The House voted on Dec. 18 to officially impeach the 45th president of the United States following the bombshell testimonies of several influential political figures in a series of hearings before the House of Representatives,

The charges brought against President Trump are abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, both of which received more support from the majority of the Democrat-controlled House. This makes Donald Trump the third president in US history to be impeached. However, impeachment is only a term for when a government official has been charged with criminal activity. The removal of the president is determined by the Senate, which will conduct its own trial before voting on removal. 

The first president to ever be impeached was Andrew Johnson on Feb. 24, 1868 for appointing Ulysses S. Grant as Secretary of War while Edwin Stanton was already serving in the position. It is unconstitutional for a president to dismiss Senate-confirmed officials from office without first approving it by the Senate. 

More than a century later on December 19, 1998, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Bill Clinton for lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice in his dealings with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. 

No president has ever been removed from office following impeachment, and there is speculation that Donald Trump will not be either. The Senate is controlled by Republicans who have already confirmed support for the current president and promise to vote against the impeachment articles. 

There have been whisperings of an unfair trial in the Senate with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., solidifying this news by saying, “I’m not an impartial juror. This is a political process. There’s not anything judicial about it. The House made a partisan political decision to impeach. I would anticipate we will have a largely partisan outcome in the Senate. I’m not impartial about this at all.”

Since the vote of impeachment in the House passed, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has withheld the articles of impeachment from McConnell, prolonging the impeachment process in the hope of ensuring a fair trial in the Senate. She has promised to give the articles over sometime this coming week.