A whistle-blower complaint was made on August 12, 2019 to an intelligence committee within the White House. In the weeks following, a transcript of President Trump’s conversation with Ukraine President Zelensky has been declassified, and one outcome has been at the heart of the American conversation— impeachment. Whether or not President Trump’s actions are worthy of impeachment, it is still useful to understand what will be happening throughout Congress in what could be a year-long effort. From the inquiry to the removal of office, here is what would happen if President Trump went through the entire impeachment process.
Part I: Inquiry, Initiation, Impeachment
Within the House of Representatives, it is debated upon whether or not to launch an impeachment inquiry, the investigation on evidence to support any potential case (impeachment articles) against the President, which is handled by the House Judiciary Committee. Once the committee believes there’s enough to create impeachment articles, each and every representative vote on each and every article presented. President Trump has not fully gone through this phase with only the impeachment inquiry having been launched recently on September 24, 2019. As of writing this, potential articles will be his conversation with the Ukrainian President and his possibly fraudulent tax returns.
Part II: Trial and Judgement
Let’s say that President Trump does in fact proceed impeachment, meaning that the House’s vote on impeachment attained a simple majority. Then, a trial is prepared based on the articles presented. Witnesses are issued subpoenas (order for a person to attend), the full Senate receives the evidence, and the current Chief Justice, John Roberts, will preside over the trial. Not only will Senate vote on whether or not each article is worthy of removal (⅔ vote); they will also vote on whether or not the defendant can run again for office (simple majority). If President Trump were to be convicted on one or more of the House’s articles, he will be removed entirely from office and may not be able to run for re-election in 2020.
After all of this is theoretically done, Vice President Mike Pence will take over President Trump. However, the outcome of removal is extremely unlikely. Only two presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Andrew Johnson was impeached for firing a cabinet secretary with Congress’ permission, while Bill Clinton obstructed justice by lying under oath. However, even with the rare occasion of a president being impeached, none have been removed. So, when you hear any of these steps occurring during the news, you can now know what will happen next and that this process will be rigorous and lengthy.
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