Efforts to impeach Donald Trump

rdf:langString Efforts to impeach Donald Trump

rdf:langString Various people and groups assert that former U.S. president Donald Trump engaged in impeachable activity both before and during his presidency, and talk of impeachment began before he took office. Grounds asserted for impeachment have included possible violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution by accepting payments from foreign dignitaries; alleged collusion with Russia during the campaign for the 2016 United States presidential election; alleged obstruction of justice with respect to investigation of the collusion claim; and accusations of "Associating the Presidency with White Nationalism, Neo-Nazism and Hatred", which formed the basis of a resolution for impeachment brought on December 6, 2017. The first formal impeachment efforts were initiated by two Democratic representatives (Al Green and Brad Sherman) in 2017, the first year of his presidency. Since the Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate during 2017 and 2018, the likelihood of impeachment during that period was considered by all to be low. A December 2017 resolution of impeachment failed in the House by a 58–364 margin. The Democrats gained control of the House in 2019 and launched multiple investigations into Trump's actions and finances. Speaker Nancy Pelosi initially resisted calls for impeachment. In May 2019, Pelosi indicated that Trump's continued actions, which she characterized as obstruction of justice and refusal to honor congressional subpoenas, might make an impeachment inquiry necessary. An increasing number of House Democrats and one Republican were requesting such an inquiry. On September 24, 2019, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi announced that six committees would undertake formal impeachment inquiries after reports about controversial interactions between Trump and the country of Ukraine. This inquiry resulted in Trump's first impeachment on December 18, 2019. In January 2021, during the final weeks of Trump's term, a renewed effort was made to remove him from office following his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election by baselessly asserting voter fraud, which resulted in the Trump-Raffensperger phone call and the United States Capitol attack. This effort resulted in Trump's second impeachment on January 13, 2021.