The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has announced a formal impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. The inquiry could result in Trump’s removal from office – or it could stop well short of that. Here’s how it could play out.
The impeachment process has two main parts: the passage of articles of impeachment by the House of Representatives followed by a trial in the Senate, with the chief justice of the US supreme court presiding.
If a two-thirds Senate majority votes to convict, the president is removed from office.
But no previous impeachment inquiry has resulted in a Senate conviction. Both Bill Clinton (1998) and Andrew Johnson (1868) were acquitted in the Senate. Richard Nixon (1974) resigned before the House voted on impeachment.
