Will the Comey 'bombshell' result in the impeachment of Donald Trump?

"The President, Vice-President, and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors.

While the show, that the Donald Trump presidency has become, may be increasingly entertaining for the rest of the world, it is raising serious concerns in the US. So much so that the usually guarded use of the word and the process that it represents, impeachment, is already being thrown around openly.

And this spark has been lit further following the latest admissions made by the former FBI Director James Comey to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Comey, who was fired by Trump last month, has said that the President asked him to let go of the investigation into Trump's former US National Security Michael Flynn who is facing scrutiny for his contact with the Russia administration.

Sadly for many Americans and those around the world, what should have been a shocking revelation, under the current administration, seems like a routine piece of news.

Though this might be true while looking at the reports on basis of news value, such statements from Comey on the Russian controversy represent serious allegations which make calls for Impeachment sound far less than those of hope and more of a logical conclusion.

What will it take?

The question that remains to be seen is whether this controversy or other actions of Trump merit such a process to be initiated. The current allegations of either him or his team being in direct contact with the Russians before elections, or if he is thought to have acted in a way which could be deemed as an obstruction of justice while investigation into the Russian link are going on, along with the firing of Comey, can possibly be looked at in such a light.

Another allegation of him having given out top security information to the Russians during a meeting in the White House is also being looked at as an instance of him having breached his 'oath of office,' which could also spell trouble for the President. And such cases of jeopardising national security and obstruction of justice are being discussed by his critics as grounds for impeachment.

The confusion on the issue of such a procedure though comes from the fact that there is no clarity on the issue of what constitutes an impeachable offence. And such a doubt has existed as the Supreme Court of the US refused to clearly define what are the matters that lead to such an offence during the last time a President against who such a proceeding was initiated, Richard Nixon. So it is difficult to say whether the current controversy fulfils the criteria.

Who can impeach him?

The process of impeachment of US officials at the federal level, including the President, is initiated and conducted by the legislature i.e. the Congress which is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. So this means that Trump's future as President resides with the legislatures from the Republican and the Democrat sides of the aisle.

Trump, who was the Republican candidate, would take comfort from the fact that his party holds the majority in both the houses of Congress and so, for now, he seems to be safe.

But if reports are to be believed, many legislatures from both parties have already started talking openly about initiating such a process against him. According to reports more than a dozen of such lawmakers have either discussed or promoted Trump's impeachment. And a Democrat Al Green has already asked for this on the House floor.

And also what would be worrying for him is that in the case of Nixon, who had to eventually resign when proceedings for impeachment were started against him, also initially enjoyed the support of his party members till the controversial information related to the 'Watergate' scandal started to come out, which eventually led to his supporters deserting him.

Will the Republicans bite the bullet?

For the President to be impeached it would take an effort across party lines and would only succeed if the Republicans take the lead on it.The party, which eventually saw an outsider such as Trump win the nomination to be its candidate, has never been at ease with the President. The initial resistance that he faced from the senior leadership of the party clearly point to it.

This though changed after he won the nomination, and especially after clinching the election, with leaders slowly moving around to supporting him. This was helped by the fact that the elections held along with those for the presidency brought the control of both houses to the party.

But some of his decisions and actions, including the Russian controversy, have again led to leaders having serious apprehensions about him. This has been aggravated by the President being adamant to replace the popular ObamaCare health plan with his own version which has led to widespread criticism from the public leading to backlash for lawmakers in their constituencies.

And no matter whether he is the President or not, the fact that he is seen as an outsider by most of the party holds true, and that they would rather see a person like the current vice-president Mike Pence take charge can't be too hard to imagine.

Though this may be true for now, to take such a drastic step would not come without repercussions including embarrassment on the political stage as well as giving the currently demoralised Democrats a fresh lease of life.

The eventuality of whether they will take such a step would depend on whether new facts related to the Russian controversy come out or some new controversial action is taken by Trump, which will make the party reach a point where its lawmakers would not have any other option but to initiate impeachment proceedings against him.

Other than this the other major factor which would be taken into account would be on how Republicans see their own prospects of winning in the states and in the fresh elections for their legislature seats given the public's reaction to the President's policies.

For now though the current controversy and the facts that are in public may not be enough for such a major step to be taken, but under Trump, it may not take long for this to not be true anymore. After all, the debate has already reached this point in the first five months of his four-year tenure. And the moment that happens, it won't take long for him to get dropped.

Impeachment in the US

• According to Article II of the United States Constitution "The President, Vice-President, and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors."
• The process comes under the power of the US legislature, Congress, which includes the House of Representatives (435 members) and the Senate (100 members).
• Any member of the House of Representatives can call for the process to be initiated.
• The process works at two levels, the House of Representatives impeaches the President, but then it has to be confirmed by the Senate which convicts the person impeached, and this process resembles that of a court proceeding with both sides making their case.
• To confirm the first step of impeachment more than half of the votes in the House of Representatives should vote for it. And the next step of conviction in the Senate needs to vote with a majority of two-thirds of total votes.
• Till now no President has been impeached though such proceedings against Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were confirmed in the House of Representatives but were rejected in the Senate.Will Donald Trump be Impeached?

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