So What's Next?
President Donald Trump has been impeached, the first leader in United States history to be impeached twice by the House. The question now is whether he'll become the first President to be convicted by the Senate and removed from office. The House will introduce and pass the articles of impeachment, but the Senate is where the President being impeached faces a trial and a potential punishment.
The Senate Rule Reads: "The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present. (Article 1, Section 3)"
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated before the vote, that he will not bring senators back until the last day of Trump's term -- January 19 -- at the earliest. He said in a statement late Wednesday that the trial process will begin then. This will take days or even weeks for the House lawmakers who will make the case against Trump and his lawyers to answer. So a trial can't practically happen until after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20. There is precedent for impeaching former officials. While the main penalty for a guilty verdict in an impeachment trial is removal from office, senators could vote to bar Trump from holding office in the future. He could also lose his six-figure pension and other post-presidential perks. While McConnell sets the schedule as Senate majority leader now, he'll lose that status as soon as the results of Georgia's January 5 Senate runoff elections are certified and the two new Democratic senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, are seated. At that point, New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer will become Senate majority leader and will have more control over the proceedings. Conviction requires 2/3 of those present. If all 100 senators are present, that's 67 senators. Assuming those two Georgians are seated, that means there are 50 senators from each party and 17 Republicans would be required.
