James Madison, writing in Federalist Number 43, gave a warning about the never-ending cycles of political retribution as the framers wrote the impeachment clause in the U.S. Constitution.

He wanted to avoid cycles of political revenge that "have been the great engines by which violent factions ... have usually wreaked their alternate malignity on each other."

Fast forward 235 years, and we see the things that Washington and Madison were worried about playing out in real time in a New York court room.

But one need not even mention Donald Trump's presidency to illustrate precisely why the Founding Fathers designated impeachment as their ultimate punishment for a president.

Criminal charges as a political tool to neutralize and distract the Commander in Chief worried the founding fathers.

Their Constitution protects official presidential actions from both civil and criminal prosecution.

But they were wise enough to leave checks and balances on that broad grant of power. Should a president ever be impeached and convicted in the Senate, he would forfeit his office but also be stripped of that immunity and be liable to legal action.

https://fb.watch/rHxK4WXp_4/?mibextid=v7YzmG