Everything you need to know about the impeachment inquiry against president Trump

This week, Democrat and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into US president Donald Trump. The move comes following a growing scandal over allegations that Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate Democratic presidential contender and rival Joe Biden.

Speaking to the House of Representatives on Tuesday evening, Pelosi said: “The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.”

So how does impeachment work?

As the US has a bicameral legislature—a fancy way of saying it has two chambers—like the UK, impeachment involves both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Article 2 of the United States constitution says that a person can be impeached for treason, bribery or the famous “other high crimes and misdemeanours.” (The House has the power to bring impeachment proceedings under Article 1.)

Any member of the House may bring a resolution for impeachment, with the bar for progress to the Senate requiring a simple majority. A two-thirds vote in the Senate is then required to convict.

At the moment, there is a Democratic majority in the House, but the Senate still has a Republican majority.

There is no option to appeal the Senate's decision, and if the subject is convicted, he or she is then disqualified from “any office of honour, trust or profit under the United States.” There is no other punishment, although separate indictments for federal or state crimes could also be brought.

What counts as "high crimes"?

The ambiguity over what precisely counts as “high crimes and misdemeanours” has led to debate. This discussion is necessarily political in nature, due to the partisan nature of Congress.

As former New York assistant attorney and legal writer James D Zirin explains in his forthcoming book Plaintiff in Chief, “impeachment is a political process, not a legal one.”

This is why Richard Nixon, for instance, resigned when it became obvious he had little support from Congress and could be facing impeachment.

Why is this happening now?

Until recently, senior democrats had resisted calls to begin impeachment proceedings.

Information from an intelligence whistleblower, who lodged a complaint regarding phone conversations between the president and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, however, has prompted the party leadership to act.

The administration has refused to release the details of this complaint to Congress. Democrats allege, however, that the president suggested he would withhold military aid to Ukraine unless corruption allegations against Biden and his son Hunter were investigated. 

Speaking this week, Pelosi said that the events forced her to “strike while the iron is hot.”

“This is a national security issue,” sources in the room quoted her as saying.

What does Trump say?

Officially, Trump has admitted discussing Biden with his Ukrainian counterpart but has said he did not put pressure on Zelensky to investigate his rival.

He also confirmed that military aid to the country had been withheld—but argued this was to try to pressure European countries to increase their contributions.

Since Pelosi indicated the beginning of an impeachment inquiry, the president’s interventions on social media have been disturbing and irate.

Using Twitter on Wednesday night, the president called the events “A total Witch Hunt! [sic]” and posted one all-caps message reading simply, “presidential harassment!”

He has also posted and pinned to the top of his Twitter feed an attack video against leading Democrats and calling for support.

So what's going to happen next?

With the Republican majority in the Senate, it is unlikely any vote to convict Trump would clear the two-thirds threshold required, even if the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives did pass a motion to impeach.

If Trump survives the process, it is likely that the events would be used to fire up his base ahead of the November 2020 election (see his new pinned tweet).

However, there is still a chance the situation could change.