Articles of impeachment: Explaining what's next in the House

Associated Press

Mary Clare Jalonick

Associated Press


The articles are likely to mostly encompass Democrats' findings on Trump's dealings with Ukraine. Democrats are still writing them, but the articles could charge Trump with abuse of office, bribery and obstruction. 





In a Senate trial, senators are jurors and select House members act as prosecutors, or impeachment managers. The chief justice of the Supreme Court presides. If the Senate approves an article of impeachment with a two-thirds vote of "guilty," the president is convicted and removed from office. If all the articles are rejected, the president is acquitted. 




The articles of impeachment are likely to encompass two major themes — abuse of office and obstruction. But they could be divvied up into multiple articles. 


Some lawmakers have suggested that Democrats could break out "bribery" as a separate article. It would likely center on Trump withholding the aid, and also withholding a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in exchange for the political investigations. 




There has been an internal debate in the House Democratic caucus about how many articles to write and how much to include — and whether to include matters beyond Ukraine at all. 

Some moderate Democrats have argued that the articles should focus solely on Ukraine, as they believe it's a clearer case. Others say they can't ignore Mueller's report, which said that Trump couldn't be exonerated of obstructing the special counsel's investigation. He essentially left the matter up to Congress. 

Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly says it would be a "terrible mistake"to ignore obstruction of justice as laid out by Mueller. But he said Democrats "certainly don't want everything in the kitchen sink" in the articles, either. 

"I think we should keep it as simple as possible," said California Rep. Eric Swalwell, a member of the Judiciary and Intelligence panels. "I think it's important that this is digestible for everyday Americans who are understandably busy, but understand what a shakedown is, too."