Donald Trump impeachment? What is It?
The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, announced an impeachment hearing on US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, 24th of September.
An impeachment is a process in which the legislature of the country can bring charges against a government official. An impeachment by itself is not capable of removing the official from office. Once a person is impeached by a legislature, a formal hearing on the charges will be carried out and the impeached person can be convicted by a legislative vote, mostly by a supermajority. Impeachment is not a punishment, but it exists as a constitutional law in many countries to remove officials who are unfit to wield power from office.
Historically, the first ever impeachment was in 1376 in the English “Good Parliament” against William Latimer.
Article II, Section 4 of the US constitution says “The president, vice-president and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” The phrase “High crimes and misdemeanors” have a broad meaning.
This phrase elaborates that an impeachable offense doesn’t necessarily has to be a criminal conduct. High crimes and misdemeanors include dishonesty, negligence, abuse of authority etc.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding father’s of the United States, says “Impeachment provides for the regular punishment of the executive when his misconduct should deserve it and for his honorable acquittal when he should be unjustly accused”.
The impeachment against Donald Trump was filed as a result of the Trump-Ukraine political scandal. President Trump is accused of abusing his powers to pressure the leader’s of multiple foreign nation, most notably Ukraine, for his personal and political interests. A whistleblower report says that President Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Guiliani pressured the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on multiple occasions to start an investigation against his Democratic Opponent Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
Trump has advised his staff to withhold over $ 400 Million of military aid which Ukraine desperately needs to fend off threats from Russia and separatist groups. President Trump was so determined to prove his allegations against the Bidens that he made several phone calls to the Ukrainian President which the Trump administration tried to hide from the law-makers.
President Trump defended his actions by saying “The call I made to Ukrainian President was perfect. But the whistleblower made it sound terrible.” Democratic Congressman recited a dialogue between President Trump and President Zelensky which took place on 25th of July. President Trump is accusing Congressman Schiff of reciting a fake dialogue by saying “He made up a phony call and he read it to congress.”
It was in midst of this political controversy, Speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi announced the impeachment against Donald Trump for abuse of power and additional allegations on misconduct. What happens next lies completely in the hands of the US congress.
The impeachment process in the United States mainly consists of 2 stages. The first stage is carried out by the House of Representatives and the next by the Senate.
The house appoints a judicial committee to investigate the articles on the impeachment. Afterwards the articles that are approved by the judicial committee is presented to the floor and the entire house takes a vote. If at least one article gets the majority votes of the house, the impeachment process moves to the senate.
In this stage there are “no set rules”. The senate has to set a procedure for the trial and it is presided by the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The President can have a counsel represent him at the trial. After the Senate listens to the evidence presented and the closing arguments from both sides senators vote on whether the president is guilty or not. The senate’s decision is final and it cannot be appealed.
There have been only two incidents where a US president has been impeached. Presidents Andrew Jackson and Bill Clinton was impeached in 1868 and 1998 respectively. Both were acquitted of all charges. President Richard Nixon faced the risk of being impeached as a result of the Watergate Scandal, but he resigned before the impeachment process commenced. Impeachment on President Trump is the third incident in the U.S. history in which a president is impeached.
Several accusations of Foreign Interferences in U.S. elections have been racked up against President Trump with the most recent being, him asking the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to assist in the William Barr investigation into the Mueller inquiry. The Mueller inquiry was carried out by Federal Prosecutor Robert Mueller regarding Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. On a press conference on Thursday 3rd October, Trump publicly requested the Chinese government to look into the investigation on the Bidens.