On Wednesday, December 18, 2019, the 45th President Donald Trump became the third U.S. president to ever be impeached, the first two being Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.
President Trump has been impeached by the House of Representatives, and now, for only the third time in history, the Senate is holding a trial to determine whether to remove a president from office” (Amber Phillips, 2020).
It is a common misconception for people to think that when someone is impeached, it means they are directly kicked from their position. For those who do not know what it means for a President to be impeached, impeachment does NOT mean the President is out of office. It is a statement of charges against that official. “If the House impeaches, the Senate then holds a trial on those charges to decide whether the officer — in this case, President Trump — should be removed from holding office in the future. The President could, however, be removed from office if the Senate votes for it.
The reason for this process even starting, according to Dana Farrington from NPR, “In a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on July 25, Trump asked for an investigation into a debunked conspiracy theory about the 2016 election and into potential 2020 rival and former Vice President Joe Biden. The White House is also accused of withholding military aid to Ukraine for Trump’s personal political gain. Trump maintains that he has done nothing wrong.”
The House brought two articles of impeachment against Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The Evidence
To start us off, an unnamed official wrote a letter expressing concern about President Trump’s call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25th.
The call came shortly after President Trump had blocked the release of millions of dollars in the United States military aid to Ukraine.
His Defense
President Trump denies using military aid as a bargain with President Zelensky.
According to BBC.com, “The Republican defense comes in three parts: Ukraine’s president said he felt no pressure, The Ukrainians were unaware the aid was held back, and US military aid was eventually released”
The Future
As of right now, we do not know when the trial will be over and if President Trump will be relieved from his presidential duties or not. We are also unsure if this will help aid or diminish Trump’s reelection in November.
The trial is still in progress, but according to Matthew Choi from Politico.com, “President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is entering its third week Monday, and the Republican-controlled Senate is expected to acquit him by Wednesday (02/05/20).”
UPDATE: Results
As of Wednesday, February 5th, 2020, President Donald Trump’ s impeachment was acquitted.
Lot’s of Love,
Jess