LETTER: Should Donald Trump’s fate be up to Congress or the voters?
Impeachment is a political process and entirely up to Congress. First, the House requires 218 votes to impeach President Donald Trump. Then, the process moves to the Senate, where there’s a trial presided over by the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Finally, it requires a two-thirds vote (67) from the Senate to convict the president. If found guilty, Mr. Trump is removed from office and Vice President Mike Pence is sworn in as president.
So 285 elected members of Congress, 242 up for re-election in 2020, can annul the votes of 63 million Americans in 2016.
Or the people can vote in the 2020 election, less than 13 months away, and be the ultimate arbiters of the president’s conduct. The decision rests with Congress.