>> sarah, it's the third briefing you've not taken a question from cnn. do you expect the justice department to -- >> announcer: the following is a cnn special report. have you got an extra camera in case the lights go out? >> this is what impeachment looks like. >> ollie? only the cbs crew now is to be in this room during this. only the crew. no. there will be no picture. after the broadcast. you've taken your picture. >> facing certain removal, richard nixon is moments away

from resign iing as president. >> it's enough. okay? all secret service -- are there any secret service in the room? out. >> there can be no greater fall from no greater height. ♪ i used to rule the world ♪ seas would rise when i gave the word ♪ ♪ now in the morning i sleep alone ♪ ♪ sweep the streets i used to own ♪ >> five men were nabbed in the democratic national headquarters here in washington. >> nixon was desperate. >> the whitewater controversy. >> i have nothing to say about it. >> he's thinking what am i going to do? >> andrew johnson's impeachment was over a policy. he did not deserve to be president of the united states. >> i am not a crook.

>> one thing leads to another. >> a great and profound crisis. ♪ one minute i held the key ♪ next the walls were closed on me ♪ ♪ and i discovered that my castles stand upon pillars of sand, pillars of sand ♪ >> you're in the office of the united states. how can you talk about blackmailing, keeping witnesses silent? >> i did not have sexual relations with that woman. >> the impeachment effort against him failed by a single vote in the senate. >> president nixon? >> aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> is a fallen leader. >> for high crimes and misdemeanors. >> i have impeached myself. ♪ that was when i ruled the world ♪ >> good evening. i'm fareed zakaria.

the constitution's impeachment clause was written by men who fought a revolution to escape the tyranny of kings. now they wanted to keep the president from becoming a monarch. in one version, the grounds for impeachment were treason and bribery. also proposed, maladministration. but james madison said that was too vague. what if he asked a president were to cook up a speak of speculation. what if the president were a crook? so george mason of virginia came up with the additional phrase. high crimes and misdemeanors. and that is article two, section four of the constitution. there was a moment in our history when it saved american democracy. but at other times it's been turned into a cheap politial trick hurled at opponents as a weapon. so which is it today? to answer that question we need to understand the past. so we know whether impeachment

will work when we really need it. >> people are seriously talking about impeachment. >> people are seriously talking about impeachment. >> they will immediately try to impeach the president. >> well on our way to impeachment. >> the word has been used by our count at least 12,000 times this year and that's just on cable news. >> i'll say impeachment, impeachment, impeachment. >> impeach trump! impeach trump! >> thousands are in the streets out here this evening. >> this was just one day after donald trump was elected president. hey hey, ho ho, donald trump has got to go! >> but the outcry is hardly surprising. donald trump is the most polarizing president in an already bitterly divided america.

>> we will impeach him. we will impeach him, the people said. but he hasn't done anything wrong. oh, that doesn't matter. we will impeach the president. >> we have been through periods of polarization before. the difference now, i think, is that we don't have a common base line of facts. we disagree on reality. >> that dangerous state of affairs, we disagree on the facts, on reality itself, is reflected in how americans feel about impeachment. in november exit polling, 77% of democrats favored removing the president from office. just 5% of republicans supported impeachment. is there evidence to support an impeachment case against donald trump? >> as a legal matter, there is

enough material alleged now that if true would support an impeachment charge. >> but, says harvard law school's noah feldman. >> the president of the united states! >> that doesn't mean the president could or should be impeached. we'll explore that question later in the hour. but first, we need to go back to understand what happens when democracy depends on impeaching the president. we now think of watergate as a time when america came together and forced a crooked president out of office, but to richard nixon and the republican party, the watergate scandal was a partisan war. >> it was a fiery front war with a fifth column. i had a partisan senate committee staff. special prosecutor staff. media.

