Impeachment: How it Works and Why (Part 2 of 2)

Written by: Lim Junheng, Jovan (20-O5), Ng Teck Zhong (20-E5)

Designed by: Elizabeth Khoo Yuk Min (21-U1)

Introduction

In our first article of this two-part series, we explored the idea of impeachment in the context of the United States of America, as well as how it works. We also covered some brief examples of notable impeachments in the American history. In this article, we shall explore the more recent impeachment cases, of Donald Trump, as well as the ongoing Impeachment Inquiry against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

First Impeachment of President Donald John Trump

The first impeachment of then-President Donald Trump in 2019 might still be fresh in everyone’s minds, considering the amount of buzz it generated at that time. For most of us, this was a noteworthy event in American history, reminding us of the enduring relevance of impeachment in today’s context.

Here’s how it all began. In September 2019, a whistleblower complaint was filed alleging the wrongdoing of President Trump. It goes, “ is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election, including, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals”. Furthermore, the whistleblower revealed possible White House cover-up of the case.

Soon after, it was revealed that the whistleblower reported on Trump’s attempts at getting the Ukranian President to conduct an investigation into Hunter Biden ( Joe Biden’s son). Then, on 25 and 26 September, the whistleblower’s report and the official White House record of Trump’s phone call with the Ukranian President Zelensky was released to the public (voluntarily by the Trump White House), possibly in an effort to put Trump in a good light. Thereafter, Trump unsurprisingly took to Twitter to discredit the whistleblower, with statements like, “It is just another Democrat Hoax!”.

Then came the impeachment trial in December. The House adopted two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The results for impeachment were as follows: 230-197 for impeachment for abuse of power, and 229-198 for impeachment for obstruction of Congress. A day after, Trump claimed that the impeachment had technically not taken place, as the articles were not handed to the Senate yet. This however, is false. The impeachment of a president is not dependent on whether it had been given to the Senate.

Thereafter, in the Senate, senators voted 52-48 to acquit President Trump on abuse of power, and 53-47 to acquit him on obstruction of Congress. Interestingly, something that many might have noticed was that almost all Republicans were committed to protecting the President, as opposed to past impeachments where members of Congress were willing to cross the aisle if necessary. In this case, the only exception was Senator Mitt Romney, being the only Repblican to vote in favour of convicting Trump — the only senator in history to do so.

Public opinion regarding the conviction of President Trump in the Senate remained at about 46% to 51% in polls. Interestingly, Trump’s approval ratings did not change much after the impeachment process. Conversely, the Clinton impeachment process in 1998 led to his approval ratings going up from 60% to about 70%. Just as the Senate votes are, the public remains polarised on issues relating to the President, which eventually led to the souring of the political climate in the country.

Second Impeachment of President Donald John Trump

In the more recent case in 2021, then-President Trump was impeached by Congress again, this time on the single charge of “inciting violence against the Government of the United States”. Here is how Trump ended up being impeached again:

In the 2020 Presidential Election, Trump lost to Biden, becoming one of the few Presidents that did not manage to win the reelection. Unsatisfied, Trump proceeded to claim that the election was full of irregularities, or in his own words, “rigged”. He also, through his lawyers, appealed against the result through the United States’ Supreme Court, all of which dismissed Trump’s claim on the basis of a lack of evidence to prove Trump's claim beyond reasonable doubt.

With the failure of the legal efforts, Trump then focused on another possible strategy (from his point of view, that is) to “win” the election, pressuring then Vice-President Mike Richard Pence to, to reject electoral votes that voted against Trump in the process to certify them. Pence made it clear that this was impossible, and an uncontended Trump decided to make his opinion clear at a subsequent rally he was hosting (in the middle of a pandemic) in Washington D.C.

At the rally, he repeated unsubstantiated claims that the “election was stolen”, and, amongst other things, started inciting the crowd to storm the Capitol building and force Pence to overturn the results.

The subsequent riots saw Congressmen and Congresswomen fleeing for their lives, with security details escorting high-ranking officials, including Pence, who was presiding over the certification process in the Joint Session to safety. It took a few hours for the Capitol building to be fully secured by the security forces, and many of the lawmakers were clearly unhappy with what Trump had caused.

In record time, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives adopted a single Article of Impeachment against Trump on the charge of High Crimes and Misdemeanours, placing the blame of inciting the insurrection of the Capitol squarely on him. Due to the timing of the Impeachment, Trump became the first President of the United States to be tried for Impeachment after his term of office has ended.

Public opinion regarding the second impeachment of Trump is that of supporting his conviction, albeit only narrowly. Polls have shown that the margin of surveyees for conviction is similar to that of the first impeachment. In fact, for those that allowed for a third option of “neither”, the percentage of surveyees for and against conviction has decreased substantially, although a (very narrow) majority still wants to convict. Despite the actions of Trump, it seems that the public is still very polarised.

Now Happening: Impeachment Inquiry Against New York Governor Andrew Mark Cuomo

While on the topic of impeachment, it is timely to look at another case, though not of a President. This lesser known case of Governor Andrew Cuomo is an appropriate example to display how impeachment has continued to play out, even for other officials in the country besides the President. 

Recently, multiple allgeations of sexual harassment and unwanted advances have been faced by Governor Cuomo, a Democrat. In addition, another investigation has been called to look into the Governor’s alleged cover-up of nursing home deaths when the pandemic started. Amid the allegations, he has continued to assert that he has “never touched anyone inappropriately”, and that he would not resign the office, even as many top New York Democrats have pushed for his resignation. 

There are some differences between this impeachment and the Presidential impeachments that were detailed before. Mainly, the New York State Constitution does not define “impeachment”. While the US Constitution states that “high crimes and misdemeanours” are grounds for impeachment, the New York Constitution does not have any standard for impeachment, creating an air of ambiguity and the chance for political exploitation by both sides.

Besides, another key difference is that Cuomo would not be allowed to continue acting as governor during the impeachment proceedings, and can get back his authority only if acquitted at trial, whereas a US President can still exercise power after impeachment, as well as during the Senate trial.

Similarly, a simple majority vote (50%) is enough to pass the impeachment resolution against Governor Cuomo. With 106 of 150 seats in the New York Assembly controlled by Democrats (which Cuomo is a part of), it would certainly take some effort to reach the requirement to impeach the governor. Subsequently, even if the impeachment resolution was passed, a two-thirds supermajority would still be required to convict Cuomo in the New York Senate trial. Democrats control the Senate with a 43-20 majority. Even if all Republicans voted to convict the governor, 22 of the 43 Democrats (51%) would still be required to join in the conviction vote. Yet, this is extremely unlikely, considering the polarisation today.

Surprisingly, the public has a significant tolerance for the governor. 51% of 801 voters surveyed by the Siena College Research Institute said that Cuomo should not resign, while 37% said that he should. However, 57% of voters surveyed also mentioned that they would prefer voting for a different candidate in the next election, compared to 33% who would re-elect Cuomo. Similar to Clinton’s impeachment proceedings, the public largely believes that the person in question is  still able to perform his duties well despite the current ordeal. In fact, 60% of surveyed voters approved of Cuomo’s handling of the pandemic. As Cuomo himself notes, “Public opinion goes up, it goes down, but if you’re doing the job and people respect the job you’re doing, to me, there’s no more important barometer than that.”.

Conclusion

Through this two-part series, we hope that you have gained a better understanding of the idea of Impeachment, especially in the context of the United States of America. We also hope that we have brought you greater clarity into the political happenings that has been going on for the past few months in the USA.

References

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