US President Donald Trump on Wednesday became the first president the country's history to be impeached twice, as 10 of his fellow Republicans joined Democrats in the House of Representatives to charge him with inciting an insurrection in last week's violent rampage in the Capitol. Ten Republicans broke ranks and voted to impeach Trump on a day when the debate moved at lightning speed, much of it charged by the bipartisan anger at the scale of the January 6 violence.
In the process, Donald Trump's place in history has been redefined. Still defiant, Trump will go out of the White House as only the first president ever in American history to be impeached twice. While the word 'impeachment' is being flashed on most news channels and topping the trends on social media, what exactly does it mean?
What is impeachment in the US constitution?
The founders of the United States feared presidents abusing their powers, so they included in the Constitution a process for removing one from office. That process is called impeachment.
The US President, under the Constitution, can be removed from office for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
“High crimes and misdemeanours” has historically encompassed corruption and abuses of the public trust, as opposed to just indictable violations of criminal statutes.
Former President Gerald Ford, while in Congress, famously said: “An impeachable offence is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”
No president has ever been removed as a direct result of impeachment. One, Richard Nixon, resigned before he could be removed. Two, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, were impeached by the House but not convicted by the Senate.
How does impeachment work?
Impeachment begins in the House, the lower chamber, which debates and votes on whether to bring charges against the president via approval of an impeachment resolution, or “articles of impeachment,” by a simple majority of the body’s members.
If the House approves articles of impeachment, a trial is then held in the Senate. House members act as the prosecutors; the senators as jurors; the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the Senate to convict and remove a president.
What happens if Trump is removed from the office?
In the unlikely event the Senate convicted Trump, Vice President Mike Pence would become president for the remainder of Trump’s term, which ends on Jan. 20, 2021.
