By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Less than six months into his first term in office, President Donald Trump faces multiple congressional investigations and a special counsel looking into Russian involvement on his behalf during the 2016 elections and whether his campaign colluded with Moscow.

Actions such as firing FBI Director James Comey in the middle of his investigation has led some Democrats to wonder aloud if Trump eventually will be impeached.

"We're going to learn a lot about the connections between this president, his allies and the Kremlin," Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said on MSNBC. "I believe it's going to lead right to impeachment."

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Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) went so far as to call for Trump's impeachment in a House floor speech.

"This is about my position," Green said. "This is about what I believe. And this is where I stand. I will not be moved. The president must be impeached."

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Some Republicans also have been dropping the I-word. Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) said he wanted to hear from Comey about reports that Trump told him to drop an investigation into his former national security adviser, retired Gen. Michael Flynn.

"Obstruction of justice in the case of Nixon, in the case of Clinton in the late 90s, has been considered an impeachable offense," Curbelo told CNN.

And Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) told The Hill newspaper that Trump could face impeachment if he did pressure Comey to back off the Flynn probe.

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.@RepCummings: We're at a significant moment in this country’s history. This is bigger than #Trump. This is about the soul of our democracy. pic.twitter.com/71lVaDeVRQ — Oversight Committee (@OversightDems) May 17, 2017

Still, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, expressed concern on ABC's "This Week" that talk of impeachment would overshadow the main issue.

"We've got to concentrate on the the fact that the Russians interfered with our elections," Cummings said. "And I keep telling people don't get so caught up in impeachment that you forget about that, because I'm telling you, that's something that goes to the very heart of our democracy. And we can't have people in Russia determining who will be the president of the United States."

Here are some questions and answers about the issue.

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President Donald Trump delivers a statement during his visit to Jerusalem. (EPA | Atef Safadi

1. What is impeachment?

The Constitution gives Congress the power to remove a president from office in the middle of his or her term.

Article I says the House has "the sole power of impeachment" and the Senate "the sole power to try all impeachments."

Article II lays out the grounds for impeachment: "Treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

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Donald Trump after the Republican presidential debate in September 2015. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

2. What charges could Trump face?

Trump said that he fired Comey because of his investigation into Russian involvement in the U.S. elections and possible collusion between Moscow and the president's campaign.

“In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won,’” Trump told NBC News.

The New York Times reported that Trump also criticized Comey to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during their Oval Office meeting. That was the same meeting during which time Trump reportedly revealed intelligence information so highly classified that it wasn't even shared with U.S. allies and some government officials.

“I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Trump said, according to the Times. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee that is investigating Russian intervention in the election, said the reports were disturbing.

"If any president tries to impede an investigation, any president, no matter who it is, by interfering with the FBI, yes, that would be problematic," Rubio said on CNN's "State of the Union."It would be not just problematic. It would be, you know, obviously potential obstruction of justice."

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There's also concern about collusion.

During the campaign, Trump invited Russia to hack into Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's email server.

After naming retired Gen. Michael Flynn as his national security adviser, Trump waited for more than two weeks to ask for his resignation after the White House was warned that he "could be blackmailed by the Russians" because of his "problematic" conduct.

That conduct, the Washington Post reported, was talking to Kislyak about the sanctions President Barack Obama imposed on Russia due to its intervention in the 2016 elections. Flynn misled Vice President Mike Pence on the nature of his conversations.

In addition, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from any role in the Russia investigations after reports that he met twice with Kislyak while playing a major role in Trump's presidential campaign, but did not mention the contacts when asked about them during his confirmation hearings.

And Trump, breaking with 40 years of precedent, has refused to disclose his income tax returns that could show any financial ties with Russia.

