By Isabella Zimmermann
Editor-In-Chief

President Donald Trump joined the ranks of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton when he became the third president to ever be impeached on December 18, 2019 on two articles of impeachment. The Republican-controlled Senate inevitably acquitted him, voting 52-48 against Article I of abuse of power 53-47 against Article II of obstruction of Congress. Only Senator Mitt Romney of Utah voted alongside the Democrats, who were in favor of finding the president guilty.

One year later, Donald Trump has once again made history, becoming the first president ever to be impeached twice.

The House met seven days after the Capital riots that happened on January 6, 2021 to impeach Trump for “high crimes and misdemeanors,” including “incitement of insurrection.”

The House had previously voted to call on Mike Pence on January 12 to invoke the 25^th Amendment against the president to remove him from office immediately. This action would have required the approval of both the Vice President and the majority of the executive officers in Trump’s cabinet, who would have needed to agree that they found the president incapable of fulfilling his duties.

Vice President Mike Pence remained silent on his stance for days before the vote, which was 223-205 in favor of following through with the Amendment. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had given him 24 hours to remove Trump before moving on with the vote to impeach him.

Instead, Pence sent a letter to the Madam Speaker on his views of the recent attacks and potentially removing the President from office.

“I do not believe that such a course of action [invoking the 25^th Amendment] is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution,” he wrote. “I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation.”

With the Vice President’s refusal to invoke the 25^th Amendment, the House followed through with their vote to impeach the president. Though they only needed a simple majority, 232-197 voted to impeach the president on the raised charges. 10 of those 232 were Republicans: Liz Cheny (WY), John Katko (NY), Tom Rice (SC), Adam Kinzinger (IL), Fred Upton (MI), David Valadao (CA), Anthony Gonzalez (OH), Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA), Peter Meijer (MI), and Dan Newhouse (WA).

“I think that due to how he handled the riots in the Capitol, it was clear to the House that they had had enough of his behavior as president,” senior Ashley Muñoz said.

“President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government,” stated the House’s Article of Impeachment.

Trump is now out of office, but the Senate can still find him guilty and convict him. 2/3rds of its members—67—need to vote in favor in order for him to be removed. However, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky delayed the Senate trial, saying that it would not begin before President-elect Biden was sworn into office on January 20.

The introduction of the Biden administration also brings along with it change to the Senate. The chamber will be split 50-50 Democrats to Republicans with one tiebreaker vote by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Trump will long be out of office, but a trial conviction could prevent him from ever holding “any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States” according to a clause of the Constitution.

If a simple majority of the Senate votes after convicting him to bar him from being disqualified as a candidate for federal office, that would mean Trump’s hopes of running in 2024 would be immediately dashed away.

The Senate has yet to decide when the trial would begin, but it is expected to at least be before Joe Biden’s first 100 days as the 46th President of the United States.

If Donald Trump is found guilty, he will make history for the third time: he will become known as the only president to have ever been convicted by the Senate.