The impeachment of trump: how the process works and whether democrats will remove it from power

On Tuesday evening, Speaker of the US Congress Democrat Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives is ready to begin “formal” impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. The reason was a telephone conversation between the head of the White House and the leader of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, which took place on July 25.

Photo: Facebook /The White House

During the conversation, the US president allegedly demanded that the Ukrainian authorities initiate an investigation against his potential rival in the 2020 election of the year, former US vice president Joe Biden. It also became known that he delayed the allocation of military assistance to Ukraine for about two months, writes Air force.

The impeachment of the president in the United States declares the House of Representatives, the majority of which today belong to the Democrats. But the final word rests with the Republican-controlled Senate.

What is impeachment?

The US Constitution gives Congress the right to remove the incumbent from power if lawmakers decide that the head of state "committed treason, was convicted of bribery or other serious crimes and offenses."

In the history of the United States, the impeachment procedure was announced three times. In 1868, Congress tried to remove President Andrew Johnson from power, and in 1998, impeachment was declared to Bill Clinton. However, the Senate later blocked both of these initiatives, and politicians retained the presidency.

In 1974, Richard Nixon voluntarily left his post because of the threat of impeachment, without waiting for Congress to decide.

Photo: Facebook /The White House

What is considered a crime?

The authors of the US constitution considered this concept very broadly, assuming that the reason for impeachment could be not only a formal violation of the law, but also the use by the president of his official position for personal purposes.

In the case of Bill Clinton, for example, the reason for starting the impeachment procedure was not the affair with the White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, but the fact that the US president lied about these relations under oath.

As Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the US Constitution, clarified in one of his works in 1788, the reason for impeachment could be “use or abuse of public trust” if it was done for political purposes.

How is the impeachment procedure?

Currently, six different House committees are conducting their own investigations into Donald Trump and his businesses.

Prior to this, in the case of Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon, the impeachment was initiated by the Legal Committee of the House of Representatives, which conducted an investigation and then recommended that the full composition of the house vote to remove the head of state from power.

The law also allows Congress to create an ad hoc committee that will consider allegations against the president.

Having gathered, as they consider, a sufficient amount of evidence, the congressional committees recommend that the full chamber vote for impeachment. To make this decision, a simple majority of the members of the chamber is enough.

The Senate should then examine these allegations in hearings reminiscent of the present hearing. The head of the US Supreme Court presides at these hearings, his responsibility is to monitor compliance with the procedure, which, however, is established by the senators themselves at their discretion.

A group of members of the House of Representatives represents the prosecution at these hearings, the president is defended by his personal lawyers during the meeting, and senators play the role of a jury.

If two-thirds of the senators consider the president guilty, then the impeachment is considered to have taken place, the head of state leaves his post, and the US vice president takes his place.

Recall again that so far there have not been such precedents in the history of the United States.

How many lawmakers support impeachment?

The number of supporters of impeachment of President Trump on Capitol Hill is growing, but so far it is difficult to say that they have the majority. There are a total of 435 seats in the lower house of Congress. By New York Timesfor example, the impeachment of the incumbent is supported by 179 legislators, 73 people opposed, and 183 members of Congress have not yet announced their position.

At the same time, the US Constitution does not oblige the Senate to hold a “trial”, allowing the leader of the party majority in the upper house (and now control belongs to the Republicans) to simply refuse to hold such hearings.

He may also vote in which Congressional resolution on impeachment may be rejected without consideration of evidence gathered by lawmakers.

Read also on ForumDaily:

'Official request initiated': Trump faces impeachment over Zelensky

'I am already a lesser evil': how Lukashenko 25 years in power

How Democrats put themselves in a trap and how Trump uses it

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