we had a partisan senate judiciary committee staff. the fifth column. i gave them a sword and they stuck it in and they twisted it with relish. >> the real story of the war nixon describes is one that few americans know. it's a story of a small group of men who turned impeachment into an act of patriotism. it all begins on june 17th, 1972. >> five men were arrested early saturday while trying to install eavesdropping equipment at the democratic national committee. >> why was someone breaking into the democrats' campaign offices? >> i again proudly accept that nomination for president of the united states. >> well, richard nixon won the presidency in 1968 by promising to get america out of vietnam. ♪ all we are saying is give

peace a chance ♪ >> are you listening, nixon? >> but as the war dragged on, the antiwar movement exploded. as nixon campaigned for a second term, he feared vietnam might give his enemies the ammunition to defeat him. and so his men planned a series of dirty tricks to cripple the democrats. one of them was the watergate break-in. in 1972, nixon won reelection by a historic landslide. >> i richard nixon do solemnly swear. >> the watergate story was still growing.

weeks after the election inside the oval office, richard nixon declared war on the press. >> the press is the enemy. the press is the enemy. write that on a black board 100 times. >> sound familiar? >> you are the enemy of the people. go ahead. >> i called the fake news the enemy of the people. >> there are other reminders of the present day. donald trump directs particular anger at certain news organizations. >> it's like the failing "new york times" which is like so bad. or cnn which is so bad and so pathetic. they are the fake, fake, disgusting news. >> nixon went after "the washington post," whose reporters bob woodward and carl bernstein led watergate coverage. >> i want it clearly understood that from now on ever, no reporter from "the washington post" is ever to be in the white house. is that clear? >> absolutely. >> none ever to be in.

that is a total order. if necessary, i will fire you. don't? do you understand? >> i do understand. >> nixon hated the press. because it was digging into the very story he was desperate to hide. that the white house was deeply involved in the watergate cover up. his campaign seemed to work. early in his second term, nixon's approval rating soared, but then came the first crack in the white house defense. in the summer of 1973, all of america was riveted by the senate watergate hearings. >> what did the president know and when did he know it? >> as the country watched, white house counsel john dean turned on his president. >> i began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the

presidency. >> dean testified that the watergate burglars were black mailing white house aides. >> the white house is being subject to black mail and i didn't know how to handle it. >> i told him i can only make an estimate that it might be as high as a million dollars or more. he told me that was no problem. >> it was john dean's word against the president of the united states. >> nothing less than richard nixon's presidency may ride on whether the public believes john dean or not. >> most americans continued to stand by their president, but then from a little known white house aide, a dramatic twist. >> my name is alexander porter butterfield. you aware of listening devices in the oval office of the president? >> i was aware of listening

devices, yes, sir. >> it was a bombshell. >> the pressure is on the president to produce those tapes. >> had it not been for the tapes, i believe richard nixon would have completed his second term. >> instead he kept anyone from trying to hear them. >> the white house made it clear that president nixon decided not to release tapes of his conversations. >> if i were to make public these tapes, the confidentiality of the office of the president would always be suspect from now on. >> he fought subpoena after subpoena. >> i have never heard or seen such outrageous, vicious, distorted reporting. >> he tried to convince the american people that watergate was a press creation. >> what are is it about television coverage of you in the past weeks or months that arouses your anger. >> don't get the impression that you arouse my anger. one can only be angry with those

he respects. >> mr. president! -6 >> finally, a drastic step. >> nothing like this has ever happened before. >> the office has been sealed by the fbi. >> a mass firing of the men pursuing the tapes. the saturday night massacre. >> the new calls a sensation in the white house press room and sent reporters scrambling for their phones. >> a grave and profound crisis in which the president set himself against his own attorney general and the department of justice. >> does it have to do with his resignation? >> it might. >> by the time it was over the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, and special prosecutor were all out.

