After the Election Ed Lesson Five — Trump Impeachment 2.0

Written by Rachele Terranova, Graphics by Nadia Nugent

In just over one year, Americans have experienced not one rarity when it comes to presidential impeachment, but two. This is only the fourth time in history a president of the United States has been impeached by Congress. Donald Trump’s predecessors include Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Richard Nixon faced formal impeachment inquiries in the House of Representatives, and others have been threatened with impeachment, but none went to trial.

This second impeachment trial of Trump is the only time a president, or anyone in federal office, has been impeached twice. None of these men were removed from office due to the impeachment.

How does it work ?

The whole process is started in the House of Representatives with a formal inquiry of impeachment. The House Judiciary committee can write and pass the articles of impeachment if the situation is decided to warrant such an action. Then, the articles will go to a vote for the entirety of the House.

If a majority is reached in the House, then the president is formally impeached. This does not mean he is no longer president, though. The Senate must take the articles of impeachment to trial. If two-thirds of the senate find the president guilty of what he is being charged with, he will be removed from office. This has been the case for eight federal judges, but these are the only officials, including presidents, who have been convicted in trial and removed from their positions.

Like in the case of Trump, if the president is acquitted in the Senate trial then that’s that, the trial is over. If they are convicted, the senate would then move onto sentencing the president. There are two possible punishments that can be given. First being removal from office. The second is disqualifying the individual from holding future government positions. This second punishment requires a second vote whereas if a president is convicted, he is immediately removed from office. This has never had to happen in the U.S. since no president has been found guilty by the Senate.

Order of events

On the first day, each side argues whether or not congress can impeach the president and try them for the charges.

Second, each side lays out their general arguments. They are both allotted 16 hours to state their case.

Next, senators can ask questions for four hours.

The senate can call witnesses next, but witnesses must be debated and then approved by a majority first.

Closing arguments are next and each side is granted two hours.

Lastly the senators will take a final vote after some potential deliberation.

Trump’s first trial

The first time around, the former president was charged with abuse of power and obstruction of congress. In his trial, no Republicans in the House voted to impeach while three Democrats voted to acquit him for one or both of the articles of impeachment. When it came to the Senate trial, the members voted mainly along party lines not to charge Trump.

For his second trial a new article of impeachment was brought to the table, that being incitement of insurrection in reference to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The House once again voted to impeach Trump two hundred and thirty two voting yes (ten of which were Republicans joining the Democratic vote) to one hundred and ninety seven Republicans did not believe Donald Trump should be charged with incitement of insurrection. He became the first President to be twice impeached. In the Senate trial he was also once again acquitted. This time though, seven Republicans voted along with the unanimous Democrat vote in favor of impeachment.

Trial Timeline

Day 1: Feb. 9

The senate voted the trial was constitutional, but only six Republicans were included in that vote.

Days 2-4: Feb. 10 – 12

Unseen videos from the insurrection at the Capitol, Tweets and speeches of Trump were shown to prove he made the path for his supporters to follow leading up to Jan. 6. Videos showing riot attendees stating that the president invited their attack is also shown. House managers closed by warning of further violence Trump could incite should he not be convicted and voted to be barred from holding government office ever again.

Trump’s defense team made their arguments, diminishing his affiliation or incitement of the violence.

Day 5 : Feb. 12

Senators spent several hours questioning both sides.

Day 6 : Feb. 13

The Senate allowed the calling of witnesses in a 55-45 vote but House managers dropped their call for witnesses following a deal with Trump’s defense team.

Closing arguments were heard and though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell voted to acquit Trump of his charge of inciting insurrection, he continued to condemn him by stating “There is no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.”

Verdict and what it means

Trump was not convicted in his second impeachment trial, so now what? This means there was no vote to bar him from ever holding public government office again. This doesn’t mean he can’t or won’t be held accountable for other matters. McConnell said on the topic, “He didn’t get away with anything yet.” He is still responsible for the things he has done now that he is back to just being a citizen of the U.S. The statute of limitations is at least five years to bring about a federal case for a criminal investigation against the former president. This kind of thing will take time as new evidence is surfacing every day, but federal prosecutors may decide not to do anything as there are other investigations also happening where they may consider justice is being served.

At the moment, there is an open criminal investigation in Fulton County, Ga. into Trump’s attempt to overturn the election results with a call to Georgia’s secretary of state to find more votes. Additionally, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. “Is in the midst of an 18-month criminal grand jury investigation focusing in part on hush-money payments paid to women on Trump’s behalf, and whether Trump or his businesses manipulated the value of assets — inflating them in some cases and minimizing them in others — to gain favorable loan terms and tax benefits.”