Donald Trump: What is impeachment and can the US president be removed from office?

Vice President Mike Pence

Credit: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

Do impeached officials go to prison?

Impeachment is a political process, not criminal.  

Congress has no power to impose criminal penalties on impeached presidents or officials. However criminal courts could try to punish officials if they are believed to have committed crimes.

Some Democrats have called for criminal charges against Mr Trump for inciting riot, treason and sedition, though this seems unlikely to happen.

"There isn’t any judicial review of impeachment decisions, so Congress just needs to be satisfied that Trump committed high crimes or misdemeanours," Jens David Ohlin, a law professor and associate dean at Cornell Law School said.

"They are the ultimate judge of what meets that standard."

Impeachment therefore is at the crossroads of politics and the law. "There’s no requirement that the president must have been indicted" for a crime, Prof Ohlin added.

Richard Nixon would almost certainly have faced impeachments proceedings in 1974 over the Watergate scandal, but he resigned instead. 

History of impeachment

No US president has ever been ousted from office under impeachment proceedings.

Andrew Johnson was the first leader to go through the process in 1868. He was charged with breaking the law after he tried to replace the US secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, without congressional permission.

At the time — in the aftermath of the civil war — the president was required to consult the Senate about such decisions. His impeachment passed to the Senate, where he escaped being removed from office by a one-vote margin.

Watergate hotel — the building that was at the centre of the scandal

The other president was Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

He was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice in 1998, but he was acquitted in the Senate trial. 

Richard Nixon would almost certainly have faced impeachment proceedings in 1974 over the Watergate scandal and undoubtedly would have been removed from office.

However, the disgraced president resigned before it got that far and he handed the presidency over to Gerald Ford.