The 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, already shocked people by winning the coveted position, with many people expecting a female President Hillary Clinton to clinch the win and be the first American female President in its 241 years of independence.
As it happens sometimes, Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton six times of mishandling classified information, and now it's his turn as the House of Representatives might just be about to impeach the president with the sharing of classified information with Russia being part of the accusations that are being raised against him.
When the Impeachment process starts he will join the ranks of three other presidents who have previously been in that similar between a rock and a hard place position. They are President Andrew Johnson who was impeached in 1868 for abuse of power, President Bill Clinton 130 years later charged with perjury and obstruction of justice the two of them were acquitted in the Senate though. The third President was Richard Nixon who resigned on August 8th, 1974, with his impeachment articles charging him with obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress, he was later acquitted by his successor President Gerald Ford.
What exactly is impeachment and how's it done?
President Gerald Ford famously stated, "an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at any given moment in history." However, since the House of Representatives is mainly full of Republicans, President Trump's party, this impeachment process might just not be possible; that is unless the Republican side decides impeachment is worth not having a sitting president who is a member of their party.
It is important to note that impeachment by itself does not equal dismissal but it is, however, the first step towards a change in careers for any government official. Impeachment actually is a formal charge of misconduct levied against a public official by Congress and it not in itself a finding of criminality. Now to answer the question about the Republicans.
So the House of Representatives has the sole right to initiate any impeachment process against a high government official.
With the process beginning with an independent investigation conducted by Congress, the Department of Justice or an appointment from a special council, the evidence is then handed to the House Judiciary Committee, which reviews the evidence and writes up the Articles of Impeachment.
Following a discussion in the House, the body then proceeds to vote and if a simple majority votes in favor of impeachment then the President is considered impeached. The next level is taking the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate who have the sole power to try all impeachments with the Chief Justice of the United States presiding; a two-thirds vote needed to convict. The punishment is severe, with removal from office and possible disqualification from holding or enjoying any office of honor, trust, profit under the United States.
Congress has the power from the 25th Amendment to remove a President who is deemed by his Vice-President and other Cabinet Officials to be unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, so they can also stop impeachment proceedings and give lesser repercussions.
President Trump's chances and offenses.
Trump, however, might not get that far into the impeachment process as the Republicans control the House by 238 to 193 and control the Senate by 52 to 46 plus there are also two independents. Republicans are also showing loyalty to their Republican President even as his approval ratings dropping to 39.9% based on polls taken before this week. So since they need numbers to get this done so long as the President keeps the Republicans happy and doesn't step on controversial toes, he is in no danger from impeachment. Things do change though, so I wouldn't be surprised if it happened.
Just this week allegations came in against the President as U.S media reported he had asked FBI Chief James Comey to drop an inquiry which links his ex-national security advisor and Russia, and after he disregarded the requests Donald Trump fired him on National T.V.
It was also claimed that he had let slip details of top-secret intelligence to the Russian Ambassador.
That's the information at hand and we'll be watching to catch any developments though it is important to note that the process if it takes off will likely take many months even years before it develops.
