After Democrats have claimed that Donald Trump has violated the US Constitution, he might face a formal impeachment inquiry. Though to be clear an impeachment of US President Donald Trump doesn’t lead to his removal from his position.
Donald Trump impeachment
Actually the impeachment of a US president means passing of a resolution listing charges against him by a simple majority in the House of Representatives with the process beginning with the constitution of a body for the inquiry into the charges.
On Tuesday, House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the opening of a formal impeachment inquiry, which Donald Trump termed as “witch hunt garbage”.
The US president accused Democrats of another political “witch hunt”, and previewed his defence in an all-caps tweet: “PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!”
After months of investigations by House Democrats of the Trump administration, the impeachment enquiry sets up the party’s most direct and consequential confrontation with the president, injects deep uncertainty into the 2020 election campaign and tests anew the nation’s constitutional system of checks and balances.
Trumps What happens Next and Will he be Fired?
The impeachment proceedings against Trump emanate from a phone call that was made by Donald Trump on July 25 to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. A whistleblower, the name is still not disclosed, sent a complaint alleging that Donald Trump sought favours from Zelensky to help him in the upcoming US presidential election, which is still 14 months away.
Allegedly, Donald Trump asked Zelensky to launch a corruption investigation against Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Joe Biden is a Democratic Party presidential candidate for the 2020 election and is considered as a potential rival to Donald Trump when he seeks re-election next year.
Democrats have used the whistleblower’s complaint to launch a formal impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. The Democrats claim Mr. Trump’s alleged actions show he violated the Constitution by inviting help from a foreign power in a domestic election.
However, impeachment and subsequent removal of the US president is a complex two-phase process. According to the US constitution, the president “shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanours.” Before a complaint reaches the point of impeachment in the US Congress, a cumbersome process has to be completed.
Meanwhile, the Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday and six Democrat-led House committees have already been carrying out various ad hoc investigations of Mr. Trump.
The judiciary committee will then decide if there are grounds for impeachment. If there is a majority, the judiciary committee will draw up articles of impeachment, essentially formal charges against the president.
The articles would then be passed to the full House, which debates and votes. Again, only a simple majority is needed, on each article. The Democrats are in the majority in the House. The articles of impeachment then form the basis of a trial in the senate. It will be presided over by the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the US.
A two thirds “supermajority” is needed in the 100-member Senate to convict. If convicted Mr Trump would be removed from office. The vice-president, in such case, will assume the role of the president for the remainder of the term.
Earlier, two American presidents, including Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, have been impeached before. Mr. Clinton survived impeachment. He was not convicted in a Senate that was dominated by Democrats. Mr. Johnson also survived his Senate trial, by just one vote.
Leave a Reply