DIRTY DEEDS, DON, DIRT CHEAP:

In the summer of 1787, the delegates to the constitutional convention in Philadelphia vigorously debated the question whether the president should be impeachable. James Madison, the wisest of them all, insisted that impeachable was "indispensable," because the president "might pervert his administration into a scheme of peculation or oppression."

But the most eloquent was George Mason: "Shall any man be above Justice? Above all shall that man be above it, who can commit the most extensive injustice?" Mason feared "the man who has practised corruption & by that means procured his appointment in the first instance." [...]

Viewed in light of the founding debates, Papadopoulos' conduct was traitorous -- the kind of conduct that would raise legitimate impeachment questions if it had been undertaken by a candidate personally. Recall George Mason's words. No aspirant to high office, and no adviser to any such aspirant, should engage with Russian officials about how to obtain "dirt" on a political appointment.

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