President Donald Trump has been impeached for an abuse of power. The question is, will he be removed?
Trump is accused of pressuring Ukraine to dig up damaging information on one of his main Democratic challengers for the presidency in 2020, Joe Biden, and his son Hunter. The president is accused of dangling two things as bargaining chips to Ukraine – withholding $400m of military aid to Ukraine that had already been allocated by Congress, and a White House meeting for Ukraine’s president.
Impeachment is a charge of misconduct made against the holder of a public office. What happens is a legislative body levels charges against a government official. Impeachment itself doesn’t remove the official definitively from office.
Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for two counts of abuse of power. The House of Representatives said Trump abused the power of his office by enlisting a foreign government to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election. The second charge is he obstructed Congress in its investigation.
The senate will declare whether to acquit or remove Trump from office. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he wants “Donald Trump’s impeachment trial to look a lot like the one that led to the acquittal of Bill Clinton in 1999”.
For the senate to remove Trump from office they would need a two-thirds vote. The Senate is currently controlled by the Republican Party, so conviction is considered unlikely in Trump’s case.
Update: The Senate has acquitted President Trump of all charges. He will remain president for the rest of this term.