>> the bipartisan american outrage changes the politics of the situation for richard nixon. >> tens of thousands of telegrams flooded washington. >> so many western unusual was swamped. >> nixon was forced to appoint a new special prosecutor. as the months went on, bit by bit, he was forced to turn over the tapes. they were as damning as he feared. white house counsel john dean's testimony turned out to be entirely accurate. >> i would say these people are going to cost a million dollars over the next two years. you could get a million dollars and you could get it in cash. >> nixon's defense began to crumble. >> do you consider the crimes to be impeachable if they apply to you? >> well, i've always quit beating my wife. >> the meeting will come to order. >> in july of 1974 in a packed

hearing room, the house judiciary committee began to debate removing the president. >> make no mistake about it. this is a turning point, whatever we decide. >> committee chairman peter rodino was a democratic machine liberal from newark, new jersey he was new to the job. some doubted whether he could handle it. >> a highly partisan prosecution if ever there was one. >> many nixon loyalists were angry and immovable. for republicans, impeaching their president was amounting to political suicide so they kept holding out for more evidence. >> the weight of evidence must be clear, it must be convincing, and let's keep to those two cords. words. you can't substitute them for anything else. clear and convincing.

you cannot and you should not under any circumstance attempt to remove the highest office in the world for anything less than clear and convincing. >> as emotions began to run high, the facts were calmly recited and documented. something surprising happened. >> there is an obstruction of justice going on. someone is trying to buy the silence of a witness. >> nixon republican larry hogan, the father of maryland's current governor was moved by the evidence. >> the thing that is so appalling to me is that the president when this whole idea was suggested to him didn't in righteous indignation rise up and say get out of here. you are in the office of the presidency of the united states. >> one by one, ripped

conservatives who revered the president put conscious over party. >> cannot condone what i have heard and cannot excuse it and i will not stand till for it. >> i wish the president could do something to ab solve himself. >> perhaps the most conservative southerner was walter flowers of alabama. he was the segregationist george wallace's chairman. >> i wake up nights on the nights i have been able to go to sleep wonder figure it cannot be some sort of dream. impeach the president of the united states? >> but he did vote to impeach, even though walter flowers said it gave him an ulcer. even the conservatives who stuck with the president reached across the aisle to say thank you. >> i must admit in all candidness that it has been very fair. >> this impeachment has been both historic and honorable. >> republicans understood that

they were not going to carry their base if they voted for impeachment. some of them did it anyway. >> all those in favor signify by saying aye. all those opposed, no. >> mr. donahue. >> aye. >> mr. boots. >> aye. >> aye? >> aye. >> they approved three articles of impeachment. obstruction of justice, contempt of congress, abuse of power. >> no, no, no, aye, aye, no. >> the chairman left the room and cried. official impeachment would come later with a full house vote. but it never happened. nixon's wall of republican defenders would comeball.

crumb crumble. >> there was a countdown of sorts tonight. a countdown towards the expected end of the nixon presidency. >> tonight at 9:00 eastern daylight time, the president of the united states will address the nation. >> it was over. >> i have never been a quitter. to leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. but as president i must put the interests of america first. therefore, i shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. >> the impeachment the framers had imagined. it worked. democracy worked. >> there is the president waving goodbye. you heard the applause. a loss of faith in government and politicians. it would be 25 years before impeachment would come up again.

>> your testimony is subject to the penalty of perjury. do you understand, that sir? ? >> i do. >> this time it was a completely different story. i'm ken jacobus and i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. what's in your wallet?

♪ [ telephone ringing ] -whoa. [ indistinct talking ] -deductible? -definitely speaking insurance. -additional interest on umbrella policy? -can you translate? -damage minimization of civil commotion. -when insurance needs translating, get answers in plain english

at progressiveanswers.com. ♪ -he wants you to sign karen's birthday card. it's a high honor. at panera, we treat soup differently. with vine ripened tomatoes, signature cheddar, simmered to perfection. with big flavors, not artificial ones. enjoy 100% clean soup today. panera. food as it should be. always a catch. like somehow you wind up getting less. but now that i book at hilton.com, and i get all these great perks.

