This book of 13 poems by Victor Edgar Rivera, a New Jersey writer born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, condemns Donald Trump and his administration for their treatment of immigrants and the people of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, their trampling on the rights of African-Americans, women and the LGBT community, and their erosion of civil liberties and social justice.
President Bill Clinton’s year of crisis, which began when his affair with Monica Lewinsky hit the front pages in January 1998, engendered a host of important questions of criminal and constitutional law, public and private morality, and political and cultural conflict. In a book written while the events of the year were unfolding, Richard Posner presents a balanced and scholarly understanding of the crisis that also has the freshness and immediacy of journalism. Posner clarifies the issues and eliminates misunderstandings concerning facts and the law that were relevant to the investigation by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and to the impeachment proceeding itself. He explains the legal definitions of obstruction of justice and perjury, which even many lawyers are unfamiliar with. He carefully assesses the conduct of Starr and his prosecutors, including their contacts with the lawyers for Paula Jones and their hardball tactics with Monica Lewinsky and her mother. He compares and contrasts the Clinton affair with Watergate, Iran–Contra, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, exploring the subtle relationship between public and private morality. And he examines the place of impeachment in the American constitutional scheme, the pros and cons of impeaching President Clinton, and the major procedural issues raised by both the impeachment in the House and the trial in the Senate. This book, reflecting the breadth of Posner’s experience and expertise, will be the essential foundation for anyone who wants to understand President Clinton’s impeachment ordeal.
“Sets a standard for political storytelling with impeccable research and lively writing.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Page-turning…riveting…colorful and detailed…a barometer of the health of our democracy.” —Barbara McQuade, The Washington Post Two investigations. Two impeachments. Two acquittals. One president. The full story. Unprecedented. Unimaginable. Until Donald Trump’s presidency. A year apart, two ferocious political dramas challenged American democracy. As Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post reporters Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan show in this gripping account, the two Trump impeachments and acquittals shared common threads: An American president, relentless in his drive to win re-election, willing to disregard the laws that limit his powers, no matter the cost. A divided Congress, split along party lines, unable to agree on whether Trump’s actions met the Constitutional standard for removal from office. The Constitution itself, tested in ways that its framers had not anticipated. Trump’s Trials is an expanded version of Trump on Trial, Sullivan and Jordan’s compelling and masterful 2020 account of the first impeachment. That narrative, a crisp page-turner with exquisite detail and vivid scenes, deftly conveyed the calculations of the central figures, in particular Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell. The authors have added three new chapters, and revised others, to carry the narrative through the 2020 presidential election of Joe Biden; Trump’s feverish attempts to overturn Biden’s victory; his supporters’ deadly attack on the Capitol as Congress was certifying the electoral votes; Trump’s second impeachment and acquittal—but this time, with seven Republican senators voting against him. Sullivan and Jordan, aided by editor Steve Luxenberg, have written a fast-paced, authoritative account of the historic events that rocked America—an invaluable examination of what happened and why.