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2628900000On September 24, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives started an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. You might be asking yourself, what does it mean to be impeached? If a U.S. president is suspected of committing “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” the House of Representatives can impeach him or her. The Constitution gives them this power. In an impeachment inquiry, the House investigates whether there is enough evidence for a case. If there is, a case can go forward. If the president is found guilty, the Senate has the power to remove him or her from office. The next question you might be asking is why has the House decided to launch an inquiry? An anonymous or “whistleblower” complaint was filed in August of 2019. It says that Trump pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son for wrongdoing. Joe Biden was the former vice president under former President Obama. Now Joe Biden is running for president. The Democrats might pick him as their nominee. If they do, Biden would compete against Trump in the 2020 presidential election. If the claims against President Trump were proven to be true, it would appear that the president was trying to influence an upcoming election in his favor.Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House. A Democrat is the Speaker because a majority of the House members are Democrats. Speaker Pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry on September 24. She said that asking a foreign power to investigate an opponent shows Trump’s “betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections.”President Trump says he has done nothing wrong. He says he will fight impeachment. “It’s all a big hoax,” he said on September 25, 2019. All of this may sound a little confusing, so let’s focus on how an impeachment process works. It starts with a House investigation. The House can then put forth a document. It is called the “articles of impeachment.” If members vote in favor of the articles, the president is impeached. (That is the same as being charged with a crime.) On December 18, 2019, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump. He was charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. President Trump was charged with pressuring Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.The Senate is now responsible for holding an impeachment trial. During the trial, House members make a case against the president. The Senate acts as the jury. The trial is overseen by the Chief Justice John Roberts of the United States Supreme Court. Currently, the Senate is led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell because a majority of the members of the Senate are Republicans. The Senate trial began on January 21,2020. All 100 senators served as the jury. Seven members of the House argued that the president should be removed from office. A team of lawyers defended the president. They argued that he should not be removed from office. Senators listened to both sides and submitted written questions. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts oversaw the trial. He read the questions aloud. Both sides were given time to respond.On January 31, 2020 the Senate voted against hearing from new witnesses or requesting more evidence. After each side made its closing argument, senators were given time to make statements. Finally, on February 5, 2020, senators voted on the two articles of impeachment. One by one, senators were called by name and asked to vote guilty or not guilty on each charge.The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump ended on February 5, 2020, when the United States Senate voted against removing him from office. In a U.S. impeachment trial, 67 votes are needed to find the president guilty. The senators voted on two different charges. On the first, abuse of power, 48 senators voted guilty and 52 voted not guilty. On the second, charge, obstruction of Congress, 47 senators voted guilty and 53 voted not guilty. The vote marked the end of months of proceedings. The only Republican to vote outside of his party was Senator Mitt Romney of Utah. He voted guilty on the first charge and not guilty on the second charge. This impeachment trial was not the first of its kind. It was the third in U.S. history. All three presidents put on trial were found not guilty. No president has ever been removed from office.Think About It:Why do you think the writers of the Constitution made it possible to impeach an elected official?Why do you think it would be important to have a trial instead of just kicking someone out?How might political parties bring a bias to an impeachment proceeding?If found guilty an official is removed and can never hold public office again. Do you think that is enough punishment, or should there be more?How does this article connect to what we are covering in civics?Name ____________________ Week _______ Category: _____________________________________ Use your CE instructions for category choices Connection: __________________________________ (how does this article connect to the category) SUMMARY: In the space provided, write a summary of the article identifying the people involved in the news story and describing key points related to the story. Be sure to write at least 5 complete sentences. For full credit, complete sentences must be used. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Who: ______________________________________ What: ______________________________________ Where: _____________________________________ When _______________________________________ OPINION: In this section you are to address at least two of the “Think About It” items posted at the end of the article. Be sure to write at least 5 complete sentences. For full credit, complete sentences must be used. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ................
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