i got to select my room from the floor plan... very nice... i know, i'm good at picking stuff. free wi-fi... laptop by the pool is a bold choice... and the price match guarantee. how do you know all of this? are you like some magical hilton fairy? it's just here on the hilton app. just available to the public, so... book at hilton.com and get the hilton price match guarantee. if you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25% off that stay. in all my life i wanted to be involved with people. >> in 1978, a bright eyed 32-year-old bill clinton was running for governor of

arkansas. >> i tried to bring out the best in people through politics and i really have been happy doing it. >> he and his wife, hillary, were also investing in real estate. a nice patch of land in the ozarks called white river. that plot of land, a real estate deal that ended up losing money would change the course of history. >> are you a subject or a target? let me read you your rights. >> whitewater. >> political turbulence over whitewater. >> whitewater became a massive spiraling investigation that led prosecutors to a sex scandal. >> the ayes have it. >> there it is. >> william jefferson clinton is impeached. >> that became the second presidential impeachment in presidential history. how on earth did that little corner of arkansas -- >> i hereby deliver the articles of impeachment. >> -- explode into a constitutional showdown?

>> it was a two-bit real estate deal and one thing leads to another and we were on the house floor debating whether the president of the united states should be removed from office. >> i did not have sexual relations with that woman, miss lewinsky. >> when we think of the clinton impeachment we think of a certain white house intern. >> but before there was monica there were the macdougals, jim and susan. clinton might never have been impeached if not for them. it was jim macdougall who had convinced the clintons to invest in white watter. and they had other financial ties as well. so when jim and susan landed in legal trouble for fraud? >> if i am found guilty, i go to the slammer. >> whitewater development is not going to go away. there are too many questions. >> the clintons came under fire too. >> questions have been raised about the clintons' financial and personal involvement with macdougall. >> in the end nothing came of it in terms of the clintons themselves. but it planted the seat for something much bigger, something that would lead to this ultimate constitutional confrontation.

>> there was a drum beat for the independent counsel to investigate whitewater. >> we did nothing improper and i have nothing to say. old story. >> clinton had a fateful choice to make. block a special counsel and take a beating in the press? >> it appears to be a case of the president's past coming back to haunt him. >> or give in, leaving himself open to a potentially limitless investigation. the president gave in. >> i don't want to be distracted by this anymore. let them look into it. i just want to go back to work. >> years later he would call that decision one of the biggest miscalculations of his presidency. >> once you have an independent counsel appointed with no budget and no limits, the prosecutors will keep looking for the crime until they can find it. >> the first special prosecutor, robert fisk -- >> as quickly and thoroughly as possible. >> -- vowed to wrap up his investigation quickly. >> would you guys get down? >> but he was replaced and his successor ken starr was far more aggressive.

>> our job is to gather facts and to get at the truth. >> expanding the inquiry way beyond whitewater. >> how is this whitewater? >> the investigation kind of leads in all different directions. >> this is truly a wildly historic night. >> no one could have been happier with starr's aggressive approach than newt gingrich and the republicans. >> there has been a change in american politics. >> we are winning. >> they had swept into congress in 1994. >> this is an earthquake. >> preaching a new gospel of strict orthodox conservatism. >> newt gingrich reshapes the republican party. our base wants, this we do this. we do not compromise with democrats. ♪ >> president clinton became the democrat the republicans despised the most. he was morally corrupt, they said. >> i experimented with marijuana a time or two and didn't inhale.

>> created the truth. >> i was bill clinton's lover for 12 years. >> and a womanizer. >> these accusations are false. >> they viewed him as almost an imposter as president. >> the law is the law. the law is sacred. >> ken starr had been digging into the clintons for more than two years to no avail. >> are you going to be working for congress or the courts or the public? >> his investigation was winding down. >> i'm not going to be making any statements. >> then out of the blue some explosive tape recordings came his way. >> i never expected to feel this way about him. >> conversations with monica lewinsky. >> we fooled around. >> that were secretly recorded by her co-worker, linda tripp. >> if you get to orgasm, that's having sex. >> no, it's not. >> yes, it is. >> no, it's not. >> starr expanded his investigation even further, to looking into lewiskin. >> my reaction is that's nuts. i couldn't believe that starr was going down this road.

