Photo by Megan White
As President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry moves further along, what exactly does the process look like, and what are the implications of the proceedings so far?
According to professor of political science at Elizabethtown College Fletcher McClellan, the impeachment process starts in the House of Representatives per the U.S Constitution. A majority of the House must vote to impeach a president, then vote on formal charges with which to charge him. McClellan said the word “impeach” means to charge someone with a crime, and in the case of a presidential impeachment, it means that the president “committed treason, high crime or misdemeanors.”
During the investigation phase of the impeachment process, three House committees come together, and the House judiciary committee puts together the articles of impeachment.
Once a president is formally charged, there is a trial in the U.S. Senate, over which the Chief Justice presides. The main question each senator must ask themselves is, “Should the president be removed on one or more charges?” If two-thirds of the senators vote in favor of impeachment, the president is removed from office.
Though two other presidents have been impeached and their trials have moved to the Senate, neither was removed from office. Former President Andrew Johnson was put under impeachment investigation Feb. 24, 1868 on the grounds of violating the Tenure of Office Act, which the Supreme Court would later rule unconstitutional. Johnson was acquitted May 26, 1868, falling one vote short of two-thirds in favor of removal.
The next president to come under impeachment inquiry was Former President Bill Clinton, who was put under investigation Dec. 19, 1998 on the grounds of perjury and obstruction of justice. Clinton was acquitted Feb. 12, 1999, where the vote on perjury was evenly split and the vote on obstruction of justice was decidedly against removal.
A third case was former President Richard Nixon, whose impeachment investigations began July 30, 1974. However, he resigned from office Aug. 8, 1974, terminating the proceedings before the House finished voting on the articles of impeachment.
To date, the House has impeached 19 federal officers. Fifteen were federal judges, two were presidents, one was a Cabinet secretary and one was a U.S. Senator. Of these 19, two cases did not come to trial, seven were acquitted and eight were convicted and removed from office. All of the eight convicted were judges.
So far in the Trump inquiry, everything the public knows is second-hand information from reports.
“It’s hard to say right now, but there appears to be more than enough evidence to charge Trump with abuse of power,” McClellan said. “There is more and more evidence with each passing day that Trump was using foreign governments to further his election.”
McClellan referred to the claims that Russia interfered in the 2016 election that put Trump into office and recently, Trump’s asking of Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
McClellan also said Trump could be charged with another article, contempt of Congress, for refusing to cooperate with Congress during this investigation period. Another point raised was whether or not Trump is personally profiting from his power as president, especially after considering Trump has put up foreign officials and the like on his business properties. For example, he recently abandoned plans to host the 46th annual G7 summit in 2020 at his Doral resort in Florida after bipartisan criticism, according to BBC. The G7 summit is a meeting of the world’s seven largest so-called advanced economies made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S.
Politically, given party lines and national response, most people are in favor of the inquiry, and a majority want Trump to be impeached and removed from office, McClellan said.
If impeached, Trump will go to trial and have his personal lawyers represent him in Senate. The House will present their evidence and the senators will vote on conviction and removal, McClellan said. The business of the government would not stop and legislation could be passed even while Trump is under trial.
Another big question many have is, “How will Trump react to all of this?”
“The pressure seems to be getting to him,” McClellan said. “People are worried about Trump’s state of mind.”
McClellan predicted that if Trump is removed from office, there would be a lot of bitter people.In order for Trump to be removed, people have to get to the point that beyond reasonable doubt, Trump is a danger to our country.
He also said that it would take a lot of evidence, more than what the House has already, for the Senate to remove Trump from office. There also needs to be more movement both in public opinion and among Republicans for conviction to happen.
“If the Democrats are really serious about this, which they are, they’ll have to make their efforts public,” McClellan said.
For public opinion to move, the people need to see very clearly what Trump has done wrong.
“You can’t just rely on media reports,” McClellan said.
