How impeaching a U.S. President would work

How impeaching a U.S. President would work

Calls to impeach President Donald Trump have been rising each day, mostly among some Democrats.

Recent admissions that he tried to influence Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden at the same time that U.S. military aid was frozen has further increased calls for his ouster.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House will officially initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump.

According to a report by CNN, it would take the following for Trump to be impeached;

Initiate impeachment proceedings


Pelosi has broken with this format and has chosen to instruct the six House committees already investigating Trump to proceed “under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry.”



Investigating impeachable offenses

Impeachable offenses, according to the US Constitution, include “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

What exactly constitutes those crimes, particularly high crimes and misdemeanors, has been the subject of vigorous debate throughout US history.

During previous impeachment inquiries, a House committee, usually the Judiciary Committee or its subcommittee, conducts an investigation to see if a federal official’s conduct warrants impeachment.

This will be a contentious process.

House votes



Currently, Democrats hold a 235 to 198 majority over Republicans. Michigan representative Justin Amash, who left the Republican Party in July after announcing his support for impeachment proceedings, is the chamber’s one independent and there is one vacancy.




A Senate trial


Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell simply decided not to hold a vote on Merrick Garland’s nomination by President Barack Obama to sit on the Supreme Court.


If there were a trial, senators become jurors and the chief justice of the US Supreme Court presides — that’s John Roberts. The House votes on managers who bring the trial in the Senate.



But it takes a super majority to remove a President from office. That means 67 senators would have to agree that Trump should be removed from office.


How long does this take?

Pelosi has not given a time frame for this process but she told her colleagues it would be done “expeditiously,” and Nadler has hoped to conclude it by the end of the year.




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Story By Paul Ombati
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