What is Impeachment?
According to the US senate, “If a federal official commits a crime or otherwise acts improperly, the House of Representatives may impeach—formally charge—that official. If the official subsequently is convicted in a Senate impeachment trial, he is removed from office.”
Why do we impeach a President?
We impeach a President because the President has done a crime, like bribery or stealing. This is a power to keep our President’s power in check and to make sure that he doesn’t get too powerful and abuse his power.
Why would we impeach a President when the term is almost over?
The President gets Presidential perks after they leave the office. If we impeach the President, even when the impeachment trial takes place after they have left office, then he would lose these perks and the ability to run again for reelection since he was a 1 term President.
What is former-President Trump being impeached for?
He is being impeached for ‘Incitement of an insurrection’. This is because on January 6th a group of his supporters stormed the capitol building after he said to march to the capitol building.
What happened on January 6th?
The capital was stormed by a lot of Trump supporters because they claimed that the election was fraudulent. This was done at this time to prevent congress from counting Joe Biden’s victory
What are some Presidential Powers?
The ability to Veto a bill from congress. This can be overridden if ⅔ of congress votes for the bill. Also, he can use his Presidential pardon to pardon people from federal crimes.
What is the Presidential pardon?
It is a way for the president to pardon people for federal crimes. This, however, doesn’t work on state crimes. So the president doesn’t have too much power.
What other Presidents have faced an impeachment trial?
Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1999, and Donald Trump in 2019 and 2021. Donald Trump is the first president to face an impeachment trial twice. Richard R Nixon was going to be impeached, but before the trial could be completed, he resigned so his vice-president, Gerald R. Ford, took office and used his presidential pardon to pardon former-president Nixon.