Can someone tell me why the Democrats didn't charge Trump with bribery?

[Rustynaerduwell]

It seemed the most obvious chargeable offence. It is the one charge specifically cited n the Constitution. It circumvents the Republican's from saying the charges made are NOT specified in the Constitution. Why dying they charge him with bribery?

[TwilightZone]

1. Here's a good start:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212767570

[chowder66]

5. The explanation at the link is most likely correct. nt

[Karadeniz]

2. It may be because lawyers have offered different explanations as to whether this amounts to the

Legal standard. Why get involved in statutory debates when that's not an impeachment standard.

[StarfishSaver]

8. This

Charging him with a specific crime adds another layer of proof the Democrats would have to grapple with - and give the Republicans another bugaboo to try to hang everyone up on and use to distract. And the last thing we need is an endless debate over what the meaning of each element of bribery is and whether specific acts meet them. It would be a mess.

[dem4decades]

3. Why not charge him for Campaign Finance abuse and call Cohen?

[Cicada]

4. The most obvious charge is obstruction of Mueller investigation

more Than 1000 former federal prosecutors, most from Republican administrations, signed a letter that Trump obstructed justice, a serious federal crime. Former judge Napolitano, Fox News legal analyst, clearly explained the law and how Trump broke it in a four minute clip . I don’t understand why this isn’t the focus.

[Guilded Lilly]

6. I always had a sneaky suspicion that they wanted to save some...

charges in case he does slime/rig his way to reelection and the Democrats won back the Senate.

🤷🏼?♀️

[BlueSpot]

7. This

Save a few arrows in the quiver. If we get another blue wave in 2020 and take the Senate, we've got back up charges. There will probably be new charges by then, given the repeating pattern of behavior, but why depend on that if you don't have to?

[StarfishSaver]

9. In a way, they did

According to the gospels, Jesus said only two commandments really matter: Love the Lord Thy God and Love Thy Neighbor. My priest pointed out something interesting about this ... The reason these are the only two commandments that matter is that they encompass every other commandment and every other commandment is a subset of one of them. For example, if you love your neighbor, you won't steal from them or sleep with their spouse. If you love God, you won't worship false idols or use His name in vain, etc.

The two articles of impeachment remind me of those two commandments. They're very broad and encompassing and cover all of the more specific crimes that Trump and has likely committed. For example, the bribery Trump committed is an abuse of power.

I think that being too specific about each individual crime Trump committed would tie the House's hands and get them caught in arguing minutaie. Instead, they charged a range and pattern of high crimes and misdemeanors falling into two categories broad and flexible enough to include all manner of Trump's wrongdoing.