United States of America
The US House of Representatives has impeached President Donald Trump for “incitement of insurrection” at last week’s Capitol riot.
Trump Impeached for the second time: The first President in the United States history to have been impeached twice – to be charged with crimes by the Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made clear in a statement to fellow senators that President Trump’s impeachment trial won’t start until after Jan. 19.
McConnell said in the statement that he believes “it will best serve our nation if Congress and the executive branch spend the next seven days completely focused on facilitating a safe inauguration and an orderly transfer of power to the incoming Biden Administration.”
The impeachment decision the House voted on charges Trump with a single article, “incitement of insurrection” for his part in last week’s dangerous Capitol riot.
There is no such thing as a regular impeachment but this one is unprecedented in all sorts of ways.
All and all, the impeachment process laid out in the Constitution is relatively simple:
- A president commits “high Crime or Misdemeanor”
- The House votes to impeach
- The Senate conducts a trial
This impeachment rule will feel entirely new and different from the one we saw in late 2019 around the Ukraine inquiry, most notably because the Senate trial is anticipated to occur after Trump leaves office.
Senior adviser says "it all came crashing down" because President Trump "could never tell the truth" https://t.co/wPuixJuNL1 pic.twitter.com/y0W07jeF1o
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 13, 2021
Here’s why that’s important:
President-Elect Joe Biden will be requesting the Senate to vote on his Cabinet candidates and act on legislation to approach the corona pandemic as well as assistance for Americans hurt by the troubled economy.
In 2020, Senate business ground to a total stop during the trial. This period, incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is expecting to seek a half-day schedule to convey the trial part of the day and business the rest of the day.
The charges this time are much easier to conduct and understand, however. It should still take some number of days with Chief Justice John Roberts presiding and senators sitting in judgment. When both of the new Democratic senators from Georgia are seated, it will take 17 Republicans voting with Democrats to reach a two-thirds majority and convict Trump.
The speedy effort to impeach him surely puts Trump in the state of needing to keep Republican senators on his side. In that regard, it would keep him in line during the ending week of his presidency.
Remember: Impeaching Trump in the House does not discharge him from office. Neither a second House impeachment nor even a Senate vote to convict Trump and remove him from office would bar him from running again, in 2024 or beyond.
Rather, after two-thirds of senators present voted to remove Trump, a simple majority of senators present would have to approve an additional vote to bar him from the presidency in the future.
Barring him from further office could also cost him his more-than $200,000 per year pension if the Senate wants to take that way.
