United States President Donald Trump was on Wednesday impeached in a motion that was presided over by Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
By a 230 to 197 vote in the Democratic-majority House, the 45th US president became just the third occupant of the White House in American history to be impeached.
Trump was impeached on two grounds; the first one being abuse of power by use of federal government and taxpayer money for personal and political gain.
The second ground is that he wooed the Ukraine government for his own political gain and obstructed inquiry into his links with Ukraine government.
The House vote came four months after a whistleblower blew open the scandal of Trump pressuring Ukraine’s president to investigate his potential White House challenger in 2020, the veteran Democrat Joe Biden.
Breakdown of what befalls Donald Trump after being impeached
However, President Trump is still in power despite his impeachment. That’s because Trump will now stand trial in the Senate, where his Republicans hold a solid majority and are expected to exonerate him.
Both sides were already gearing up for a battle over the Senate trial, where Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has the upper hand in setting rules and has already said he will coordinate with Trump’s team in doing so.
That could lead to a trial as short as two weeks, which by acquitting the president could turn impeachment into a political win in the run-up to the November 2020 election.
According to AFP, Democrats declared after Wednesday’s vote that McConnell needs testimony from four current and former White House aides with direct knowledge of Trump’s Ukraine dealings — and who he blocked from testifying in the House.
President Trump himself termed the process as a witch hunt.
The trial is set to begin (most likely in January 2020) once the Senate receives the two articles from Pelosi, that were used to impeach Trump,
In the event the trial becomes successful, Trump will cease to be president and the mantle will be handed over to Vice President Mike Pence to finish the term which ends on January 2021.
Neither of the two previous presidents impeached since 1789, Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, was convicted in the Senate, and both held onto their jobs.
