately disqualification from ever serving federal office again.”

Professional, insightful, and clearly laid out.

I think I'm going to place more stock on what he has to say versus someone like Happy.

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