Could Donald Trump be impeached as president?

A MAN who advised four US Presidents says Trump has entered "impeachment territory". This is what would have to happen next.

US President-elect Donald Trump. Pic: AFP

A MAN who advised four US Presidents says Donald Trump has entered "impeachment territory". This is what would have to happen next.

Donald Trump's critics have been speculating about his impeachment since before he took office. Now experts say it could be possible.

David Gergen, who advised four US presidents including Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, said Tuesday the President has entered "impeachment territory".

"After watching the Clinton impeachment, I thought I would never see another one. But I think we’re in impeachment territory for the first time," Mr Gergen told CNN host Anderson Cooper.

Mr Gergen was referring to an explosive memo from fired FBI Director James Comey that could, as he puts it, amount to an "obstruction of justice", if accurate.

But impeachment is not a simple process. Let’s examine the facts.

HOW IS A PRESIDENT IMPEACHED?

Article II of the US Constitution includes this section:

“The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanours.”

So the president is sackable. If Mr Trump did something outrageous enough to justify his removal from office, there is a constitutional mechanism that could make it happen.

We’re fairly sure Mr Trump hasn’t committed treason or bribery, so that leaves “other high crimes and misdemeanours” as the possible justification for his impeachment. We’ll look at that in more depth in a moment.

Say, hypothetically, Mr Trump has done something appropriately awful. The next step is for the House of Representatives to pass articles of impeachment with a simple majority. At that point, the president has officially been impeached.

Then he faces a trial in the Senate, presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. At the moment, that’s Justice John Roberts, who was appointed by George W. Bush. At the end of the trial the Senate votes, and a two-thirds majority is required for a conviction.

If he’s convicted, the president is removed from office. In this case, that would result in Mike Pence becoming the new president.

Any impeachment trial takes place in the US Senate.

COULD IT HAPPEN TO DONALD TRUMP?

Impeachment hinges on the definition of “high crimes and misdemeanours”. Law Professor Christopher Peterson from the University of Utah argued before Mr Trump was sworn in that he had already done enough to reach that threshold through his wealth seminar business, Trump University, which charged students thousands of dollars and promised to teach them the secrets of his success.

Several of those students are now suing Mr Trump, claiming the get-rich-quick seminars conned them out of their money. The lawsuits accuse him of fraud and racketeering.

“It is illegal for businesses to use false statements to convince consumers to purchase their services,” Prof Peterson writes.

“The evidence indicates that Trump University used a systemic pattern of fraudulent representations to trick thousands of families into investing in a program that can be argued was a sham.

“Fraud and racketeering are serious crimes that legally rise to the level of impeachable acts.”

President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Pic: AP

Adding fuel to the fire are new allegations that Mr Trump pressured the former FBI Director to shut down the investigation into his former National Security Adviser, General Michael Flynn. Mr Flynn was sacked after it emerged he had lied about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the United States. But don’t get too excited, Trump haters, because, even if proven, there’s a political element to this as well.

The Republican Party controls both the House of Representatives and the Senate. You can safely assume the Republicans are unlikely to go after a president from their own party, which means the articles of impeachment would probably fail to pass through the House.

An impeachment effort would be far more likely to succeed after the next midterm elections in 2018, where the Democrats could win back control of Congress. It would still be a drastic and politically risky move.

President-elect Donald Trump with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who would need to be part of any push for impeachment. Pic: AP

WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE

Two previous presidents have been impeached. The first, Andrew Johnson, was tried for violating the Tenure of Office Act, and acquitted in 1868. It was as boring as it sounds. The second, Bill Clinton, was impeached on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in the wake of the Lewinsky scandal, and was also acquitted.

Richard Nixon was almost impeached over Watergate, but resigned as president before the necessary resolutions could pass in the House of Representatives.

So, there is precedent here. But ultimately, the probability of a push for impeachment succeeding is dependent on public opinion.

“Ninety-nine per cent of the game is how popular is the president,” Bruce Fein, who was involved in the Clinton impeachment, told Politico in April. If President Trump’s approval rating is high, no one will dare to move against him.

But if a scandal explodes and those poll numbers dive, it will open the door to one of the most dramatic acts in America’s political history.

Bill and Hillary Clinton on the day the House of Representatives voted to impeach him.