>> do you understand, sir, that your answers to my questions today are testimony that is being given under oath? >> yes. >> starr learned that the president was testifying about lewinsky in another matter. >> it's humiliating what he did to me. >> a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by paula jones. >> your testimony is subject to the penalty of perjury. do you understand that, sir? >> i do. >> in his testimony clinton was not truthful about lewinsky. >> i never had sexual relations with monica lewinsky. i never had an affair with her. >> starr now had a case for perjury. >> there are new allegations of infidelity and perjury this morning against president clinton. >> over the next few months, all hell broke loose. >> charges of sex, lies, and audiotapes. >> clinton kept denying the affair. >> there is no improper relationship. the allegations i have read are not true. >> but starr was able to get monica lewinsky's dress that had clinton's dna on it.

the president was forced to tell the truth. >> indeed i did have a relationship with miss lewinsky that was not appropriate. in fact, it was wrong. >> this goes into considerable details. >> there was in fact semen on that dress. >> many viewers may find it somewhat offensive. >> starr released a detailed x-rated account of the scandal. >> bringing her to orgasm on two occasions. >> list 11 possible grounds for impeachment including lying under oath and obstruction of justice. it's easy to forget in hindsight but bill clinton was in real danger of being pushed out of office. many of his fellow democrats were furious with him. >> let justice be done though the heavens fall. >> they came to the white house like the republicans did with nixon in 1974 and said your time's up, that would have been it. >> but clinton, the ultimate comeback kid. >> i never should have misled the country. >> was able to rally the party and the country back to his side. >> i will continue to do all i

can to reclaim the trust of the american people and to serve them well. >> his behavior may have been reprehensible, his allies said, but he was hardly the threat to the republic that impeachment was designed for. the american public agreed. the democrats scored a shocking upset in the mid-term elections, gaining seats in the house. >> the lewinsky issue didn't carry any weight. >> newt gingrich who predicted a republican victory. >> we have a chance to win some very startling victories all over the country. >> lost his job as speaker. >> shouldering the burden for a disappointing election. >> impeachment is a two-edged sword. you may intend to use it against your executive enemy, but it could very well hurt you even more politically. >> president clinton was thrilled, thinking he was in the clear. >> on capitol hill tom delay is known as the hammer.

>> but hardcore conservatives led by house speaker tom delei were hellbent on impeaching him anyway. >> the house has no choice but to proceed with an impeachment inquiry. >> some republicans preferred a lesser punishment for clinton, censure rather than impeachment. but political maneuvering took that off the table. >> the republicans were given a choice, either impeach him or let him off. which is it going to be? >> article 1 is adopted. >> we have witnessed history. >> the house impeached bill clinton almost entirely along party lines. >> the president resigned and his legacy will be forever scarred today. >> on this article of impeachment -- >> in the senate he was easily acquitted. >> william jefferson clinton is not guilty. >> in retropekt spectacular the 1988-89 effort to remove bill clinton is a partisan endeavor because the american people spoke in the midterms 1998 and said we don't want to impeach

this president. >> after the senate trial congress took the law that created ken starr's job and let it die. >> i'm not going to comment. >> a bipartisan acknowledgement that things had gone too far. >> women will be silent no more. >> but today in the "me too" era, clinton's impeachment is being seriously reconsidered. his affair with a young intern seen by many as an abuse of power. >> my greatest mentor, hillary clinton. >> democrat kirsten gillibrand, who holds hillary clinton's old senate seat and is now running for a senate seat -- >> women's voices matter. >> -- said in 2017 that bill clinton should have resigned. >> the kind of behavior that was for theed a long time ago will not be tolerated today and we can't allow it to be tolerated today. you have no limits.

