So Trump Was Impeached. Now What?

graphic by Sam Berlin

You’ve probably heard that President Trump became the third U.S. president to be impeached Wednesday night, and the only first-term president to be impeached. But what does that mean, what happens next, and why should anyone care? Luckily for you, your friends at JERK have the impeachment run-down. 

A common misconception about impeachment, and one that you’ve probably heard on Twitter, is that impeachment means removal from office. That’s not true; in fact, no impeached president has ever been removed from office (Andrew Johnson was acquitted and Richard Nixon resigned.) In short, impeachment is just a fancy word for “putting the President on trial”, and it is possible that Trump will not be removed from office.  

You’ve also probably heard about “impeachment articles,” which are essentially the charges that will be brought against Trump in this trial.

There are two articles: Abuse of Power (Article I) and Obstruction of Congress (Article II). The first article covers the highly contentious relationship between Trump and Ukraine and claims that Trump threatened to withhold military aid from Ukraine unless the government investigated the Biden family. The second article covers the claim that, during the House’s impeachment inquiry, Trump attempted to force members of the White House into silence, thus preventing the House from conducting the inquiry properly. You can read the articles in full here. 

So Trump has been impeached. Now what? Since the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will select House members to be the “prosecutors” for the case. These “prosecutors” are formally called Managers and are responsible for compiling evidence to support the articles of impeachment. The Senate, led by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts, will hear the case created by the House Managers and will determine whether there is enough evidence to sustain both articles. If at least ⅔ of the Senate votes “guilty”, Trump will be removed from office. If any less than ⅔ votes “guilty”, he will not be removed from office. There is a caveat here, too: because this is only Trump’s first term in office, he can legally run and be re-elected in 2020, even if he is removed from office by the Senate. Congress would have to pass a separate law in order to prevent him from running again. 

We can’t tell you whether Trump will be removed from office, but we can tell you to do your research, stay informed, and remember to vote in November.