Washington plunged into an impeachment crisis as House Democrats opened an investigation into President Donald Trump’s campaign season dealings with Ukraine. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched the formal impeachment inquiry, yielding to mounting pressure from fellow Democrats and plunging a deeply divided nation into an election year clash between Congress and the commander in chief.

What triggered this move?

Trump repeatedly prodded Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to look into Democratic rival Joe Biden, according to a rough transcript released by the White House.

“Whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great,” Trump said in the summer phone call. He was referring to Attorney General William Barr, the nation’s top law enforcement official.

The president’s words set the parameters of the political debate to come, with Trump dismissing it as routine and Democrats saying that it laid the predicate for an impeachment inquiry.

Later, Trump wrote on Twitter that the July 25 phone call was “very friendly and totally appropriate” and that he put “no pressure” on Zelenskiy. He later called the House probe “Witch Hunt Garbage”.

What is the process?

A misconception about “impeachment” is that it refers to the removal of a president from office. In fact, impeachment refers only to the House, the lower chamber of Congress, bringing charges - similar to an indictment in a criminal case.

House Speaker Pelosi directed six House subcommittees that were already investigating allegations against Trump to send their results to the House Judiciary Committee, which would then determine if and how to lay out articles of impeachment against the president. 

These articles of impeachment act as formal charges, much like an indictment in a criminal trial. 

If a simple majority of the House’s 435 members approves bringing charges, the process moves to the Senate — the upper chamber — which holds a trial to determine the president’s guilt.

In such a trial, House members act as the prosecutors, the senators as jurors, the chief justice of the US Supreme Court presides. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president.

Does Trump have numbers in Senate?

The House of Representatives has 235 Democrats, 199 Republicans, and one independent. As a result, the Democrats could impeach Trump with no Republican support.

However, the Senate now has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with the Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would require 67 votes. So, for Trump to be removed from office via impeachment, at least 20 Republicans and all the Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.

The Republican majority in the Senate could vote to immediately dismiss the charges against Trump without considering evidence.

Was any president impeached before?

No president has ever been removed as a direct result of impeachment. Richard Nixon, resigned in 1974 before he could be impeached. 

Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, were impeached by the House, but not convicted by the Senate.

How long will the process take?

Pelosi has not given a timeframe for this process but she told her colleagues it would be done “expeditiously”. 

This process can take months. For Andrew Johnson, the entire process lasted 94 days, from first congressional action to Senate acquittal, lasted from February 22, 1868 to May 26, 1868.

For Richard Nixon, it lasted 184 days. The House approved the impeachment inquiry on February 6, 1974 and Nixon resigned.

For Clinton, it lasted 127 days. The House approved the impeachment inquiry on October 8, 1998, and the Senate acquitted him on February 12, 1999.