but mania, such as unusual changes in your mood, activity or energy levels, can leave you on... shaky ground. help take control by asking your healthcare provider about vraylar. vraylar treats acute mania of bipolar i disorder. vraylar significantly reduces overall manic symptoms, and was proven in adults with mixed episodes who have both mania and depression. vraylar should not be used in elderly patients with dementia, due to increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a life-threatening reaction or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. side effects may not appear for several weeks. high cholesterol and weight gain; high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death; decreased white blood cells, which can be fatal; dizziness upon standing; falls; seizures; impaired judgement; heat sensitivity; and trouble swallowing may occur. you're more than just your bipolar i. ask about vraylar.

just your bipolar i. rex catches everything and so does jackson hewitt, like the biggest tax reform in decades at jackson hewitt we help lots of people like you. no one gets you a bigger refund. otherwise you get $100. that's right. no one gets you a bigger refund. visit jackson hewitt today.

a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! i george walker bush do solemnly swear. >> when george bush was sworn in as the 43rd president of the united states. >> so help me god. >> congratulations. >> the cloud of bill clinton's impeachment still hung over the country. >> the president of the united states, george w. bush! >> what no one knew then was a new kind of partisan warfare had been unleashed. every president that came after clinton has had to contend with impeachment fever.

>> impeach bush! impeach bush! >> impeach obama. >> it no longer seemed unthinkable. >> he lied to us. he should be impeached. >> impeachment went from being something you used only in moments of constitutional crisis -- >> impeach king obama! >> -- to something you used in everyday partisan battles. that is a horrible development for the american people. >> it is a grotesque sight to look at. >> after one of the most traumatic moments in american history, the country came together. >> i can hear you. the rest of the world hears you.

and the people -- [ cheers and applause ] and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. [ cheers and applause ] >> usa! usa! usa! >> the country supported president bush as he took the united states into battle to destroy saddam hussein's weapons of mass destruction. but there were none. and the occupation of iraq was a tragic mess. >> bush can't help my son. >> an anti-war movement came quickly. and it used impeachment as a weapon. >> bring down these war criminals like bush. he needs to be impeached! >> impeachment talk got louder. >> will the house come to order. >> and democratic congressman dennis kucinich introduced dozens of articles of impeachment. but the leader of the democrats, nancy pelosi, wanted none of it. >> impeachment is off the table. >> disagreements over policy were not intended by the founders to be the bases for a serious attempt at impeachment.

>> it's not a crime or a misdemeanor under the constitution to make a mistake. >> after bush's mistake, the country was totally polarized in its view of the president and the partisan gap was the widest ever recorded. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. >> impeachment fever would only get worse under the next president. >> change has come to america. >> in 2008, barack obama was elected on a promise, to help heal the country's extreme partisan divide. >> yes we can! yes we can! >> but the candidate who had campaigned on "yes we can" ran into a wall of republican opposition. >> hell no, you can't. >> the tea party formed around an almost fanatical opposition to barack obama. in 2010 it propelled a wave of

new republicans to congress. >> what does it feel like? >> it feels bad. >> this new hyperpartisan congress presided over a growing impeachment movement. >> when you promise you are out to impeach the president, you can make a name for yourself. you can raise money. you can rally the base. >> impeach him. really? >> impeachment is not supposed to be used as a rallying cry to get people to vote for you. both sides played around with it. >> impeachment campaigns against president bush and obama never gained legitimacy or real legislative support, so one could argue, who cares? it's only talk. >> if you play around with impeachment, over time the american people are going to misunderstand the constitutional power and necessity. >> when barack obama left office he was more popular than george bush, but the gap between the people who loved him and people who hated him was even larger

than it had been with president bush. the stark polarization of the last few years is the worst in american history, with one exception. the period around the civil war. on april 15th, 1865, president abraham lincoln was assassinated. the country was still deeply divided over the civil war. enter andrew johnson. the vice president who succeeded lincoln. johnson was a southern democrat who lincoln picked to create a national unity ticket. there are few things historians agree upon-b you this is one. andrew johnson was one of america's worst presidents. >> he was essentially an incredibly racist neoconfederate >> republicans in congress despised andrew johnson.

