The Truth About Impeachment

The TRUTH about IMPEACHMENT

By: Alyson Gad

Since the very beginning of the Trump presidency in 2016, American citizens have been demanding his impeachment, some even before he was elected. On Dec. 18, 2019, the impeachment process officially started. Most republicans declared it non bipartisan, and most democrats shouted victory from the mountains. However, one of the biggest misconceptions about impeachment is how serious it actually it is.

It is long and tedious, starting off with closed door meetings which were led by Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Those meetings and investigations lasted a whole month before the first House vote. The vote was to approve a resolution created by Trump’s investigators, which laid out the rules for the impeachment inquiry.

The next step was to hold public hearings by the Intelligence Committee, from November 13 through December 10. These hearings closely resemble a classic court case, including witnesses available for questioning. The president and his counsel were invited to these hearings but declined to participate.

Once the official articles were created by the democratic majority of the Judiciary Committee, they were voted on, and approved. Those two articles were on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

In the context of impeachment, abuse of power refers to a president using their vast powers for personal benefit. An article was passed on obstruction of Congress because of Trump’s act of stonewalling-refusing to answer questions or by giving evasive repliesnot only in the two year investigation on whether or not Russia played a part in Trump’s election, but the impeachment trial itself.

When these two articles got passed Trump wasn’t exactly impeached, rather in line to be tried for impeachment, yet the media plastered the word “impeached” on every article published shortly after, giving the general uninformed public the notion that the president was no longer in office or power, when, in actuality, the impeachment had only just began.

After a month of trial preparations, which included setting up a team of prosecutors as well as Trump’s defense team, the two articles were finally presented to the senate. The senate, which is currently ran in majority by the Republican party, has the final say on whether or not Trump remains in power. During each day of the trial, members of the senate surrender their phones. Each side spent three days explaining their case. As predicted by those who knew the rules of impeachment, the Republican majority senate did not vote him out of office.

On the contrary to popular speculation of the Senate, the vote was not purely partisan, or a decision made by only one political party. In the official vote one republican, Mitt Romney, the representative of Utah, voted yes to impeach Trump, making the vote bipartisan.

Once the senate voted no, Trump was officially acquitted, or set free from a criminal charge.

In the history of the United States, Congress has conducted three impeachment trials. President Andrew Johnson in 1868 for firing a cabinet secretary without the consent of Congress,

President Bill Clinton in 1998 for perjury and obstruction of justice and President Donald Trump in 2020 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. However, all three of them were acquitted, so they stayed in office.

The problem with impeachment is how badly it is represented in the media. Many people aren’t informed about the facts, which causes problems and uneducated fights about it.

The most important pieces to note about the process are its rarity, and who is in charge of the whole thing. The Senate and Congress ultimately decide whether or not the president stays in office, which is mainly decided by which political party runs majority. It’s important to be informed and especially to get information from more than one news source to ensure its unbiased.