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Again, the story that there was collusion between the Russians & Trump campaign was fabricated by Dems as an excuse for losing the election. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017

Russia must be laughing up their sleeves watching as the U.S. tears itself apart over a Democrat EXCUSE for losing the election. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2017

Dems have been complaining for months & months about Dir. Comey. Now that he has been fired they PRETEND to be aggrieved. Phony hypocrites! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2017

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3. How would impeachment work?

The Republican-controlled House would bring charges against the president -- similar to an indictment -- and could forward them by majority vote to the Republican-controlled Senate, which would hold a trial presided over by the Chief Justice of the United States.

A two-thirds vote of the Senate would be needed to convict Trump and remove him from office.

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Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump at the White House, (Olivier Douliery | Abaca Press/TNS)

4. Who would take over?

The vice president, Mike Pence, would be next in line to occupy the Oval Office. After him would come the House speaker, currently Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and then the president pro tempore of the Senate, currently U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

Then would come the Cabinet officials in this order:

Secretary of State

Secretary of the Treasury

Secretary of Defense

Attorney General

Secretary of the Interior

Secretary of Agriculture

Secretary of Labor

Secretary of Health and Human Services

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Secretary of Transportation

Secretary of Energy

Secretary of Education

Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Secretary of Homeland Security

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5. Have any presidents been impeached?

Yes, two, both Democrats by Republicans controlling the House.

Andrew Johnson was the first.

A Democratic U.S. senator from Tennessee, Johnson supported the union during the Civil War even as his home state seceded. He ran for vice president on the ticket led by Republican President Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Johnson became president after Lincoln's assassination, and the Republican-controlled Congress objected to his lenient post-war policies during Reconstruction, including amnesty for former Confederates.

Congress had passed legislation preventing Johnson from dismissing any officials confirmed by the Senate without the chamber's approval, and when Johnson challenged the law by trying to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, the House approved 11 articles of impeachment. The Senate failed by one vote to get the two-thirds majority needed to remove him.

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Bill Clinton campaigns for his wife, Hillary Clinton, at Edison High School in May 2016. (John O'Boyle for NJ Advance Media)

Bill Clinton was the second.

The first Democratic president to be re-elected since Lyndon Johnson, Clinton was impeached on charges of lying under oath and obstructing justice as he sought to hide an affair with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The two articles were passed on a largely party line vote by the GOP-controlled House led by Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, who was carrying on his own extramarital affair at the time. Two other articles were rejected.

The Republican-controlled Senate acquitted Clinton of both counts, not even able to muster a majority to convict, let alone the two-thirds needed to remove him from office.

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6. Who was the only president to resign?

President Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974 before he could be impeached. The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Peter Rodino (D-N.J.) had approved three articles of impeachment.

Before Nixon's resignation, U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), House Republican Leader John Rhodes of Arizona and Senate Republican Leader Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania came to the White House to tell him that there was not enough support on Capitol Hill, including among Republicans, to prevent his impeachment and conviction.

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President Donald Trump, right, congratulates House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)after House Republicans voted to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with legislation that the Congressional Budget Office said would cover 24 million fewer people. (Mark Wilson | Getty Images)

7. Is Trump likely to be impeached?

At this point, no.

With rare exceptions, House Republicans, led by Ryan, have shown little interest in holding Trump accountable or investigating any allegations of wrongdoing.

Remember that the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a member of Trump's transition team, stepped aside from leading that panel's inquiry of the president as the House Ethics Committee began looking at whether he improperly disclosed classified information.

After a visit to the White House, Nunes said he had seen information indicating that names of Trump associates had been found in intelligence reports. Trump has claimed without evidence that President Barack Obama ordered wiretaps of Trump Tower.

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Other stories about the Russian investigation

Is a scandal engulfing Trump's White House?

Trump on new special counsel: The 'greatest witch hunt' in U.S. history

What N.J. lawmakers (and Trump) said about new special counsel for Russia probe

The FBI boss dropped 2 bombshells on Trump. Here's what it means

N.J. lawmakers react to FBI firing: 'I bet every defendant would love to fire their prosecutor'

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.