U.S: Trump impeached for record second time

PRESIDENT Trump has made a dark history as the first president in US history to be impeached twice.

In a historical bipartisan exercise, 10 Republicans joined forces with 222 Democrats to attain the 232 votes that secured the impeachment. The ‘nay’ (opposition to the move) — all Republicans were 197 in number.

Only 217 votes were needed to impeach the President.

This impeachment process was entirely new and different from the one late 2019 over the Ukraine investigation.

But the Senate trial to affirm the impeachment is expected to occur after Trump leaves office on January 20.

The House passed an article charging him with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in last week’s deadly Capitol attack.

Trump will stay in office and likely finish out his term because it takes a Senate conviction to remove him, even after he’s been impeached.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is signaling he’s in favor of impeachment, but won’t agree to bring back Senate early for trial, GOP sources say.

The impeachment resolution the House voted on charges Trump with a single article, “incitement of insurrection” for his role in last week’s deadly Capitol riot.

There is no such thing as a routine impeachment but this one is unprecedented in all sorts of ways.

The overall 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

Here’s why that’s important:

New President Joe Biden will be asking the Senate to vote on his Cabinet nominees and act on legislation to address the Covid pandemic as well as relief for Americans hurt by the troubled economy.

In 2020, Senate business ground to a complete halt during the trial. This time, incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is hoping to pursue a half-day schedule to conduct the trial part of the day and business the rest of the day.

The charges this time are much simpler to convey 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 swift effort to impeach him certainly puts Trump in the position of wanting to keep Republican senators on his side. In that regard, it would keep him in check during the last week of his presidency.

Remember: Impeaching Trump in the House does not remove him from office. Neither a second House impeachment nor even a Senate vote to convict Trump and remove him from office would prevent 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.

Source: CNN