Finally, the inevitable has happened! The House has impeached President Trump on both the counts – The Abuse of Power and Obstruction to the functioning of Congress. The Hose tonight voted in favor of the impeachment, and the vote count read 230 to 197 on abuse of power and 229 to 198 on obstruction to Congress.
Image – BBC
This has made Trump the third president to be impeached in office in the history of the US. The voting was held after a six-hour-long debate. The speeches were of one to the two-minute duration and involved the Democrats and Republicans vociferously arguing in favor of or against the impeachment. However, he has continued to be the president for now, even after the impeachment. The removal trial is something that the Senate has to take a call on, and if the indications are any proof, he has a very little chance of being removed.
What will happen next?
A trial is likely to come up in the Senate over the next year, but you may not find him losing his office as such. The impeachment has finally ended over two month’s inquiry to its logical conclusion. The debate was mostly witnessed the locking horns of the Democrats and Republicans. Democrats alleged that Trump’s conduct was worthy of impeachment. Republicans, on the other hand, blamed the Democrats for finding an excuse to impeach Trump.
As per the Constitution, the person impeached can continue to be in the office. It is a call that the Senate has to take as to whether they want to undertake a removal trial against the President. Two presidents in the past have been impeached but continued to stay in office – Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson.
The removal will need the Senators to sit as jurors, Chief Justice presiding over it, and House lawmakers as the prosecutors. The removal trial needs two-thirds of voting to arrive at the right decision on whether to remove the President or not.
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