Impeachment

What is impeachment, exactly?




According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to impeach means...

the action of calling into question the integrity or validity of something.

"the prosecutor's detailed impeachment of the character witness"

• 
  

  BRITISH
  a charge of treason or another crime against the state.
  "the king cynically abandoned him, encouraging his impeachment"
• 
  

  US
  a charge of misconduct made against the holder of a public office.
  "the president is facing impeachment over the scandal" · "all impeachments shall be tried by the Senate"--

'Impeach' can also be considered the same as 'indict (prounounced in-Dite).' That means to accuse or charge someone of a serious crime.


Where in the Constitution does it address impeachment?
-Article 2, Section 2, Clause #5. "The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/2/essays/100/standards-for-impeachment
  
Impeachment is the process, not the result. Presidents have been impeached before, but none were removed from office:

• In the case of the first president to have impeachment attempted, John Tyler, the effort failed because in the midst of the process, the House changed majorities. https://potus-geeks.livejournal.com/315466.html
• Andrew Johnson (he was president after Abraham Lincoln) was impeached but was acquitted by one vote.
• Richard Nixon was in the process of being impeached, and resigned.
• Bill Clinton was impeached, and the effort failed. He was also re-elected for a 2nd term.
• Read why these people had impeachment proceedings against them: https://www.thoughtco.com/high-crimes-and-misdemeanors-definition-4140196

What are considered grounds for impeachment? What are 'high crimes and misdemeanors"?
According to constitutional lawyers, "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" are (1) real criminality—breaking a law; (2) abuses of power; (3) "violation of public trust" as defined by Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers. In 1970, then-Representative Gerald R. Ford defined impeachable offenses as "whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history."
Crimes considered to be impeachable offenses:

• Exceeding the constitutional bounds of the powers of the office.
• Behavior grossly incompatible with the proper function and purpose of the office.
• Employing the power of the office for an improper purpose or for personal gain.

Treason includes aiding our enemies. Perjury is lying.

What does 'quid pro quo' mean? When we hear news about a conversation between the president and that of another country, where our president asked the leader of another country to provide incriminating facts about a political opponent, we have often heard the term 'quid pro quo.' That's a term in Latin which means literally 'something for something', basically, you do me a favor and I'll do you one in return. In this case, the allegation is that funding to the other country was put on hold or withdrawn pending the leader's providing the information our president sought. In essence, the president was asking another government to tamper with our elections while withholding money until it happened. Here is what the law says about doing that:

Federal law prohibits a foreign national from directly or indirectly making a “contribution or donation of money or other thing of value” in connection with a U.S. election, and prohibits a person from soliciting, accepting or receiving such a contribution or donation from a foreign national. Federal law defines “contribution” to include “any gift … of money or anything of value made by any person for the purpose of influencing any election for Federal office.” And the FEC by regulation defines “solicit” to mean “to ask, request, or recommend, explicitly or implicitly, that another person make a contribution, donation, transfer of funds, or otherwise provide anything of value.”

What are the steps involved in impeachment? It begins in the House of Representatives.

• 1. The members of the House of Representatives raise the proposal that the president has acted in a way that demonstrates treason, bribery, or other "High crimes and misdemeanors(See above)." This phrase is thought to be deliberately vague and open to interpretation, to include many dishonest or illegal acts by a president.
• 2. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee calls for a formal inquiry.
• 3. The members of the Committee look into the alleged crimes
• 4. After gathering and examining evidence of the crimes, the full House, all 435 members, debate and vote about whether the crimes are enough to possibly remove the president from office.
• 5. If the majority of the House votes in favor of impeachment, the articles are sent to the Senate. This is a 'simple majority,' or 218 votes.

When the articles of impeachment are sent to the Senate, this is what they do:

• 6. They receive the articles of impeachment from the House.
• 7. They determine the rules for the trial
• 8. They hold a trial
• 9. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides over the trial.
• 10. They meet in private to determine a verdict
• 11. They then vote to remove the president from office or not.
• 12. If 2/3 of the Senate votes to remove the president (67 votes out of 100), then it becomes official. A simple majority is not enough in this case; 2/3 is required. That is referred to a s 'super-majority.'.

Here is the process in the form of a table:

How long does all of this take? Gathering evidence to support an impeachment can take many months, although the actual trial may not last more than 2 or 3 months. For Nixon, the investigation took a little over 2 years. In his case, he was charged with perjury, obstruction of justice, and of using the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies illegally.  Articles of Impeachment against him were filed  in July 1974, and he resigned less than a month after that. With Clinton, who was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, the process began in December 1998 and was completed, with a vote that did not find for removal, in February 1999.


If an impeachment results in removing the person from office, it still does not in itself provide for any type of criminal punishment such as fines or imprisonment. However, the person may be tried separately for crimes both on a state and federal level. An impeached person who is found guilty and removed, will not be able to run for public office from then on.

Here is an excellent explanation of how impeachment works: https://www.thoughtco.com/impeachment-the-unthinkable-process-3322171


And this specific situation: https://www.businessinsider.com/laws-trump-could-have-broken-ukraine-whistleblower-case-2019-9