It’s time to start impeachment hearings. Today.

So here’s a question for congressional leaders: Precisely how many crimes does someone have to commit before impeachment hearings are warranted? Does the person in question get a pass if it’s three or fewer? Was there some clause in the Constitution that I missed that says it’s okay for the president to direct a criminal conspiracy in certain circumstances? Is there a Federalist Paper that says the president can commit tax fraud so long as it was years ago, or that obstruction of justice is fair game so long as it happens on Twitter?

To oppose impeachment hearings now, you have to believe that the president allegedly engaging in three separate categories of criminal acts isn’t serious enough to even consider impeachment. Really?

Is that the precedent we want to set? If Trump does not face impeachment hearings, then what are the consequences for his alleged criminal behavior and his blatant attempts to subvert rule of law? The answer, unfortunately, is that there would be none.