[dragonwriter]

> I would actually bet he welcomes the talk as a distraction from his easy to prosecute crimes.

None of his crimes are easy to prosecute while he is in office; the distractions won't have much effect once he is not in office. So I doubt that that is exactly the issue.

[SomeOldThrow]

> None of his crimes are easy to prosecute while he is in office; the distractions won't have much effect once he is not in office.

Sure, but that's purely a political constraint, not a legal one, and he's well aware of that. There doesn't appear to be any will in the democratic or republican leadership to advance motions to remove him from power. Given the lack of any interest in this regard, the constant onslaught of allegations of foreign intervention seems to be more of an effort to shift blame away from the weaknesses of a certain 2016 democratic nominee and hedging against a 2020 loss when certain american billionaires had demonstrably many times the influence of any foreign government. A change in political power could find him out of office very quickly.

[dragonwriter]

> Sure, but that's purely a political constraint, not a legal one

There is considerable debate on whether it is legal to criminally prosecute a sitting President, for different reasons applying to state vs. federal charges. At best, it would involve getting courts to resolve novel questions of Constitutional law about which the legal community has no consensus and which there is no direct on-point precedent.

So, no, it's a legal constraint.

> There doesn't appear to be any will in the democratic or republican leadership to advance motions to remove him from power.

The Democratic leadership is fully behind efforts to removw him from power shortly after the next Congress opens. They also aren't standing in the way of efforts to do sooner (impeachment hearings in the House begin in less than a week).

The Republican leadership, sure, fits your description.

[SomeOldThrow]

Pelosi & Schumer have been fully complicit with their efforts to prevent timely removal of Trump. Action today, and certainly their brand of parlour politics, won't change that. Reading outside American media would give you a better sense of how much their values fall in line with the same republicans they pretend to oppose. They either aren't suited to deal with a politician who can control the media by saying racist things, or they legitimately don't have the values or will to focus on the good their roles can do.

You may be right, maybe the courts will rule that certain actions are legal or not. The fact that we're talking about this in the hypothetical is a clear indication of failure of leadership. The party is directionless and floundering. Trump is going to do just fine.