General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDo you realize that there are no laws compelling the Congress to impeach a president?
Impeachment is totally at the discretion of the Congress.
If evidence shows a president is involved in a heinous, traitorous crime, it only takes one Congressman to start impeachment proceedings so that would certainly occur.
But if a majority of House members decided not to impeach the whole thing would end there.
Assuming a House majority decides to impeach, the case is tried in the Senate but if 34 Republican senators decided not to convict, the president remains unscathed and the whole procedure is dropped.
No matter how traitorous and damaging to the country the president's actions are, if only 34 senators decide that voting to convict him may decrease their future votes, he will not be removed from office.
Trump could literally get away with murder and there might be nothing anyone legally could do to stop him.
Nearly everything he has done in the past year has been more than enough to disqualify him from office but nothing has had any effect. It is likely that this situation will continue so even if it is proven that he collaborated with Russians to swing the election there is no guarantee that this will remove him from power.
Our primary hope has to be that he does something that causes his Republican base to turn on him.
Without this there is a strong likelihood that he remains in power.
Sculpin Beauregard
(1,046 posts)throughout this nightmare from running for pres to current events 'why aren't the Dems DOING something?' 'Why isn't anyone doing something to stop him?' etc. because it is so unprecendented and unbelievable.
I think there's a case slowly being built against him that will be bulletproof when the time comes.
Did anyone else notice how calm Hillary was and did you notice the faintest twinkle in her eye in her last public address a couple weeks ago? Fingers crossed.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,831 posts)No president has ever been removed from office as the result of impeachment proceedings. It's not something to hang one's hat on - but, of course, there's a first time for everything.
stopbush
(24,396 posts)Bill Clinton was impeached. He was found innocent of the charges levied and acquitted in the Senate.
Impeachment is the act of leveling charges. It's the equivalent of bringing an indictment in a court. Once the charges have been brought and agreed to by the House, the president has been impeached. That's where the use of the term "impeachment" ends.
After that, it's a matter of the Senate having a trial. If they find the president guilty, he is removed from office. Were this a normal court proceeding, you would not describe their being found guilty to mean "the court reached a final verdict and the defendant was indicted."
Cosmocat
(14,572 posts)not all possible impeachment charges that a president may be brought up on provide grounds for removal if he is found guilty.
Other than that good job - and of course 95% of the country would not know close to enough about the process.
stopbush
(24,396 posts)when they really don't.
"Immaculate conception" is another.
Kablooie
(18,641 posts)Though the phrase "impeach the president" has a specific limited meaning I feel in popular use it is a shorthand way to express both the impeachment and conviction phases.