title:  Prominent Attorney And Law Professor Points Out That Trump Can Be Impeached For False Accusation Against Obama
text: When Donald Trump falsely accused President Obama of wiretapping him he committed an impeachable offense.That s what Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe wrote in response to Jonathan Turley on Tuesday after Turley claimed that Trump can t be impeached for posting  bad tweets. During an appearance on Morning Joe, Turley claimed that Trump could not be impeached for accusing President Obama of wiretapping him because the Constitution was written before Twitter was invented. There s no penalty to the president for bad tweets,  the George Washington University law professor claimed.  There s no impeachment for bad tweets,  he continued, arguing that the impeachment clause doesn t apply because Twitter  postdated the impeachment clause. Basically, Turley is saying that the Constitution only applies to society as it was in the 18th century, which is the kind of bullshit that conservative originalists use as an excuse to block progress.Well, Tribe was watching on Tuesday and he fired off a series of tweets slamming Turley. Using power of W[hite] H[ouse] to falsely accuse predecessor of impeachable felony does qualify as an impeachable offense whether via tweet or not,  Tribe concluded.1/On @JoeNBC @JonathanTurley says Trump s false claim that 44 wiretapped him cdn t be impeachable because #Twitter didn t exist when the  Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) March 7, 20172/Impeachment Cl. was written in 1787. What s he mocking? Stupid versions of originalism? The gravity of T s abuse of power? POTUS himself?  Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) March 7, 20173/Using power of WH to falsely accuse predecessor of impeachable felony does qualify as an impeachable offense whether via tweet or not  Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) March 7, 2017In fact, Trump is not only abusing his power by falsely accusing a former president of a crime, he opened himself up to a defamation lawsuit.Just as a reminder, here is what Trump wrote about President Obama on Saturday.Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my  wires tapped  in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017Trump offered absolutely no proof to back up his claims and he still hasn t offered any. FBI Director James Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper have both strongly refuted Trump s claim.The bottom line is that the Constitution absolutely applies here because it would be meaningless if it only applied to the world as it existed in 1787.Featured image via Aude Guerrucci-Pool/Getty Images