>> he stood for the repression of african-americans whom a war had been fought to liberate. >> president johnson vetoed almost all the measures to give civil liberties and representation to blacks. 12k3w4r50i6r7b8g9sds they decided to wage a political war. >> they set an impeachment trap. >> that was the tenure of office act. >> they passed a law over his veto who said he could not fire his own cabinet members. >> when president johnson fired his secretary of war, edwin stanton, the house approved 11 articles of impeachment against him, one of which accused the president of bringing the congress into ridicule and disgrace. >> their entire approach to impeachment was partisan and ideological. however a bad of a president andrew johnson was, there were no grounds to remove him. >> the country was one vote away from removing andrew johnson

from office, essentially because congress did not like him or his policies. >> johnson agreed to cease all of the behavior that had been so problematic, to go along with the congressional reconstruction program. >> historians today regard the impeachment trap as unconstitutional. >> impeachment fell into disrepute. >> johnson's impeachment would serve as a warning about the consequences of a partisan impeachment in a sharply divided country. >> it raises blood pressures and in some perverse ways it actually makes impeachment harder to use when you might really need it. d which is doin't to make you everybody else... ♪ ♪ means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight and never stop. does this sound dismal? it isn't. ♪ ♪ it's the most wonderful life on earth. ♪ ♪

it's the most wonderful life on earth. you should meet our newest team schwab, bmember, tecky.do that, i'm tecky. i can do it all. go ahead, ask it a question. tecky, can you offer low costs and award-winning full service with a satisfaction guarantee, like schwab? sorry. tecky can't do that. schwabbb! calling schwab. we don't have a satisfaction guarantee, but we do have tecky! i'm tecky. i ca... are you getting low costs and award-winning full service? if not, talk to schwab.

hey, darryl! hey, thomas. if you were choosing a network, would you want the one the experts at rootmetrics say is number one in the nation? sure, they probably know what they're talking about. or the one that j.d. power says is highest in network quality by people who use it every day? this is a tough one. well, not really, because verizon won both. so you don't even have to choose. why didn't you just lead with that? it's like a fun thing. (vo) chosen by experts. chosen by you. get 50 million songs now with apple music included, on us. on both ios and android. it's the unlimited plan you need on the network you deserve. you don't need to go anywhere dad, this is your home. the best home to be in is your own. home instead offers personalized in-home services for your loved ones. home instead senior care. to us, it's personal. home instead senior care. saved an average of $412," syou probably won't believe me. but you can believe this, real esurance employee nancy abraham. look her up online.

esurance, it's surprisingly painless. when did sleep start requiring effort? what if it didn't have to? each tempur-pedic bed is made with advanced pressure-relieving material, so you get the deepest sleep you've had... ever. there's nothing like tempur-pedic sleep. so you get the deepest sleep you've had... ever. ♪ when you have nausea, ♪ heartburn, ♪ indigestion, ♪ upset stomach, ♪ diarrhea... girl, pepto ultra coating will treat your stomach right. ♪nausea, heartburn, ♪ indigestion, upset stomach, ♪ diarrhea... try pepto with ultra coating.

that impeachment is a political process. an impeachable offense is at the end of the day whatever congress defines as such. we live in a constitutional republic shaped by law and history. what can we say about the mandate given to congress under which it can impeach a president? in other words, what are high crimes and misdemeanors?

