What Will Happen After the Impeachment?
Since the storming of the Capitol on Wednesday by a mob of Trump supporters, House Democrats have made impeachment a priority, even as the clock ticks down in the final days of his term. So far, attempts by House lawmakers to initiate impeachment proceedings depend on Vice President Mike Pence and Trump administration officials agreeing to apply the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and remove Trump from office. If Pence agrees to act on the 25th, then there will be no need for impeachment proceedings. (Under this arrangement, the presidency will be temporarily transferred to Pence, and Trump will be determined to be “unable to fulfill the powers and duties” of the office and, therefore, will have to leave the Oval Office).
On Monday, the 25th amendment to the amendment was blocked by House Republicans, forcing Democrats to bring the matter to the House of Representatives for a full vote on Tuesday. A vote in the House of Representatives tomorrow – expected given the Democrats’ control of the House – will at least kickstart the process, increasing the likelihood that Pence and the administration will formalize Trump’s sacking. (Using the 25th Amendment to remove the president can be a tricky process, so check out CNN’s clarification for further reading on this matter .)
But the Democrats’ approach is twofold: One article on impeachment, presented on Monday, already has 200 coauthors brought to bear on the president for his “instigating rebellion” that wreaked havoc on Wednesday at the US Capitol. If impeachment is passed by the House of Representatives instead of the 25th Amendment, it will be the first time in US history that a president has been impeached twice by any house of Congress, let alone in the same term. The impeachment vote will begin on Wednesday.
However, with the shortening of Trump’s time in power in the impeachment process, several questions arise: namely, what consequences can he still face in the event of impeachment, since he is destined to become a private citizen on January 20? It turned out that the consensus on this topic is far from uniform.
First, a reminder of impeachment
At this point, you may feel like a seasoned constitutional scholar, given our founding document’s continued place in the spotlight in recent months. But nevertheless, let’s ignore the general impeachment process in order to better understand the upcoming litigation.
Former Lifehacker writer Josh Ocampo broke the gist in 2019:
Impeachment of the President of the United States is more than one trial or vote. As we wrote earlier, this is a long process, which includes the following stages: decision of the House of Representatives on articles of impeachment, discussion of these articles in the Judicial Committee of the House of Representatives, vote of the House on impeachment, which must include at least one approved article, determination of the Senate on trial, trial in the Senate, and then judgment of the Senate.
In the current case against Trump, it is likely that there will be no debate in the House Judiciary Committee. Typically, hearings by the Judicial Committee require witnesses to be called to answer questions from legislators. In this case, this process will be skipped due to the extraordinary circumstances that caused the impeachment procedure.
As NBC’s Pete Williams writes:
The House of Representatives will need a simple majority to declare impeachment. Any articles of impeachment would then go to the Senate, where they could be sent to a committee or expedited to the Senate Hall.
If the House of Representatives votes to impeach on Wednesday – you have every reason to believe it will – then the matter will go to the Senate, which will require a two-thirds majority for sentencing to formally remove the president from office. …
But with Trump walking out the door, could the Senate still preside over the impeachment proceedings? In short, yes, although everything is more complicated.
The Senate can still condemn Trump after he steps down.
This is largely uncharted territory in American history, as no president was impeached by either the House of Representatives or the Senate while they were still in power, let alone left the White House. Legal experts are divided over the issue, according to an NBC News report, although congressional lawmakers seem to believe the effort can continue regardless of whether Trump is in public office.
Michael Gerhard, a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told NBC: “Once the impeachment begins in the House of Representatives, it can continue pending trial in the Senate. I do not see any constitutional problem with the Senate acting quickly or slowly. “
However, South Carolina-based House Majority Representative Jim Clyburn said Democrats in Congress could postpone impeachment early in Joe Biden’s eventual presidency by giving him the first 100 days in office before he raises the issue in the Senate.
What happens if the Senate is found guilty?
With Trump already stepping down, the impeachment process isn’t over yet if the Senate rolls back the front and delivers a guilty verdict. In order to fully punish the outgoing convicted president, there are several more formalities.
CNN’s Daniel Dale explains that the Senate verdict does impose severe penalties on Trump. For example, a Senate verdict would mean Trump will lose his post-presidency pension, which is roughly $ 200,000 a year.
However, when it comes to barring Trump from running for president again in 2024, another Senate vote will need to be taken. As Dale writes:
After two-thirds of the senators present have voted to remove Trump from office, a simple majority of the senators present will have to approve an additional vote to strip him of his future presidency.
Even so, there is uncertainty given the lack of historical precedent for how this penalty will be applied; again, to begin with, no president has ever been removed from office. When it comes to disqualification, Ross Garber, a law professor at Tulane Law School, told CNN that the issue of disqualification remains an open question because it is unclear whether the presidency refers to the constitutional wording of the disqualification as “Office of Honor, Trust, or Profit in the United States.” …
When it comes to the fact that Trump is enjoying the protection of the secret services after a hypothetical Senate conviction, it is also unclear. There are two laws – the Former Presidents Act and the Former Presidents Protection Act, which Barack Obama signed into law in 2013 – that could determine this outcome. According to CNN, the former states that “a president who is offended by the Senate is not considered a ‘former president'” when it comes to post-presidential benefits, while the latter does not clearly define a “former president.” That is, it is unclear what law will be the primary legal basis if the courts decide whether to strip Trump of the Secret Service’s post-presidential protection.
It is worth repeating that we are stepping into dark, uncharted waters. The final decision to strip Trump of his post-presidential benefits will likely not come any time soon, if ever.