Impeachment 101
Breaking down the current impeachment inquiries against President Trump
graphic created by Mollie Banstetter
The House of Representatives will determine whether to go ahead with impeachment proceedings against President Trump.
October 31, 2019
Presidential impeachment has been called for by many Democrats during the tenure of President Trump. And now, the House of Representatives is taking a stand. On Sept. 24, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, announced that an impeachment inquiry has been initiated.
This announcement has led to many questions from the public. So here’s a breakdown of the impeachment inquiries and what they entail:
What is impeachment and how does it pertain to President Trump?
According to Article II, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution grounds for impeachment include “The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
Impeachment does not always guarantee removal from office, however, it depends on the severity of the crime committed. The general public must also remember that there really isn’t a precedent for what to do in impeachment inquiries; Especially when there hasn’t been a presidential impeachment inquiry involving (to put it simply) bribery.
According to the New York Times, here’s how the process works:
Six House Committees investigate President Trump on impeachable offenses and send their strongest cases to the Judiciary Committee.
Then one of two things could happen; the committee’s findings are deemed too weak to impeach and Trump remains in office, or the findings are deemed strong enough and the process proceeds. If approved, the findings are brought to the House of Representatives.
Then the Democrat-majority House, holds a floor vote on one or more articles of impeachment. Trump stays if less than the majority votes to impeach, however, Trump gets impeached (not removed from office) if the majority votes to impeach. Should the House move to impeach then the process shifts to the Republican-majority Senate, who then hold a trial.
In the event that less than two-thirds move to convict the president then he remains in office for the remainder of his term (which in this case would be a little less than a year).
If at least two-thirds vote to convict President Trump then he is removed from office. If the House moves to impeach Trump but the Senate does not convict him, then he is free to continue his term and run for a second term.
The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors
But Why?
The primary reason for this impeachment inquiry is due to a whistleblower’s accusation that the President committed quid pro quo over the phone while talking to foreign nations, most notably Ukraine.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, quid pro quo is “something given or received for something else”. The official whistleblower complaint states :
“Early in the morning of 25 July, the President spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. I do not know which side initiated the call…Multiple White House officials with direct knowledge of the call informed me that, after an initial exchange of pleasantries, the President used the remainder of the call to advance his personal interests.
“Namely, he sought to pressure the Ukrainian leader to take action to help the President’s 2020 reelection bid. According to the White House officials who had direct knowledge of the call, the President pressured Mr. Zelensky to, inter alia: initiate or continue an investigation into the activities of former Vice President Joseph Biden and his son, Hunter Biden; assist in purportedly uncovering that allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election originated in Ukraine, with a specific request that the Ukrainian leader locate and turn over servers used by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and examined by the U.S. cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, which initially reported that Russian hackers had penetrated the DNC’s networks in 2016; and meet or speak with two people the President named explicitly as his personal envoys on these matters, Mr. Giuliani and Attorney General Barr, to whom the President referred multiple times in tandem.”
While President Trump was on the phone call, he didn’t explicitly say that he had just frozen the military aid package of millions, possibly billions, of dollars to Ukraine. Trump did briefly mention the American aid to Ukraine and then continued to press Zelensky on the possibilities of investigating Hunter Biden.
The outcome if President Trump were to be Impeached and removed from office
If President Trump were to be impeached and removed from office, Vice President Pence would become President for the remainder of the term. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi would be second in line and the only Democrat in the line of succession. To see the entire list of presidential succession, click here.
Now what?
On Thursday, October 31 the House Rules Committees will hold hearings for the impeachment inquiry and after the hearings, the full House of Representatives will vote on the impeachment inquiry resolution.
Earlier this week Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said, “We have not made any decision to impeach.” Since then Pelosi has still been rather quiet on what her predictions on the House vote will be.
Only time will tell what the future holds for President Trump and America.
