Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress’s Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump

Journalists Bade and Demirjian deliver a searing analysis of the “political calculations” made by Democrats and Republicans that led to Donald Trump’s acquittal in two separate impeachment trials. Suggesting that the results were not as “preordained” as many believed, given Republicans’ control of the Senate in 2019, the authors document internal disagreements among Democrats over the issuing and enforcement of subpoenas, the need for “high-profile” eyewitness testimony, the degree of due process to be afforded Trump, and whether it was better to expedite the proceedings or present the fullest case possible. Bolstering the authors’ case that “Trump escaped accountability not simply because his own party wouldn’t stand up to him, but because the opposing party was also afraid to flex the full force of its constitutional muscle to check him,” Bade and Demirjian reveal that Republican congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler’s expressed interest in testifying against Trump in the second impeachment trial wasn’t immediately shared with Democratic manager Jamie Raskin. Throughout, the authors offer fly-on-the-wall accounts of Republican and Democratic strategy sessions and new details about Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine, the January 6 Capitol riot, and other events. Though some of the political and legal headwinds faced by Democrats get short shrift, this is a thorough and often riveting account of why the efforts to impeach Trump failed. (Oct.)