How do we Impeach Trump?

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the following editorial are the opinions of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Patriot Post staff, adviser, the LCHS faculty or administration, or GISD.

According to the U.S. Constitution, impeachment occurs if a president commits “treason, bribery, or other crimes and misdemeanors.” It is important to note that impeachment does not necessarily mean removal from office. Instead, impeachment is the first step in the process of removing the president from office and charging them with a crime, sort of like an indictment in a public court setting.

The simplified process for removing a president from office requires first for articles of impeachment to be drawn up and a member of the House of Representatives would need to officially charge the president with a crime outlined in these articles. A majority vote from the House of Representatives is required for impeachment, and would then send the process on to the Senate, where a trial would take place involving the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senate acts as a prosecutor in the case and requires two-thirds (66 out of 100) votes to convict the president and permanently remove them from office.

As of September 2017, Texas House Democrat Al Green is drawing up the papers to impeach Trump on the grounds of obstruction of justice. This claim is backed by the fact that the President fired FBI Director James Comey while the Bureau was investigating Russia’s possible involvement in the 2016 Presidential election.

“We are talking about a president who fired the FBI director who was investigating the president for his connections to Russian involvement in the president’s election,” Green said in his address to the Speaker of the House on May 17, 2017. “This is not about the president firing the FBI director because he was investigating someone else, it’s because the FBI director was investigating the president himself.”

The likelihood of getting Trump impeached does not look too promising, as the House is predominantly controlled by the Republican party, although multiple Republicans in the House have already vocalized their disapproval of the President alongside a majority of Democrats. In addition to the rest of the government’s disapproval, according to Gallup Daily’s Tracker, Trump has hit just over a 60 percent disapproval rating with the public as of September 2017. The only president to have ever reached a higher disapproval rating at this point in their term was Gerald Ford with 61 percent.

Impeachment has occurred only twice in U.S. history. The incidents involved Andrew Johnson, who in 1898 breached the Tenure of Office Act, and Bill Clinton in 1998 who lied under oath to a federal jury. Both were acquitted of the charges; since the founding of this country no president has ever been removed from office. However, with all due respect, there is a first time for everything.