Wednesday night’s highly anticipated impeachment vote came to a predictable conclusion: President Donald Trump has been impeached. The night marked by Nancy Pelosi’s sharp pointing at cheering members of Congress, Tulsi Gabbard voting ‘present’ during the impeachment vote, and the President’s all-caps tweet about the ‘atrocious lies by the radical left’ lacked one thing: a clear message of what will happen next.

For now, Trump is still the president. The House cannot remove a president through impeachment, as it is the Senate’s job to conduct a formal trial and prosecute the president as seen fit. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced that she will not yet conduct the next steps to hold that senate trial—naming impeachment managers and sending the approved articles to the Senate. Her decision was much to the chagrin of Trump, who tweeted, “Pelosi feels her phony impeachment HOAX is so pathetic she is afraid to present it to the Senate, which can set a date and put this whole SCAM into default if they refuse to show up! The Do Nothings are so bad for our Country!” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell furthermore accused Pelosi of being afraid to send, “Their shoddy work product to the Senate.”

Pelosi feels her phony impeachment HOAX is so pathetic she is afraid to present it to the Senate, which can set a date and put this whole SCAM into default if they refuse to show up! The Do Nothings are so bad for our Country! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2019

Why the hold-off? Pelosi voiced concerns about the fairness of a Senate impeachment trial if one were to occur. “We can’t name managers until we see what the process is on the Senate side and I would that would be soon,” said Pelosi during a press conference, “So far, we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us.” Pelosi also said that McConnell, “Says it’s OK for the foreman of the jury to be in cahoots with the lawyers of the accused. That doesn’t sound right to us.” Pelosi was supported by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, who told CNN, “Until we can get some assurances from the Majority Leader that he is going to allow for a fair, and impartial trial to take place, we would be crazy to walk in there knowing he’s set up a kangaroo court.”

This comes in light of a recent Fox News appearance made by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, where the senator said, “Everything I do during this, I’m coordinating with the White House Counsel,” said McConnell. McConnell also said that there is ‘no chance’ President Trump will be removed from office.

However, McConnell has his own opinions on the unfairness of the president’s impeachment, calling it, “…The most rushed, least thorough, and most unfair impeachment inquiry in modern history.”

If Pelosi does name impeachment managers and sends the approved articles to the Senate, trial preparation would ensue. The chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, John G. Roberts Jr., would be sworn in to preside over the trial and swear in members of the Senate. Then, the Senate would send a writ of summons to the president, asking for his response to the articles of impeachment against him. If the president declined to respond, it would be taken as a plea of ‘not guilty,’ and the process would continue.

After the president’s response or refusal, the trial could take place. But, depending on the rules established by the Senate, a senator could move to dismiss the charges altogether, and a simple majority vote would pass the motion. If such motion did occur, the likelihood would be that the charges would be dismissed, as the Senate currently holds a Republican, Trump-backing, majority.

The motion to dismiss the charges, however, is unlikely to occur as McConnell has voiced his preference for a quick trial without the several Trump administration witnesses that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has requested to be present. “You could certainly make a case for making it shorter rather than longer since it’s such a weak case,” said McConnell during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity. Schumer has rebuked McConnell for his preference, saying, “The leader seems obsessed with ‘speedy’ and wants to throw ‘fair’ out the window. To simply repeat the arguments that were made in the House and Senate when there are witnesses and documents that could shed light on what actually happened? Why not have them?”

If the trial does occur, it would begin with opening statements from house managers and White House defense lawyers presenting their cases, a process that could last a few days. Next would come questioning by senators, an examination of evidence (which could include the issuing of subpoenas, examining and cross-examining witnesses, and the Senate could motion to limit or expand the amount of evidence being examined), and then closing statements.

Once the trial process is complete, the time comes for deliberation. The Senate would vote on each article of impeachment presented against the president, and a conviction would require a two-thirds majority on one or more articles. If the Senate votes to acquit, which the Republican majority most likely will, the process ends. But, if they do impeach and convict, he will be removed from office and possibly jailed. The Senate could also vote, if the president is convicted, on whether he should be disqualified from holding any future office. To pass that vote, it would only require a majority.

So what’s the likelihood of Trump getting removed from office? Slim to none. The Senate currently holds a Republican majority who generally support the president, and they have their reelection bids in mind. However, if some incredibly damning piece of evidence comes out against the president, anything is possible.

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