How to get rid of the President of the United States, Volume 2

The confetti had barely reached the ground on Donald Trump’s inauguration day when two organizations began plotting his impeachment.  

According to the Washington Post, “The organizers behind the campaign, Free Speech for People and RootsAction, are hinging their case on Trump’s continued ownership of a luxury hotel and golf course business while in office. Ethics experts have warned that his financial holdings could potentially lead to constitutional violations and undermine public faith in his decision-making” while allowing foreign governments to buy favor from the White House.

There have been other impeachment rumors swirling around the White House ever since Trump won the election in November, but it’s too soon to know whether any of them will ever come to fruition. If they do, here is what would happen:

* The U.S. Constitution provides the mechanism to impeach a sitting president as well as a vice president, federal judges and other federal officials. The Constitution sets specific grounds for impeachment that include “treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

* The Constitution defines treason as follows: “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.”

* The Constitution does not define bribery, but it is a crime that has long existed in English and American common law. Bribery occurs when someone gives money or gifts to an elected official to influence the official’s behavior in office.

* The charge of "high crimes and misdemeanors" is far less clear. Historically it has been considered to cover misconduct such as perjury of oath, abuse of authority, bribery, intimidation, misuse of assets, failure to supervise, dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming and refusal to obey a lawful order. According to the Constitutional Rights Foundation, “offenses by officials also include ordinary crimes, but perhaps with different standards of proof and punishment than for non-officials, on the grounds that more is expected of officials by their oaths of office.”

The impeachment process begins in the House of Representatives and follows several steps:

(1) First, the House Judiciary Committee holds hearings on the issues brought forth and, if necessary, prepares articles of impeachment. These are the charges against the official, basically comparable to an indictment in a criminal court.

(2) If a majority of the committee votes to approve the articles, they are forwarded to the full House for debate and subsequent vote. If a majority of the House votes to impeach the official on one or more articles, the official must then stand trial in the U.S. Senate.

(3) The case is transferred to the Senate to hold hearings -- the "trial." A two-thirds vote of the full Senate is required for the official to be removed from office. If that occurs, the official is automatically removed from office and could be forbidden from holding governmental office again.

It’s important to note that the impeachment process is political in nature, not criminal. Congress has no power to impose criminal penalties on impeached officials, although criminal courts could try to punish officials if they have committed crimes.

In our history, three presidents have been impeached but none has been removed from office.

Andrew Johnson (1868)

Johnson’s impeachment was an outgrowth of a dispute between him and Congress over post-Civil War reconstruction. The House's primary charge was that Johnson violated the Tenure of Office Act by firing Edwin M. Stanton as Secretary of War and replacing him with General Ulysses S. Grant. The charges were not viewed as “high crimes and misdemeanors” worthy of removing Johnson from office.

Richard M. Nixon (1974)

Nixon’s impeachment stemmed from the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up by the president and his staff. Nixon was charged with obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress for defying requests to produce documents. He resigned the presidency before the whole House voted on the articles of impeachment.

Bill Clinton (1998)

Bill Clinton was impeached on two charges – perjury and obstruction of justice – arising out of his extramarital affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and his testimony about the affair during a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by Paula Jones. Clinton was subsequently acquitted of these charges by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles – a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of power – failed in the House.

Will Donald J. Trump really become the fourth president to be impeached? Only time will tell. However, on Monday night, he fired an acting attorney general who refused to obey what she deemed to be an unlawful order, bringing back memories of Nixon's "Saturday Night Massacre" in 1973. If he wanted to be impeached, it would be hard for Trump to get off to a better start.

  

The Constitutional Rights Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan, community-based organization whose mission is to instill in our nation's youth a deeper understanding of citizenship through values expressed in our Constitution and its Bill of Rights and to educate young people to become active and responsible participants in our society.