WHY HE SHOULD BE IMPEACHED:
The Monday after Trump’s inauguration, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) in New York, sued the President for violating the Emoluments Clause.
The Emoluments Clause, also known as the Nobility Clause, states that “no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.”
Trump is still affiliating himself with his hotels, golf courses and other office buildings. All three have continued to accept money from foreign countries as well as continued to run under Trump’s name which is a conflict of interest.
Before his official inauguration, Trump held a press conference in which he announced that his major corporations would go to his two sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. Almost three months later however, Trump is still running his companies with an iron fist.
CREW explained that as President and as the Executive and owner of his corporations, the American people will have to decipher Trump’s deals with foreign countries to see if they will benefit the country or if they will benefit him and his company.
“Trump does business with countries like China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, and now that he is President, his company’s acceptance of any benefits from the governments of those countries violates the Constitution,” a CREW statement said. “When Trump sits down to negotiate trade deals with these countries, the American people will have no way of knowing whether he will also be thinking about the profits of Trump the businessman.”
HOW IT WILL HAPPEN:
Impeachment is already a long process, but it will be even worse at the hands of the Republican majority Congress. Defined by the Constitution as an action for “conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” the last category is open to interpretation. The process requires a total of 5 votes from the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court.
There is clear divide of people who support him and people who dislike him, not only with his supporters but also in Congress, making impeachment even more difficult. The representatives supporting Trump won’t vote him out of office because his presence allows them to get support for Republican motions, such as repealing the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, the other half of Congress will be adamantly fighting for his impeachment.
If impeachment is impending, Trump is still able to resign before the case becomes official in Congress, as President Richard Nixon did after the Watergate Scandal. It is likely that Trump will resign, rather than face the consequences of his actions.
Trump already has a 52% disapproval rating, but it will take force from these people to push him out of office. It may take years for this to happen.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN:
If Trump were impeached, Vice President Mike Pence would replace him. Having Pence as the President of the United States will not be a much better alternative, as he has more political experience to act on his controversially conservative policies.
