Trump Impeached?
On December 18th, 2019 the House impeached Mr Trump on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. President Trump, a Republican, who strongly denies any accusation, is the third president in US history to be impeached in the Democratic Party controlled House of Representatives.
The impeachment against Mr Trump began on September 24th, 2019 with a formal complaint from a whistleblower about Mr Trump’s July 25th phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky. He is accused of abusing his power by using his office to request Ukraine to investigate his political rival for personal political gain and to damage national security; and obstructing Congress by refusing to cooperate with the congressional inquiry.
The impeachment happens in two stages. First, two articles of impeachment would be brought to the House of Representatives, something which has already happened and has been passed in a vote along party lines. The next stage heads to Senate where a trial will be held, most likely in January 2020. A two-third vote is required for a president’s removal. Since the Senate is currently controlled by the Republican Party, conviction for Trump is considered unlikely.
With Democrats and Republicans arguing over how the Senate trial should be conducted, it is unclear when it will commence. This has evoked series of tweets from the president on December 19th, demanding an immediate start of the trial and accusing the Democrats of delaying due to their poor case.
He tweeted: “So after the Democrats gave me no Due Process in the House, no lawyers, no witnesses, no nothing, they now want to tell the Senate how to run their trial. Actually, they have zero proof of anything, they will never even show up. They want out. I want an immediate trial!”
To start the trial, the House must send the articles of impeachment to the Senate. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is refusing to do so until the rules of the Senate trial are acceptable to Democrats. The Democrats demands the Senate’s Republican leader, Mitch McConnell – who determines the terms of the trial and leads the majority in the Senate - to provide details on which witnesses and what testimony will be allowed. Mr McConnell refused to do so and has said “We Remain at an impasse” after a meeting with the Democrat’s Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer.
But a delay would definitely pose a serious problem. As the process of impeachment, the constitution does not only compose of a vote by the House, but of the sending of articles to the Senate for trial. Under the Constitution, the impeachment requires the House to send its articles to the Senate with managers standing up and confirming that the president has been impeached. Therefore, if the House does not communicate with the Senate, impeachment has not occurred and Mr Trump can legitimately say he was not fully impeached.
Thus, the headlines with “Trump Impeached” are not technically a correct legal statement. As the House only voted to impeach Mr Trump, he is yet to actually be impeached by the Senate.
By Amy Lee