Donald Trump Impeachment Process Has Not Begun Despite The Rumors
President Donald Trump has a historically low approval rating just weeks after moving into the White House, but that doesn’t mean Congress has begun the impeachment process no matter how many people wish it were so.
A petition to impeach Trump with more than 850,000 signatures on it was delivered to Congress this week and stories started to circulate online that paperwork had been filed to remove him from the White House.
Unfortunately, for Trump haters, that’s not how the impeachment process works.
A sitting president can only be impeached by the House of Representatives, currently under Republican control, and tried by the Senate, again under Republican control.
The rumors of an abrupt end to the Trump presidency are rooted in the deep hatred many Americans feel for the new Commander in Chief. He took control of the White House with the lowest approval rating of any incoming president and his numbers have continued to fall, according to the latest poll by the Pew Research Center.
“This level of strong disapproval already surpasses strong disapproval for Barack Obama at any point during the eight years of his presidency.”
Enter, the petition to Impeach Trump Now.
It was created by former 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig and garnered 879,000 signatures before it was presented to Congress this week, according to the website.
“As of January 20, 2017, President Trump’s refusal to divest from his business interests has placed him in direct violation of the US Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause and on a collision course with the Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause and with the federal STOCK Act.”
Then, a website called BipartisanReport published an article titled “Donald Trump Impeachment Process Begins” citing a political action committee (PAC) called Impeach Trump started by Californian Democrat Boyd Roberts.
Unfortunately for Trump haters, the PAC, and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) it registered with don’t have the authority to impeach the President of the United States.
Trump does have historically low poll numbers, however, the lowest of any U.S. President this close to his inauguration, but so far he hasn’t been impeached even though thousands of Americans are wishing for it.
The debate on whether Trump should be allowed to remain in the White House has even spread overseas.
The British betting house Ladbrokes is currently offering 1-to-1 odds Trump will be impeached or resign before the end of his term, Alex Donohue, spokesman of British oddsmaker website Ladbrokes told the Washington Post.
“Donald Trump being president is a brilliant thing for betting companies in the United Kingdom. He has created an incredible amount of interest in betting.”
Another UK betting website, PaddyPower, is offering 2-to-1 one odds Trump will face the impeachment process.
Impeaching the president is really hard.
There have only been two presidents in the history of the United States who have been successfully impeached: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, and both remained in the White House after their trial. Richard Nixon resigned shortly before the House voted on his impeachment.
For Trump to be impeached, Republicans who control Congress would need to turn on him and so far that doesn’t look like it going to happen, but anything is possible, especially if his numbers continue to drop.
Possibly, a more likely scenario is a midterm election in two years that sees Democrats take control of both houses who then turn their power against the president in an impeachment hearing similar to the one Bill Clinton suffered through.
Do you think Trump will leave the White House before his term his up?
[Featured Image by Seth Wenig/AP Images]
