"Don't impeach me": how presidents are removed in the United States and should Trump be afraid of this

The US House of Representatives made a serious statement — it was announced that an investigation was launched, which should form the basis for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. The reason is more than serious — Trump is accused of using the Ukrainian issue against Joe Biden, his rival in future elections. The impeachment of the head of state in the history of the United States has been announced more than once, and whether there was any sense from this, we will tell you now.

In the United States, impeachment is a process when the lower house of parliament brings charges against a high—ranking government official or, most often, the president. If the investigation related to impeachment reaches its goal, then a trial begins over the official with the subsequent procedure of removal from office.

All this takes place in strict accordance with the US Constitution, which provides for the removal of the president, vice president and federal officials from office if they are caught on bribes, treason and other serious crimes.

In general, the wording of the reasons for impeachment is quite transparent and allows you to interpret the article of the constitution very freely. One of the first US presidents, Alexander Hamilton, wrote back in 1788 that the reason for impeachment could be not only a crime committed by a government official, but also abuse of public trust for political purposes.

Currently, 6 different committees of the House of Representatives are conducting their investigations against Trump and several of his companies. But one committee is enough for impeachment, as was the case with Bill Clinton, when the legal Committee of the House of Representatives, which initiated the impeachment, conducted the investigation.

If a congressional committee has collected enough evidence of criminal activity, in the opinion of its participants, then it recommends that the entire house vote for impeachment. In the House of Representatives, it is enough to collect a majority of votes.

After the parliamentarians voted for impeachment, the Senate enters the case and the process takes place like a real court, which is presided over by the Supreme Judge of the United States. Members of the House of Representatives are a party to the prosecution, senators act as jurors, and the president or another official should involve his lawyers.

If two-thirds of the Senate agree with the accusers, then you can proceed directly to the removal procedure. But if the senators did not support the House of Representatives, then everything ends in nothing and the president retains his seat.

But the most interesting thing is that senators may not appear at the hearing, having transmitted their refusal through the leader of the party majority. In this case, the hearings do not take place at all and everything ends in nothing. In the case of Donald Trump, such an outcome is very likely, since the majority now belongs to Republicans.

The history of the United States knows a lot of cases of impeachment, and even more investigations related to this procedure have been conducted. But that's just not a single president could be removed in this way, therefore, in the case of the current head of the country, the prospects for success are very vague.

The trial of President Andrew Johnson in the US Senate

The first president to be impeached was Andrew Johnson. He was accused of violating the Law on Staying in Office. Johnson used his veto power and dismissed the head of the US Department of War, Edwin M. Stanton.

Impeachment was then announced on March 2, 1868, after the charges were supported by a majority in the House of Representatives. It can be said that Johnson was on the verge of being removed, since in the Senate his accusers on May 16 lacked only one vote to achieve their goal.

The next contender for removal from office was President Richard Nixon more than a hundred years after Johnson. In 1974, he was charged with obstruction of justice, contempt of Congress and abuse of office.

Richard Nixon

In July, the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives voted for impeachment and began appropriate actions. But again nothing came of it, since in August Nixon resigned on his own initiative and it did not come to a vote in the Senate.

In 1999, Bill Clinton was impeached, charged with obstruction of justice and perjury. It all started after a love affair with Monica Lewinsky, when Clinton lied under oath about their relationship. Two charges were considered in the Senate, but none of them managed to get the necessary two-thirds of the votes. Therefore, the impeachment did not take place again and Bill Clinton was acquitted.

Two presidents who held office before Donald Trump were also tried to move with the help of impeachment, and George Bush was approached repeatedly. The most famous case was the accusations made by Democratic Congressman Dennis Kusinich, of which there were as many as 35.

The reason for Clinton's impeachment was a sex scandal

The politician claimed that George Bush and his government deceived the American people, violated many laws and abused their powers wherever they could. It took 4 hours just to read the list of charges in the House of Representatives. But the Senate refused to hear this case and Bush quietly left the White House due to the end of his term in 2009.

The most unusual impeachment charges were prepared for Barack Obama. Republicans blamed him for being born outside the United States, the lack of reaction to the events in Benghazi in 2012 and... that the president allowed people to use bathrooms according to their gender identity.

But either because of excessive extravagance, or because of the obvious futility, the impeachment of Obama was not completed. Moreover, the charges did not even get to the committees in the House of Representatives.

As we can see, there are very few grounds for concern for Donald Trump, and if his removal from the presidency happens, it will be an unprecedented case in the history of the United States.