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-Editorial
The impeachment of President Donald Trump will go down in the annals of the history of the United States. Trump will become the third President in history to be impeached and will be joining Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton on that shortlist.
Voting nearly along party lines, the House approved two articles of impeachment against President Trump, making him the third president in history to face removal by the Senate. Trump is accused of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Democrats accuse Trump of using the levers of government to solicit election assistance from Ukraine in the form of investigations to discredit his Democratic political rivals.
The only way for Congress to remove a sitting president is to find him or her guilty during a Senate trial. In that trial, which comes after the House votes to approve articles of impeachment, the Chief Justice of the United States presides and the 100 members of the Senate serve as the jury. A full two-thirds of the Senate jurors present needs to vote “guilty” for a president to be convicted.
Impeachment in the United States is the process by which a legislature brings charges against a civil officer of government for crimes alleged to have been committed, analogous to the bringing of an indictment by a grand jury. Impeachment may occur at the federal level or the state level. The federal House of Representatives can impeach federal officials, including the President, and each state’s legislature can impeach state officials, including the governor, in accordance with their respective federal or state constitution.