>> high crimes and misdemeanors has a concrete specific meaning. high means pertaining to high office. if your crime or misdemeanor has nothing to do with your office, you are not covered by the farmer's idea of impeachment >> if you look carefully at the reasoning of republicans and democrats who have voted for impeachment over the course of our history, you'll notice that they always come back to the idea that some action or some pattern of conduct by the chief executive represents a threat to our democracy and to our constitution. >> one of the questions we must all wonder about is why is it we hear so much talk about impeachment these days? bush, obama, and now trump. when did this all start? >> it really has been about 20 years from the clinton impeachment, that impeachment talk has so overtaken our political discourse. president trump came to office with about one-third of the american public already supporting his impeachment.

that's extraordinary. >> that gets us to the elephant in this room. has donald trump committed offenses that could be considered impeachable? like money laundering, which some suspect in his real estate deals, or fraud, involving trump university, or tax evasion, which is why some the rise he won't show us his tax returns. >> crimes that trump may have allegedly committed before he started the office of the presidency do not count and would not be impeached in my view. >> what about the you need a obstruction of justice? >> obstruction of justice was a charge used both against richard nixon and bill clinton. if it's real, it's very strong ground for impeachment. >> harvard law professor nora feldman says when the president fired james comey he may have committed obstruction of justice. >> my own view is he could have

done it with corrupt intent. it's true the fbi director works for the president and the president has the right to remove him on any whim he may have. but the fact that the president can remove comey doesn't mean it's permissible if he did it for gain. >> to prove that, you'd need a smoking gun. >> it's very hard to prove corrupt intent. >> feldman sees charges in another case, michael cohen's sworn testimony the president directed him to make an illegal payment to stormy daniels. cohen says it was made to influence the election. >> a president who distorts the electoral process and breaks the law in doing so is someone potentially impeachable. the president thinks it's a witch hunt. >> what about special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation? >> if there were evidence donald trump further colluded with russians in a way that affects the legitimacy, that would be an even deeper parallel.

to the richard nixon case. >> well -- through to its conclusion. >> we don't yet know what mueller may have found in his investigation. but there was one area where i was surprised to find considerable agreement among our experts. all spoke with wariness about wielding the sword of impeachment. >> impeachment is capital punishment for a presidency. it's something congress should not consider unless aller of a -- all other avenues are no longer open. >> what would an impeachment process look like in the deeply divided america we live in today? >> a lot of folks think impeachment falls out of the sky. like some kind of dam close. and i'm here to tell you that it doesn't. congress has to decide whether impeachment is the right movement. >> unless there is overwhelming proof that the majority of the country accepts, impeachment will not bring this country together. >> it create as crisis of

domestic governance. it activates the worst kinds of partisan tribalism on all sides of the aisle. the only circumstances i would actively support impeachment would be where there was evidence so glaring failure to impeach would essentially show the hypocrisy of the whole system. >> in other words, america might be too polarized today to be able to deal with an impeachment honestly and responsibly. that's a dark verdict on the state of our politics but it rings true, and it has a worrying consequence. >> when you live in a world of broken politics, and when you live in a world of extraordinary partisan polarization, it just may not be possible to generate the consensus necessary to use the impeachment power. that's a scary thought. there may be circumstances where we just can't wait for the next election. i don't have a reassuring answer to that. >> throughout this special

report i have tried not to tell you what to think about this explosive issue but give you the facts and context to help you think. i hope i've succeeded. that is our program tonight. i'm fareed zakaria. thank you for joining us.

your mornings were made for than psoriatic arthritis. as you and your rheumatologist consider treatments,

ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. xeljanz xr is a once daily pill for psoriatic arthritis. taken with methotrexate or similar medicines, it can reduce joint pain... ...swelling and significantly improve physical function. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened. as have tears in the stomach or intestines, serious allergic reactions, low blood cell counts, higher liver tests and cholesterol levels. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. your doctor should perform blood tests before and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you've been somewhere fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. xeljanz xr can reduce the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. don't let another morning go by without talking to your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr. yep, and my teeth are yellow. i mean i knew they weren't perfect, but, ugh.

oh well, all hope is lost! oh thanks! clearly my whitening toothpaste is not cutting it. time for whitestrips. crest glamorous white whitestrips are the only ada-accepted whitening strips proven to be safe and effective. they work below the enamel surface to whiten 25x better than a leading whitening toothpaste. hey, nice smile! thanks! i crushed the tissue test! yeah you did! crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life.