Event Details

Date & Time: Wednesday, April 8, 2026
9:00 AM – 1:30 PM ET (breakfast and coffee available from 8:30 AM)
Location: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2044, Washington, D.C.

Organizers: Ralph Nader (consumer advocate, lawyer, and author) and Bruce Fein (constitutional lawyer and scholar).
Co-sponsors: RootsAction, Free Speech For People, and Essential Information.

Purpose: The symposium provides expert legal and constitutional analysis of the impeachment standard (“Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors”) under Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution. It focuses on allegations against President Trump, including usurpation of congressional war powers (especially related to Iran), risks of interference with the 2026 midterm elections, and alleged bribery/extortion. The event aims to build a legal foundation for potential future impeachment proceedings, including “shadow hearings,” and to remind Congress of its constitutional duties. It emphasizes civic discourse over partisanship.

Attendance: Open to the public (photo ID required; strict House building entry rules apply). An RSVP is encouraged via the official form. A livestream will be available through The Real News Network or linked on nader.org; a recording is expected afterward.

Full Agenda with Speakers and Bios

• 9:00–9:10 AM: Opening Remarks

Ralph Nader
Consumer advocate, lawyer, and author. Nader is one of America’s most influential public interest advocates. He founded organizations including Public Citizen, the Center for Study of Responsive Law, and the Project for Corporate Responsibility. He has run for president multiple times and authored numerous books on government accountability, consumer protection, and corporate power. He has long advocated using constitutional tools like impeachment to check executive overreach.

• 9:15–10:25 AM: Panel 1 – President Trump’s usurpation of the congressional war power conferred by Article I, Section 8, Clause 11, exemplified by his gratuitous, ongoing, criminal war of aggression against Iran.

Moderator: Theresa Amato
Principal, Amato PLLC. Amato is an election lawyer and author with extensive experience in campaign finance, voting rights, and constitutional litigation. She has served as chief counsel for presidential and other campaigns and frequently moderates public policy discussions.

Panelists (15 minutes each):
- Dennis Kucinich
Former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1997–2013); Mayor of Cleveland (1977–1979). Kucinich is a longtime progressive voice known for his staunch opposition to unauthorized wars and executive overreach. While in Congress, he introduced articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney (2007) and 35 articles against President George W. Bush (2008), primarily over the Iraq War and related deceptions. He has repeatedly emphasized that impeachment is a constitutional duty, not a partisan tool, and has stated: “This is not about whether you love President Trump, but whether you love the Constitution more.”

- Doug Bandow
Senior Fellow, Cato Institute; expert on foreign policy and civil liberties. Bandow is a libertarian scholar and former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan. He writes extensively on U.S. foreign policy, military intervention, and constitutional limits on presidential war powers. He has been a consistent critic of unnecessary wars and executive branch overreach across administrations.

- Jeffrey Sterling
Lawyer, former CIA officer, and whistleblower. Sterling worked for the CIA and later exposed alleged misconduct related to operations involving Iran. He was prosecuted under the Espionage Act; his case drew national attention on government secrecy and whistleblower rights. He is the author of The Unwanted Spy and continues to advocate for accountability in intelligence operations.

Open Q&A (~15 minutes)

• 10:30–11:25 AM: Panel 2 – The credible fear that President Trump will obstruct, interfere with, or outright cancel the 2026 midterm elections unless impeached and removed from office.

Moderator: John Bonifaz
Constitutional attorney; Co-Founder and President, Free Speech For People. Bonifaz is a leading expert on voting rights, election integrity, and constitutional law. He has litigated numerous cases challenging corporate influence in elections and has advocated for using impeachment and other constitutional remedies to protect democratic processes.

Panelists (15 minutes each):
- Bruce Fein
Constitutional lawyer and scholar; former Assistant Deputy Attorney General and general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission. Fein has served in senior Justice Department roles under Republican administrations and is widely regarded as one of the nation’s foremost experts on the Constitution and impeachment. He has drafted or advised on impeachment articles against multiple presidents and frequently collaborates with Ralph Nader on constitutional accountability issues.

- Oliver Hall
Founder, Executive Director, and General Counsel, Center for Competitive Democracy. Hall is a nonprofit lawyer focused on election law, voting rights, and structural democratic reforms. His organization works to reduce barriers to political competition and protect fair electoral processes.

Open Q&A (~15 minutes)
(Note: Some announcements also mention Jared DeMarinis, Maryland State Administrator of Elections, as a possible additional panelist.)

• 11:30 AM–12:25 PM: Panel 3 – President Trump’s industrial scale bribery and extortion exemplified by auctioning pardons, demanding free legal services to escape government retaliation, and conferring government favors or benefits in exchange for donations to Mr. Trump’s sprawling business empire or pet projects.

Moderator: Jack Rakove
Pulitzer Prize-winning professor of history, American studies, political science, and law at Stanford University. Rakove is a preeminent historian of the American Founding era and the Constitution. His scholarship on the framers’ intent regarding executive power, impeachment, and checks and balances is highly influential.

Panelists (15 minutes each):
- Alan B. Morrison
Former Associate Dean and professor of constitutional law, George Washington University Law School. Morrison is a veteran public interest lawyer who has argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He specializes in constitutional law, separation of powers, and government ethics.

- Rob Weissman
Co-President, Public Citizen. Weissman leads one of the nation’s premier consumer and corporate accountability organizations. He focuses on money in politics, corporate influence, ethics, and government transparency, and has long criticized practices that blur the line between public office and private gain.

Open Q&A (~15 minutes)
(Note: Some releases mention Isabel Munilla, possibly from the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), as a pending panelist.)

• 12:30–1:15 PM: Statements by Public Scholars, Civic Leaders, Activists, and Writers

Moderator: Mark Green
Author, lawyer, and former New York City Public Advocate. Green is a longtime progressive advocate, author of books on government reform and corporate power, and former elected official focused on ethics and public integrity.

Speakers (5-minute statements each): Include John R. MacArthur (Publisher, Harper’s Magazine), Andy Shallal (CEO, Busboys and Poets), David Kelley (political policy advisor and writer), Ellen Barfield (Co-founder, Veterans For Peace Women’s Caucus), Jessica Denson (Founder, Removal Coalition), Ben Cohen (Co-Founder, Ben & Jerry’s), John Koskinen (former IRS Commissioner), and others.

Additional Context

Dennis Kucinich’s participation continues his decades-long commitment to using impeachment as a constitutional check on presidential actions, particularly regarding war powers. The event is explicitly non-partisan in framing but focused on current allegations against the sitting president.

For the latest updates, full speaker bios (if expanded on-site), or livestream details, visit the official page: nader.org (event posted April 2, 2026) or contact info@nader.org.