Impeachment with a Side of Low Hanging Fruit

On January 13, 2021, President Trump Impeachment 2.0 commenced following the tragic events on January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol. However, there are many curious and unconstitutional elements surrounding his second impeachment, and acquittal on February 13, 2021.

Chief Justice Roberts Absent

Pursuant to the Constitution, "when the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside..."(U.S. Const. art. I, § 3). Chief Justice Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court refused to preside over the second impeachment trial claiming, since President Trump was not the president at the time of the trial in the Senate, Roberts was not constitutionally obligated. President Trump was, however, president on January 13th when Congress adopted the articles of impeachment lead by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. If you read the Constitution in context, Chief Justice Roberts should have been presiding, otherwise, this was an unconstitutional impeachment.

Instead, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a Democrat, presided over the Senate impeachment trial. Making him the judge and the jury which are mutually exclusive. You cannot have a trial by jury and a bench trial (trial by judge).

The President SHALL Be Removed From Office On Impeachment

The word "MAY" is permissive and gives a choice to act or not, and is distinguished from "SHALL" which makes it imperative. When reading the Constitution contextually, “The President...SHALL be removed from Office on Impeachment....” (U.S. Const. art. II, § 4) and “Judgment in Cases of Impeachment SHALL not extend further than removal from Office, and disqualification to hold" high office. (U.S. Const. art. I, § 3). This makes impeachment remedial and, not penal.

Without the removal from office, how "SHALL" Congress impose disqualification to hold office in the future? The former must precede the latter. So, if a president has not been constitutionally impeached, then the Senate is without the constitutional power to remove him and disqualify him from future office.

The Great Seal

Clearly, Congress doesn't care about the Constitution or constitutionality for impeachment. Couple that with the above facts and findings, Terror of the Woods' curiosity grew, when President Trump used the United States Department of State Seal, commonly referred to as The Great Seal.

The Great Seal of the United States is the oldest seal in America. President Trump used this seal exclusively from January 20th to February 13th, when Nancy Pelosi gave a very emotional response to President Trump's impeachment acquittal stating "we censure people for using stationary for the wrong purpose...we don't censure people for inciting insurrection".

Since the February 13th press conference, President Trump began alternating between the SAVE AMERICA STATIONARY and The Great Seal. Pursuant to, 18 U.S. Code § 713 "whoever knowingly displays any printed or other likeness of the great seal of the United States...for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression of sponsorship...shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both".

Using The Great Seal by a former president is nothing new as former presidents have also used The Great Seal to denote their former presidency offices.

The Former Presidents Act (3 U.S.C. § 102) gives a former president the ability to use The Great Seal. However, you SHALL make it clear you are not the president which Trump has never stated, and instead uses the phrase "President of the United States" on his press release statements and throughout his various publically available websites.

Orange Man Bad

If Congress will stop at nothing to punish this "Orange Man Bad", then why not take advantage of his illegal use of The Great Seal? Seem this is the low-hanging fruit in their quest to destroy President Trump. It also seems they would have a higher success rate than the unconstitutional impeachment of a former president. So, in this edition of Curiosity by Terror of the Woods, we leave you with only one question...is "former" President Trump still the President, or does Congress just suffer from "Trump Derangement Syndrome"?