On December 18th, history was made when the House of Representatives voted to adopt two articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump; this makes him the third US president in American history to be impeached. These articles charge him with Abuse of Power, and Obstruction of Congress. In the coming months, it’s expected that the Senate will receive these articles and vote on the possible removal of President Trump.
Ukraine Scandal
The catalyst of the impeachment investigation was a whistleblower complaint filed on August 12th that claimed that in a July 25th call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump solicited foreign interference for his own political gain (Wolf, 2019). Through further investigation following the impeachment inquiry, it was found that Trump had ordered that congress-approved military aid be withheld prior to the call (Herb, 2019).
According to the rough transcript of the July 25th call, released by the White House, Trump responded to a comment by President Zelenskyy about the United States’ support of Ukraine in defense by saying, “I would like you to do us a favor though.” Trump then proceeded to ask that President Zelenskyy works with the attorney general to investigate a debunked conspiracy theory of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election (CNN, 2019). Later in the call, Trump also asks that President Zelenskyy investigate his 2020 opponent Joe Biden for alleged abuse of power to protect his son Hunter Biden whilst on the board for a gas company in Ukraine (Haltiwanger, 2019). By asking for a “favor” whilst withholding aid, it’s believed that Trump solicited a quid pro quo— “this for that”.
What is Impeachment?
A common misconception people have regarding the impeachment process is they mistake impeachment for removal from office. Impeachment, however, is simply a formal political accusation of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” by a government official (Kinkopf, 2019). For a president to be removed from office, the House of Representatives must first have a simple majority vote to approve the articles of impeachment—thus impeaching the president. These articles of impeachment must then proceed to the Senate where the president will be tried and can be convicted and removed from office with a two-thirds majority vote (Telegraph, 2019).
Only two Presidents have been Impeached: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton—though Richard Nixon undoubtedly would have been as well had he not resigned. Johnson was impeached in 1886 for violating the since repealed Tenure of Office Act, and Clinton was impeached in 1998 for lying under oath and obstruction of justice (History, 2009). Both, however, were acquitted by the Senate; therefore, no president has ever been removed from office through the Impeachment process.
Impeachment Process
Despite previously disputing calls for impeachment, Nancy Pelosi told The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg that the Ukraine scandal “is the most understandable by the public” and therefore can gain the support necessary to proceed with the impeachment process (Haltiwanger, 2019). On September 24th, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives would be launching an impeachment inquiry into President Trump (Przybyla, 2019).
Less than three months after the House Judiciary Committee opened its investigations, on December 5, Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives would proceed with drafting the articles of impeachment and on December 10th released two articles that would charge President Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress (Mascaro, 2019) (NPR, 2019). The article “Abuse of Power” refers to Trump soliciting foreign interference in order to dig up dirt on a political rival, and the article “Obstruction of Congress” is in reference to his order that key witnesses defy their subpoena (Wolf, 2019).
The first article, “Abuse of Power” was adopted with 230 votes in favor, 197 votes opposed, and 1 vote present. The second article, “Obstruction of Congress was adopted with 229 votes in favor, 198 votes opposed, and 1 vote present. Notably, all house Republicans and two Democrats, Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey voted against the adoption of both articles (Alfonso, 2019). One Democrat, Jared Golden of Maine, voted in favor of only the first article, and one Democrat, presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, voted present on both (Alfonso, 2019).
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel has stated that the Senate will not be voting on the articles of impeachment before they break for Christmas, meaning it will likely not take place before January of 2020 (Levine, 2019). Furthermore, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has yet to send the articles of impeachment to the senate (C-Span, 2019). Pelosi has not clearly stated what her intentions of this withholding are but has stated that the articles will not be sent to the senate until we know “the process that is set forth in the Senate” (Faulders, 2019). This is likely in the hopes that the Senate will decide to conduct a full trial, calling on the key witnesses that did not previously testify.
Due to the unprecedented nature of the removal process, the Senate still must choose how they will conduct the trial and vote. With a simple majority vote, they could choose to conduct a formal second trial, or after the House presents the articles and Trump’s lawyers give their defense, the Senate can choose to proceed with the vote without a trial (Levine, 2019). To meet the two-thirds majority necessary to convict Trump, in addition to the likely support of the 45 Democrats and two independents in the Senate, 20 Republicans would have to vote against their party (Samuels, 2019). With partisan American politics, this would have the potential of severely impacting their political career, making it unlikely many would choose to do so.
There is, however, the possibility of a secret ballot. Though still unlikely, if only three Republican senators choose to condition their support of the trial proceedings on a secret ballot it would be a plausible outcome and could greatly impact the result of the final vote (Glover, 2019). Former Republican Senator Jeff Flake predicted in September that if the Senate held a secret vote, “at least 35” Republicans would vote against Trump (Wulfsohn, 2019).
The bottom line of these proceedings is ultimately accountability. Despite the unlikelihood of the Senate voting to convict President Trump, it’s the role of Congress to balance the power of our government. Therefore, if an acting president abuses their role, they must be impeached to establish that they are not above the law. Considering recent foreign interference this is more important than ever to send the message that the government is designed to serve the American people and cannot be exploited for personal gain.
