What happens if president is impeached

In this trial, since the president has already left office, the real punishment would come if the president were to be convicted, when the Senate would be expected to vote on a motion to ban the former president from ever holding federal office again.

While the Senate trial has the power to oust a president from office, and ban him or her from running for future office, it does not have the power to send a president to jail. Disqualification from holding office, a separate process, requires a simple majority vote, according to the Congressional Research Service. Trump's lawyers argued in their brief ahead of the second trial that the Senate cannot bar Trump from holding office in the future under the 14th Amendment because removal is a precondition for disqualification and as a private citizen the body has no jurisdiction over him.

That said, a president can face criminal charges at a later point. Sherry points out that in the Constitution "the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law. In a case in which a president was actually removed from office, the vice president would assume office under the 25th Amendment, which was ratified in Then the new president would nominate a new vice president who would have to be confirmed by a majority of both houses of Congress.

A president can continue governing even after he or she has been impeached by the House of Representatives. Trump continued to govern after his impeachment in December , and of course, ran for reelection in After Clinton was impeached on Dec. While Clinton continued governing, and the impeachment had no legal or official impact, his legacy is marred by the proceeding. The House voted to impeach Trump on Dec.

He remains the only US president in history to have done so. But as president, I must put the interest of America first. Vice-President Gerald Ford was sworn in as president and pardoned Nixon for any crimes he had committed while in office.

No contest. It's the Watergate scandal. Though he never admitted to any criminal wrongdoing, his actions remain a cautionary tale of abuse of presidential power.

Nixon died in April , 20 years after he resigned in disgrace. Speaking at his funeral, then-President Bill Clinton focused on Nixon's work in foreign affairs. Just a few years after President Bill Clinton preached forgiveness for Nixon's failings, the Arkansas Democrat was facing his own political crisis. Within one year of taking office, Mr Clinton found himself under investigation by a Justice Department special prosecutor. Under special counsel Kenneth Starr, the scope of the probe into real estate dealings expanded in January to include the president's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

As part of a separate lawsuit against the president - the sexual harassment of Paula Jones - Mr Clinton was asked about his relationship to Ms Lewinsky. Days later, Mr Clinton famously doubled down on his denial. I never told a single person to lie, not a single time, never. On 9 September , Mr Starr released his report to Congress.

The public, too, soon got to see the page Starr report which included salacious testimony from Ms Lewinsky, who had struck an immunity deal with the independent counsel in exchange for her co-operation. The report also included 11 possible grounds for impeachment. In December , the House of Representatives voted along party lines to impeach Mr Clinton on two counts: perjury and obstruction of Congress. For the year that the Lewinsky-Clinton scandal consumed the country, the president resisted growing calls to resign.

So if the House and Senate address the issue in the articles of impeachment—we will undoubtably be done with the offending president.

The Framers of the Constitution may have been unenlightened on race. But they thought of this one. Back to FAQs. Jane Lindholm. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email. Senate Television. Tags Programs But Why. Melody Bodette. See stories by Melody Bodette. She also produces special projects for the station. See stories by Jane Lindholm. Related Content. Who Invented The President? Who invented the president?