George Conway, husband to White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, writes scathing op-ed calling for Trump's impeachment

REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Attorney George Conway, husband of White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway, holds her fur coat as they arrive for a candlelight dinner at Union Station on the eve of the 58th presidential inauguration in D.C. on January 19, 2017.

• George Conway, husband of President Donald Trump's senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, wrote a damning op-ed for The Washington Post, following the release of the redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Russia investigation.
• "What the Mueller report disturbingly shows, with crystal clarity, is that today there is a cancer in the presidency: President Donald J. Trump," Conway concludes. "Congress now bears the solemn constitutional duty to excise that cancer without delay."
• Using specific quotes from Mueller's 448-page report, historical references, and the Constitution itself, Conway makes the case for Congress to impeach Trump.
• Conway argues that despite the lack of criminal charges on either count, these findings support the argument that Trump abused his power and put his own interests before those of the US. And he defines this as an impeachable offense.
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George Conway, husband of President Donald Trump's senior White House advisor Kellyanne Conway, wrote a damning op-ed for The Washington Post, following the release of the redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Russia investigation.

"What the Mueller report disturbingly shows, with crystal clarity, is that today there is a cancer in the presidency: President Donald J. Trump," Conway concludes. "Congress now bears the solemn constitutional duty to excise that cancer without delay."

Using specific quotes from Mueller's 448-page report, historical references, and the Constitution itself, Conway makes the case for Congress to impeach Trump - the president his wife works for and helped elect and one he allegedly considered working for until Trump fired the former FBI director James Comey.

"Presidential attempts to abuse power by putting personal interests above the nation's can surely be impeachable," Conway argues midway through the op-ed. "The president may have the raw constitutional power to, say, squelch an investigation or to pardon a close associate. But if he does so not to serve the public interest, but to serve his own, he surely could be removed from office, even if he has not committed a criminal act."

Mueller took over the FBI investigation into whether Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election and if Trump's campaign coordinated with the Russians for this goal, after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed him as an independent investigator in May 2017.

The inquiry later expanded into whether Trump worked to obstruct the investigation. And according to Mueller's report, the inquiry uncovered evidence in 14 other potential criminal investigations outside of its jurisdiction that were referred to other law-enforcement agencies. Only two of those are currently public.

In their findings, Mueller's team said members of the campaign had Russian contacts, but there was not enough evidence to prove a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.

On the question of obstruction of justice, Mueller did not make a determination about whether he should be prosecuted, but also said that it does not exonerate the president.

"Fourth, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state," the report said. "

Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment. The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

The reasons for not coming up with a finding on obstruction of justice are in part because of a DOJ guideline to not prosecute a sitting president. "[W]e recognized that a federal criminal accusation against a sitting President would place burdens on the President's capacity to govern and potentially preempt constitutional processes for addressing presidential misconduct," the report states.

Conway argues that despite the lack of criminal charges on either count, these findings - working in concert with the fact that understanding impeachable offenses are not necessarily criminal offenses - support the argument that Trump abused his power and put his own interests before those of the US. And he defines this as an impeachable offense.

"The investigation that Trump tried to interfere with here, to protect his own personal interests, was in significant part an investigation of how a hostile foreign power interfered with our democracy," he writes. "If that's not putting personal interests above a presidential duty to the nation, nothing is."

• Read more:
• Here's everyone who has been charged and convicted in the Russia probe so far
• Democratic House leader says impeaching Trump isn't 'worthwhile' after the Mueller report
• Mueller referred 14 criminal matters to other prosecutors, but only 2 of them are public so far
• Hope Hicks warned Trump that Don Jr.'s emails setting up the Trump Tower meeting were 'really bad,' but the president told her not to go to the press