Poor Norman News, January 25, 2021, Washington DC
The impeachment managers from the United States House of Representatives have delivered articles of impeachment against Donald Trump for incitement and insurrection against the United States government.
This would make Donald Trump the first president in United States history to be impeached twice. The Senate failed to convict Donald Trump the first time he was impeached.
Certain Republican senators have expressed that they do not support the present impeachment because Trump is no longer in office. They state that the second impeachment would serve to divide the nation further.
However, other Republican senators have stated that they would support impeachment under the circumstances because of the severity of what Trump is alleged to have done, i.e., incitement of insurrection against the government.
Most legal scholars agree that impeachment even after the president has left office is legally constitutional, because he was impeached while still in office, and the impeachment would serve to disqualify Donald Trump from ever holding office in the United States.
A minority of legal scholars’ state that it is not constitutional to impeach Donald Trump because he is no longer in office.
It does appear there is precedent for impeachment of a person once they leave office on the basis that a person who is impeached could simply resign without having to face the consequences of their actions and could potentially hold office again.
Whatever the case, there have been only four presidential impeachments in United States history, and now Donald Trump holds half of those four.
It will now be up to the Senate to determine the trial rules, and the timing of the trial. The House of Representatives will be the prosecutors in the impeachment.
By Norman Gregory