Works Cited
Alfonso, Fernando, and Mike Hayes. “December 18 Impeachment Vote and News - CNNPolitics.” CNN, Cable News Network, 19 Dec. 2019, www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/impeachment-inquiry-12-18-2019/index.html.
CNN. “Read Trump’s Phone Conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky.” CNN, Cable News Network, 26 Sept. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/09/25/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-transcript-call/index.html.
C-Span. “Speaker Pelosi Won’t Name Impeachment Managers Until Senate Trial Process Is Known.” C-Span, 18 Dec. 2019, www.c-span.org/video/?467571-1%2Fspeaker-pelosi-impeachment-managers-senate-trial-process.
Faulders, Katherine, and Benjamin Siegel. “Pelosi: Not Sending Impeachment Articles to Senate until She Sees Details of Trial Process.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 19 Dec. 2019, www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/pelosi-sending-impeachment-articles-senate-sees-details-trial/story?id=67824327.
Glover, Juleanna, et al. “There’s a Surprisingly Plausible Path to Removing Trump From Office.” POLITICO Magazine, 12 Nov. 2019, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/11/12/path-to-removing-donald-trump-from-office-229911.
Haltiwanger, John. “A Ukraine Gas Company Tied to Joe Biden’s Son Is at the Center of the Trump-Whistleblower Scandal.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 19 Nov. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-gas-company-burisma-holdings-joe-bidens-son-hunter-explained-2019-9.
Haltiwanger, John. “Nancy Pelosi Said There’s One Key Reason Why She Finally Moved Forward on Impeachment.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 24 Sept. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/pelosi-finally-moved-forward-on-impeachment-for-one-key-reason-2019-9.
Herb, Jeremy, et al. “Trump Administration Officially Put Hold on Ukraine Aid Same Day as Trump Call.” CNN, Cable News Network, 26 Nov. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/11/26/politics/ukraine-aid-trump-call-omb/index.html.
History.com Editors. “President Clinton Impeached.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 24 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-clinton-impeached.
History.com Editors. “Tenure of Office Act.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 18 Dec. 2009, www.history.com/topics/reconstruction/tenure-of-office-act.
Kinkopf, Neil J. “Article II, Section 4.” Article II | The National Constitution Center, 2019, www.constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-ii/clauses/349.
Levine, Marianne. “McConnell: Senate Won’t Take up Impeachment Trial before Christmas.” POLITICO, 10 Dec. 2019, www.politico.com/news/2019/12/10/mcconnell-senate-impeachment-trial-christmas-080962.
Mascaro, Lisa, and Mary Clare Jalonick. “Pelosi Announces House to Draft Articles of Impeachment against Trump – The Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, The Boston Globe, 5 Dec. 2019, www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2019/12/05/pelosi-deliver-public-statement-trump-impeachment/7ic6Uf1wNrwv3YJAQM8ncP/story.html.
NPR Staff. “READ: Articles Of Impeachment Against President Trump.” NPR, NPR, 10 Dec. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/12/10/786579846/read-articles-of-impeachment-against-president-trump.
Przybyla, Heidi, and Adam Edelman. “Nancy Pelosi Announces Formal Impeachment Inquiry of Trump.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 25 Sept. 2019, www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/pelosi-announce-formal-impeachment-inquiry-trump-n1058251.
Samuels, David. “Analysis | Would Republican Senators Ever Vote to Convict Trump? Here’s What We Can Learn from the Rest of the World.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 27 Nov. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/27/would-republican-senators-ever-vote-convict-trump-heres-what-we-can-learn-rest-world/.
Telegraph. “What Is Impeachment and How Long Does the Process Take?” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 19 May 2017, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/impeachment-long-does-process-take/.
Wolf, Richard. “’Obstruction of Congress:’ Trump’s Stonewalling Becomes Basis for Impeachment.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 11 Dec. 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/10/impeachment-obstructing-congress-hard-trump-rebut/4385667002/.
Wolf, Zachary B. “Whistleblower Complaint, Annotated.” CNN, Cable News Network, 26 Sept. 2019, www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/09/politics/whistleblower-complaint-annotated/.
Wulfsohn, Joseph A. “Jeff Flake Says ‘at Least 35’ Republican Senators Would Privately Vote to Impeach Trump.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 1 Oct. 2019, www.foxnews.com/media/jeff-flake-35-gop-senators-impeach-trump.
Photo Credit
The Guardian. “The Guardian on Instagram: "#BREAKING: Donald Trump Has Been Impeached for Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress, Becoming Just the Third US President in History...".” Instagram, 18 Dec. 2019, www.instagram.com/p/B6PNwVGhJfM/.
CNN. “CNN on Instagram: ‘Watch the Moments House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Announced the House of Representatives Passed Two Articles of Impeachment against President...".” Instagram, 18 Dec. 2019, www.instagram.com/p/B6PNhUqDpQP/.
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