Donald Trump has become the third President in US history to be impeached as the House of Representatives formally charged him with abuse of power and obstructing the Congress, setting up a Senate trial next year that will decide whether he remains in office after three tumultuous years.
The House on Wednesday night impeached President Trump on two counts - abuse of power and obstructing the Congress. The first article of impeachment, abuse of power, was on party lines with 230 to 197 votes. The second article of impeachment, obstruction to the Congress, was voted 229-198 votes. The White House described the impeachment as one of the "most shameful" political episodes in the history of the US. All four Democratic Indian-American members of the House of Representatives voted for Trump's impeachment.
This is not it, he still stands a chance, a 2/3 majority is needed in the Senate to remove Donald Trump. Here's how:
The impeachment now moves to the Senate where the Supreme Court Chief Justice would preside over the trial. A 2/3 majority of the Senate’s 100 members would need to vote to for the President to be removed from office before Trump would actually be removed. Like former President Bill Clinton, he could be impeached but never actually removed from office.
That 2/3 majority would be tough to get. A total of 67 Senators would need to vote to convict and remove Trump. There are 45 Democrat Senators and 53 Republican Senators, plus two Independents who typically vote Democrat. So to reach the 67 total needed to remove Trump, they would need at least 20 Republicans to join with Democrats in voting to remove Trump (plus the two Independents), Reuters reported.
No president in the 243-year-long US history has been removed from office by impeachment. It would require a two-thirds majority in the 100-member Senate, meaning at least 20 Republicans would have to join Democrats in voting against Trump. Given that the ruling Republicans have majority in the 100-member Senate, political analysts say that impeachment is likely to fail and the Democrats might not be able to unseat Trump from the Oval Office.
(Inputs from Agencies)
