President Donald Trump has been impeached in a historic vote in the House of Representatives, setting up a trial on removing him from office after three turbulent years.
How did the inquiry come about?
An was announced in the wake of a scandal involving a phone call between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian President, in which the US President allegedly pressured Volodymyr Zelensky to influence the US election.
A whistleblower complaint, which came from inside the intelligence community, outlined the July phone call in which Mr Trump allegedly pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, who is one of Mr Trump’s chief political rivals, according to reports by the Wall Street Journal and other US media outlets.
The majority of the 235 Democrats in the House already supported an impeachment inquiry based on former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, which declined to make a judgment on whether Mr Trump obstructed justice but outlined 10 instances in which Mr Trump tried to have Mueller fired or otherwise impede the investigation.
Here is how the impeachment process works.
Donald Trump speaks at the United Nations General Assembly. Source: AP
Searches for the definition of 'impeach' soared following the announcement. Source: SBS News
Why impeachment?
The founders of the United States created the office of the presidency and feared that its powers could be abused - so, they included impeachment as a central part of the Constitution.
They gave the House “the sole power of impeachment;” the Senate, “the sole power to try all impeachments;” and the chief justice of the Supreme Court the duty of presiding over impeachment trials in the Senate.
The president, under the Constitution, can be removed from office for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanours”.
What exactly that means is unclear. Historically, it can encompass corruption and other abuses, including trying to obstruct judicial proceedings.
No president has ever been removed as a direct result of impeachment. One, President Richard Nixon, resigned before he could be removed. Two, presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, were impeached by the House, but not convicted by the Senate.
Mr Clinton was acquitted of charges when the Senate failed to convict him on either of charges by the necessary two-thirds majority vote.
How does it work?
Impeachment begins in the House, the lower chamber, which debates and votes on whether to bring charges against the president via approval of an impeachment resolution, or “articles of impeachment,” by a simple majority of the House’s 435 members.
If the House approves such a resolution, a trial is then held in the Senate. House members act as the prosecutors; the senators as jurors; the chief justice of the US Supreme Court presides. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president. This has never happened.
Can the Supreme Court overturn the decision?
No.
Mr Trump has said on Twitter that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats tried to impeach him. But the founders explicitly rejected allowing an appeal of a Senate conviction to the federal judiciary.
Party breakdown in Congress?
The House has 235 Democrats, 199 Republicans, and one independent. As a result, the Democrats could impeach Trump with no Republican support.
In 1998, when Republicans had a House majority, the chamber voted largely along party lines to impeach Mr Clinton, a Democrat.
The Senate now has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with the Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would require 67 votes. So, for Mr Trump to be removed from office via impeachment, at least 20 Republicans and all the Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Source: AAP
Who becomes president if Mr Trump is removed?
In the unlikely event the Senate convicted Mr Trump, Vice President Mike Pence would become president for the remainder of Mr Trump’s term, which ends on 20 January 2021.
With additional reporting from Reuters and AFP
