Trump impeached

Hello from here in Chiavenna, Italy! I want to talk about the big news from last night in America. 

Last night President Trump was impeached by House Democrats. Trump is the third president in history to be impeached. 

To be clear, impeachment doesn’t mean that Trump is fired or removed from office. It means that House Democratic representatives have found enough evidence to indict — formally accuse, impeach — Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors. 

Trump will now face a trial by Senate, who will call witnesses and go through a process. The Senate, 100 senators, will vote to either convict him and remove him from office or to acquit him and allow him to remain the president. It requires at least 67 senators for a two-thirds vote to convict and remove Trump. 

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will be the “presiding officer” and oversee the process. 

It is unlikely that Trump will be convicted and “fired” by the Republican-controlled Senate. Trump is more likely to be acquitted and stay in office until the election in November determines if his term will end or if he gets another four years. 

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Former president Bill Clinton was impeached 21 years ago by the House, but was acquitted in a Senate trial. He finished out his term.

Trump was impeached on two articles — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The first has to do with his phone call with the new Ukrainian president in the summer to request an investigation on Joe Biden’s son’s business dealings in Ukraine while at the same time withholding U.S. military aid to Ukraine. The second article has to do with how Trump’s reactions and refusal to cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry. Those are the articles. 

During the House vote last night, no Republicans voted in favor of impeachment — all voted against. Two House Democrats sided with Republicans in voting against impeachment. One was from Minnesota and the other from New Jersey. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) voted “present,” choosing to abstain from voting either side. She said she is against the impeachment process and prefers Trump to be censured. 

The Senate trial may start in January 2020. House Speaker Pelosi has to transmit the articles to the Senate first, and she is holding off on this because she wants certain agreements with the Senate on the trial process.

President Trump was at a rally in Battle Creek, Michigan when he was impeached. He said it was amazing that all Republicans stuck together and the crowd cheered. 

It was a big day in American history yesterday on December 18, 2019. The trial that is to come and the upcoming election is likely to bring more chaos and division in our government. 
https://www.axios.com/trump-impeachment-michigan-rally-congress-capitol-hill-759dcc57-84cb-49d1-9d7c-87313db6e14f.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/us/politics/trump-impeached.html