Trump's Impeachement

What is an impeachement?
The US. Constitution permits Congress to remove presidents before their
term is up if enough lawmakers vote to say that they committed “treason,
bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Only two presidents have been impeached — Andrew Johnson in 1868 and
Bill Clinton in 1998 — and both were ultimately acquitted and completed their
terms in office. Richard M. Nixon resigned in 1974 to avoid being impeached.

In normal order, there would be an impeachment investigation and the

evidence would be sent to the House Judiciary Committee, which would hold
hearings, draft articles and send them to the full House. That’s what
happened in 2019 when the House impeached Trump over his dealings with
the president of Ukraine. It took three months.

This time, with so few days to act — and a feeling among Democrats that
there is little need to investigate what happened since most members of
Congress heard Trump speak to his supporters and were in the Capitol when
the mob broke in — impeachment is going straight to the House floor for a
vote, which would come as soon as Wednesday.

Once the House votes to impeach, the articles and evidence would be sent
to the Senate, where a trial would be held and there would be final votes to
convict or acquit. That’s what the Senate did in early February of last year
after Trump was impeached the first time.

What is a “high crime”?

The term “high crimes and misdemeanors” came out of the British common
law tradition: it was the sort of offense that Parliament cited in removing
crown officials for centuries. Essentially, it means an abuse of power by a
high-level public official. This does not necessarily have to be a violation of
an ordinary criminal statute.

In 1788, as supporters of the Constitution were urging states to ratify the

document, Alexander Hamilton described impeachable crimes in one of the
Federalist Papers as “those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of
public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public
trust. They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated
POLITICAL, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society
itself.”
Why is Trump getting impeached?

From the moment he took office, President Trump’s refusal to divest from his
business interests has placed him in direct violation of the US Constitution’s
Foreign Emoluments Clause and Domestic Emoluments Clause. Since then,
his corruption and abuse of power have only increased. The President must
be held accountable under the law, through the impeachment process, for
these serious violations and for this unprecedented level of corruption of the
Oval Office.
Free Speech For People and RootsAction call upon Congress to open an
investigation to determine whether there are sufficient grounds to impeach
President Trump, including:
1. obstruction of justice;
2. violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause and Domestic
Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitution;
3. conspiring with others to: (a) commit crimes against the United States
involving the solicitation and intended receipt by the Donald J. Trump
campaign of things of value from a foreign government and other
foreign nationals; and (b) conceal those violations;
4. advocating illegal violence, giving aid and comfort to white
supremacists and neo-Nazis, and undermining constitutional
protections of equal protection under the law;
5. abusing the pardon power;
6. recklessly threatening nuclear war against foreign nations,
undermining and subverting the essential diplomatic functions and
authority of federal agencies, including the United States Department
of State, and engaging in other conduct that grossly and wantonly
endangers the peace and security of the United States, its people and
people of other nations, by heightening the risk of hostilities involving
weapons of mass destruction, with reckless disregard for the risk of
death and grievous bodily harm;
7. directing or endeavoring to direct law enforcement, including the
Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to
investigate and prosecute political adversaries and others, for improper
purposes not justified by any lawful function of his office, thereby
eroding the rule of law, undermining the independence of law
 enforcement from politics, and compromising the constitutional right to
due process of law;
8. undermining the freedom of the press;
9. cruelly and unconstitutionally imprisoning children and their families;
and
10. making and directing illegal payments to influence the 2016 election.

What is the process?

In both the Nixon and the Clinton cases, the House Judiciary Committee first
held an investigation and recommended articles of impeachment to the full
House. In theory, however, the House of Representatives could instead set
up a special panel to handle the proceedings — or just hold a floor vote on
such articles without any committee vetting them.

When the full House votes on articles of impeachment, if at least one gets a
majority vote, the president is impeached — which is essentially the
equivalent of being indicted.

Donald Trump's second impeachment: five key takeaways

1. There are signs of a deep split within the Republican party

Some of the most high-profile members of Republican leadership aren’t

denouncing the Democratic effort. Quite the contrary. Congresswoman Liz
Cheney of Wyoming, the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference,
announced on Tuesday that she would join Democrats and a handful of
House Republicans in voting to impeach Trump.
2. The most bipartisan impeachment in American history

Unlike the last time Democrats impeached Trump, there’s a higher level of
bipartisan support for the move. Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the House
minority leader and top-ranking Republican in that chamber, said during a
speech on Wednesday that Trump was partially to blame for the mob assault
on the Capitol last week.

3. The vast majority of Republicans refused to concede any fault

Throughout the debate on Wednesday two patterns emerged among the

arguments Republicans made: deflect and denounce. Republicans
repeatedly denounced the mob attack last week.

4. The Senate is a mystery

How things will shake out in the Senate is a mystery. McConnell wrote in a
letter to colleagues that he has not “made a final decision on how I will vote
and I intend to listen to legal arguments when they are presented to the
Senate”.

5. Democrats’ security concerns seem well-founded

Reporters and lawmakers noted the increased security presence around the
Capitol. Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts noted in his floor
speech that there were more US soldiers patrolling the Capitol than were
stationed in Afghanistan.

Summary (If you have reached this point this is what you need to know)
• Donald Trump became the first US president to be impeached
twice. The House voted to impeach Trump on incitement of
insurrection, after the president incited a violent mob to storm the
Capitol last week, resulting in five deaths.
• Ten House Republicans voted in favor of impeachment. Their
votes made this the most bipartisan presidential impeachment in US
history. The final vote on the article of impeachment was 232-197.
• Nancy Pelosi delivered an impassioned speech calling on
members to support impeachment. “He must go,” the Democratic
speaker said of the president. “He is a clear and present danger to the
nation we all love.”
• Kevin McCarthy said Trump “bears responsibility” for the Capitol
attack but did not deserve to be impeached. “The president bears
responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” the
Republican minority leader said. “He should have immediately
denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.”
• Mitch McConnell has said the impeachment trial will happen after
Biden has taken office on 20 January. McConnell will remain the
majority leader in the Senate until at least 22 January, when the results
of the two Georgia elections are certified and Democrats Raphael
Warnock and Jon Ossoff take offices.
• Joe Biden said the senate must balance the impeachment trial
with coronavirus response. “I hope that the Senate leadership will
find a way to deal with their constitutional responsibilities on
impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this
nation,” he said.
• Pelosi introduced a rule change to fine members who evade the
detectors. This after several Republican members of Congress
protested the metal detectors installed after the deadly attack on the
US Capitol. The House will vote on the fines when Congress returns to
session on 21 January.
• Banned from social media, Trump has released a video statement
condemning violence. He made no mention of his impeachment and
did not take responsibility for inciting or encouraging the attack on the
US Capitol last week.