Impeachment: US impeachment proceedings for children explained

Why Should Donald Trump Lose His Presidency?

Elections are in the US this year. There are two major parties there: the Democrats and the Republicans. Donald Trump is with the Republicans. He fears that he could lose to a Democratic party candidate. Trump therefore probably tried to blackmail the government of Ukraine: he wanted to get them to provide him with information that could harm his opponents.

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But the president must not use his power to get dirty stories about his political opponents from foreign governments. The Democrats therefore say that Trump violated the law.

Now, impeachment proceedings have been opened against Donald Trump: an impeachment. What is that?

It is very difficult to fire a president during his four-year term. One way is the so-called impeachment. Translated is the impeachment procedure. This procedure can only be initiated by the Washington Parliament, Congress. It consists of two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. If there are enough politicians in both chambers to vote against the president, he will lose his office prematurely.

How does the impeachment work?

First, witnesses are heard in Congress. This is to clarify whether the allegations against the president are correct. The House of Representatives then decides whether to initiate an impeachment procedure. In December, a majority of MPs voted yes.

Now the matter is being negotiated in the Senate. There is a kind of legal proceedings against the president. In the end, the senators vote. In total there are exactly 100 US senators. If two thirds of them, 67, vote against the president, he has to go.

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Has an impeachment ever worked?

No. So far, only two US presidents have had to face impeachment. The first time was in 1868, when the president was called Andrew Johnson. He was accused of illegally firing a minister. In 1998, a lawsuit was opened against Bill Clinton for lying about a love affair with an intern. In the end, however, both Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were allowed to remain in office because not enough people voted against them in the Senate.

Does Donald Trump have to fear for his office?

That is rather unlikely. Donald Trump is part of the Republican Party, and it has a majority in the Senate. So far, not a single Republican senator has declared that he wants to vote against President Trump.

Then why do the Democrats want an impeachment procedure at all?

Impeachment is also about what US citizens think. The majority of Americans currently believe that the allegations against Trump should be examined at least once. If, at the end of the impeachment process, a large number of citizens believe that the president has broken the law, he could lose the next election.

An earlier version of this text appeared in “Dein SPIEGEL” 01/2020. This text has been updated for spiegel.de.

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