The recent impeachment of the controversial US president, Donald Trump, by the Democrats, who form the majority in the House of Representatives, is bound to have far reaching consequences for the American political landscape, whether or not Trump is absolved next month by the Senate, where his Republican Party holds the majority.
Democrats had previously called for Trump's impeachment, pointing out the role of Russia in the 2016 presidential vote, as the reason. However, upon the release of the report of especial inspector, Robert Muller, on alleged Russian interference in US election campaign, and the negation of any collusion, this controversial issue was relatively settled.
Next came the Ukraine-Gate crisis, as a result of a whistleblower who exposed the nefarious activities of Trump through his pressures on his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, on withholding aid, unless he was to tarnish the image of Joe Biden, the former US vice president, who as the leading Democrat was expected to beat Trump in next year’s presidential elections.
On July 25, 2019, in a bid to seek information on the activities of Hunter Biden, the son of the US Democrat presidential candidate, in order to launch a propaganda campaign against the Democrats, Trump had conditioned the payment of $400 million in military aid to Ukraine to yield to Washington’s pressures.
Upon disclosure of this phone call, the US House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, officially called for an investigation and steps to impeach Trump on charges of treason. Pelosi accused Trump of abuse of power and efforts to force a foreign country to interfere in US affairs. This development has endangered Trump's political life and has turned into a nightmare for the incumbent US president.
In the meantime, in reaction to approval of a bill for Trump's impeachment at the US House of Representatives, the White House issued a statement in condemnation of this measure, and accused the Democrats of adopting an unjust process.
The House impeached Trump on two counts: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He will go on to be tried by the Senate, with the chief justice of the Supreme Court presiding. No sitting president has ever been convicted.
However, following Trump’s impeachment by the House of Representatives, there are speculations that if the Democrats remain doubtful about the terms of Trump's trial at the US Senate; they may refrain from deliverance of Trump's impeachment ratification to Senate, at least in the short run. Democrats need the votes of at least twenty Republican senators for ouster of Trump from his presidential post. This comes while not even one Republican voted for Trump's impeachment at the US House of Representatives.
Republican Congressmen do not favor Trump's impeachment, given that such a move would deal a deadly blow to the Republican Party on the verge of 2020 US presidential elections. According to reports, the Senate will debate Trump's impeachment trial on January 2020.
Donald Trump is the third US president to be impeached, following Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998, and Andrew Johnson in 1968 – both of them in their second terms. President Richard Nixon resigned before he could be impeached in 1974.
Meanwhile, to this date, no US president has been dismissed as the result of impeachment, since both Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were absolved by the Senate. Based on the legal process, upon the approval of the ratification for Trump's impeachment at US House of Representatives, this resolution is sent to US Senate so that in January 2020, hearings will be held for Trump's trial. At the US Senate meetings, Senators will decide on whether Trump would be dismissed or not.
Given that Trump’s impeachment is the first such case during the first term of a president in US history, its final outcome will leave a decisive impact on his re-election.
Democrats hope that Trump's approval rating would fall and would even prompt him to pull out of 2020 US presidential campaign, because of the chances of his failure.
Impeachment is a power Congress has to remove presidents or other federal officials from office if enough lawmakers find that they have committed "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
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