By Uche Mbah
President Donald trump of the United states has been impeached by the American House headed by Nancy Pelosi, though it is unlikely that the Republican dominated Senate will remove him from office by ratifying the impeachment by the lower house.
With this, trump has become the third US President to be impeached, behind presidents Johnson and Clinton.
The House voted almost entirely along party lines to impeach him at 230/197 votes, with Republicans trailing behind the Democrats.
The Impeachment sets the stage for the senate trial next January. It is, however, expected that the Senate may turn down his possible removal from office.
The impeachment is hinged on two articles: Abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The debate was long and tensed, on whether trump violated his oath of office by pressurizing Ukrain to damage an opponent.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, referring to the impeachment of Clinton, said that impeachment of another US president within two decades is imperative because Trump has become “an ongoing threat to our national security and the integrity of our elections.”
“It is an established fact the president violated the Constitution,” Pelosi said. She stood next to a sign that quoted a from the Pledge of Allegiance, “To the Republic, for which it stands…”
“A sad one for America that the president’s reckless activities necessitated us in having to introduce articles of impeachment”, Pelosi said after the impeachment.
Before the impeachment, Trump in a tweet had insisted that he did nothing wrong, and asked for Prayers from his supporters.
Even before the impeachment, Trump had anticipated the outcome. His allies in the Senate are said to be negotiating already on the judicial trial scheduled for early January.
In American Democracy, impeachment does not automatically mean removal from office, but an indictment that will determine the direction of the trial by the Senate. This is different from the understanding of many Nigerians about the process of impeachment.
The American Senate has a majority of Republicans and therefore are expected to block his removal from office come January.
