The Impeachment Trial is on – and Michigan State University has leading experts who can help with your coverage

It’ll be early mornings and long nights for just about anyone involved in covering, watching or taking part in the impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump.

With an impeachment trial, there is process, debate, strategy and rhetoric. The goal for Democrats will be a guilty verdict that will remove a sitting President from office. Some experts aren’t sure if this monumental event will have any troubling repercussions on Trump’s campaign for re-election this fall.

“We did see some minor impacts of impeachment in the past,” says Matt Grossmann, professor of political science and director of MSU’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research. “We’re talking pretty minor effects. It’s hard to see it making a big difference in what happens come November. I certainly don’t think you can either count him out or say that he’s going to cruise to victory. I think we’re going to see a competitive presidential election.”

And when it comes to the details of removal from office and the difference between a criminal act and what an actual impeachable offence is according to the constitution -  seems to be getting lost on most inside and outside of the Senate.

 “I wrote months ago that one side would argue that President Trump had to commit a crime to be removed from office while the other side would say the opposite,” says Brian Kalt, professor of law at Michigan State University. “This back-and-forth happens in every impeachment, and the parties switch sides depending on who’s on trial with little regard for what the Constitution really states. The Constitution and 200 years of precedent make it extremely clear that impeachment and removal do not require a crime to have been committed.”

Are you a journalist covering the impeachment trials?

Our experts can help explain every angle of this process, the potential outcomes and the consequences for both sides arguing for the removal of a sitting president and how it will impact the upcoming election in November.

Brian Kalt is a professor of law and the Harold Norris Faculty Scholar at Michigan State University. He is an expert in constitutional law of the presidency, presidential pardons, impeachment, succession and the 25th Amendment.

Matt Grossmann is an associate professor of political science and the director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research. His expertise includes American politics, political parties and campaigns and he has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post and other media outlets commenting on these issues. 

Both Brian and Matt are available to speak with media regarding this topic – simply click on either expert’s icon to arrange an interview.