Donald Trump’s Second Impeachment: What’s Next?

What happens now that the president has become the first to be impeached twice? Learn more about the potentially history-making proceedings.

U.S. President Donald Trump turns to reporters as he exits the White House to walk toward Marine One on the South Lawn on January 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. | Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump turns to reporters as he exits the White House to walk toward Marine One on the South Lawn on January 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. | Getty Images

The House of Representatives impeached Donald Trump for the second time in a 232-197 bipartisan vote, with hundreds of lawmakers slamming him for inciting deadly violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. So what happens now that the president has been impeached again? Here are some frequently asked questions.

When will a Senate trial happen?

It is up to the Senate to decide if Donald Trump will be convicted. Outgoing Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has declined to hold a special session, which means the earliest the Senate could take up the matter would be January 19.

Since this is only the fourth presidential impeachment in history, even the most brilliant legal scholars don't know for sure how this is going to work. And it is possible that the Supreme Court will end up ruling on aspects of it.

How could the timing of the trial affect President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda?

It is crucial that the Senate does not take up the matter immediately and that it prioritizes confirming the Cabinet of incoming President Biden as a pandemic with daily death tolls topping 4,000 rages across the U.S.

How many votes does the Senate need to convict the president?

When the Senate finally votes on the matter, it will take a two-thirds majority vote to convict the president. Article 1, Section 3, of the Constitution specifically says that an impeachment conviction requires two-thirds of the members present. That potentially creates the option for Republicans who don't wish to be on record as voting to convict President Trump — but also don't want to stand in the way of it — to simply not be present and thereby reduce the threshold of votes that would be required to convict Trump. But if all members are present, it would require 17 Republicans siding with all 50 Democrats and independents to convict Trump.

What has Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s most powerful Republican, said?

None other than Sen. McConnell, the outgoing leader, has signaled he might be open to voting to convict Trump, which could potentially open a floodgate of Republicans seeking to distance themselves from this president and the violent attack on the Capitol. McConnell reportedly told colleagues on January 13 that he has “not made a final decision on how [he] will vote,” alluding to reports earlier in the week that he supported impeachment.

Have public figures been tried for impeachment after leaving office before?

Trump would be the first president to have his impeachment trial happen after leaving office. But he would not be the first person to be impeached after leaving office — a former senator and a Cabinet secretary have been impeached after leaving office.

What impact could a conviction have on Trump?

If Trump were to be convicted, he would lose his pension of roughly $200,000 a year. 

It is unclear if the president would lose his Secret Service detail, but it is an important issue. The Washington Post reported that the president has managed to milk about a million dollars from the Secret Service for access to his own properties, where they were protecting him. That's taxpayer money.

If convicted, could Trump be barred from holding office?

If the president is convicted, he also faces the prospect of being barred from ever holding federal office. It doesn't happen automatically — it requires a separate vote, but that vote would be a simple majority vote. 

What could this historic bipartisan impeachment mean for Trump’s legacy as a politician and business owner?

Whether the president is convicted or not, it is of huge historic significance that he has been impeached twice — and this time in the most bipartisan impeachment in history, with 10 members of his own party joining with the opposing party to vote for his impeachment. Trump is now the subject of 50% of America's presidential impeachments.

In the years after presidents leave office, it is very common for their legacies to become resurrected, for people to forget the bad parts of a president's history and remember only the good.

It will be tempting to sweep under the rug the fact that more than 380,000 Americans died in a pandemic under Trump’s watch, or that some 5,000 children were separated from their parents by his immigration policy with no plan to ever reunite them. But the fact that history will forever remember him as the only president ever to be impeached twice will make it harder to resuscitate his legacy.

It will also surely do irreparable harm to the Trump brand. Already, he has lost contracts worth about $17 million a year with New York City. And it is likely that because of this impeachment and the historic stamp that has been placed on him, the Trump name — the most valuable asset of the Trump Organization — will be forever remembered in infamy.

This article was copy edited by Shayna Posses.