Only two presidents have ever been impeached and removed from office, but will we have to make room for a third? Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California, has filed an article of impeachment against our president, Donald Trump, with claims dating back to the election process. Rep. Sherman claims that the act of firing James Comey interfered with the investigation which was underway regarding Russian interference in the US election.
What are the next steps to impeach Trump?
As a Congressman, Sherman has taken the first of many steps to impeach the president. The House Judiciary Committee will now review this filing and determine whether or not to pursue the issue further and calling for a vote by the full House. At this point, if a simple majority of the House voted, "Yes," it would become a full impeachment inquiry. This launches into an investigation by the House Judiciary Committee, where they would determine if there is enough basis in the claim to send it forward to the Senate and draft articles to be voted on individually before being passed along. If one or more articles are passed along and the full House votes to send it to the Senate, the President is then "technically" impeached. However, there are several further steps needed to remove him from office. Members of Congress would then act as prosecutors in a trial and defend their case before the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, in this case being John Roberts who has been serving since 2005 on life-time tenure. The President can choose to defend himself or be represented by a lawyer. What do you think Trump would choose?
Two thirds of the Senate must vote in favor of impeaching him in order for him to be fully impeached and removed from office. His successor would be our Vice President, Mike Pence, followed by the Speaker of the House (Paul Ryan, R.), then the Senate President Pro Tempore (Orrin Hatch, R.).
Will Trump be impeached?
To be totally blunt, it's not very likely. Only one leader, Al Green of Texas, has publicly announced his approval and co-sponsorship of the motion and many Democrats in DC have already expressed their lack of approval. These Democrats are already turning their shoulders and devoting their efforts to his policies, such as the recent travel ban which has taken effect. However, public approval may not mean as much as we think it does if we all learned anything from the 2016 presidential election, and there could be more silent supporters than we realize. Only time will tell how far this really goes, but based upon what we know of the case and its level of approval, the impeachment process is likely to fizzle out early.
What are Trump's thoughts on being impeached?
One can only guess what is running through our POTUS's head right now and how many almost-Tweets have been typed out. While the White House sorts out the real issues here, let's all kill time and guess what we think Trump would/will Tweet regarding his potential impeachment.
